LASIK in Korea Review: My 1-Week SMILE LASIK Journey in Seoul

Hi — I'm Millie, a Creatrip editor.

If you've seen my previous post, you know I recently went through a full-body health checkup at KMI in Seoul and shared the whole experience. After I published that post, I got a lot of messages — but one message in particular stood out.

My friend Brandon, who lives in San Francisco, texted me after reading my blog and asked about something specific: the price of LASIK in Korea.

I told him I’d heard LASIK in Korea typically costs around 2,500,000 KRW (roughly ~$1,800 USD). He went quiet for a second, then asked me to say that again.

As a Korea travel editor, I knew right away I couldn’t let this one go. And conveniently, Brandon was already planning a trip to Japan—so yeah, I may have guilted him a little. I told him it’d be pretty cold to fly right past Korea without stopping to see me after three years. He caved. I treated him to a nice dinner, and in return, I got the full story.

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Here’s Brandon’s LASIK experience in Korea.

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[스팟] Gangnam Bright Eye Clinic | Achieve Perfect Vision at Korea’s Largest Eye Clinic

Today's topic: SMILE LASIK surgery in Korea

— Written by Brandon, 30, software developer, San Francisco

Hey. I'm Brandon.

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Millie basically ambushed me with a camera and a notepad the moment I landed in Seoul, so here I am writing a blog post about getting eye surgery in a foreign country. Honestly though, if this helps even one person make the decision faster than I did, it's worth it.

I'll cover:

1. Why I got LASIK done in Korea (and how much I saved)
2. My criteria for choosing an eye clinic
3. Why I went with Brighteyes Eye Clinic
4. The full process — pre-op, surgery day, and post-op recovery
5. How to book it as a foreigner

Let's get into it.

1. Why I Got LASIK Done in Korea (The Cost Factor)

I'm a runner — nothing competitive, just my way of decompressing after a long day of staring at code. The problem is, glasses are a nightmare when you sweat as much as I do, and contacts dry out fast on a run. I'd basically just gotten used to finishing my last couple miles half-blind. Figured that was just... the deal.

Then one evening I was trying a new route near my neighborhood, didn't see a puddle, stepped right into it, fell, scraped my knee, and cracked my Apple Watch. That was it for me. I'd been putting off LASIK for years, and that was the last push I needed.

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I started looking into it in the U.S. The quotes I got were around $6,000 for SMILE LASIK — which, fair enough for the Bay Area, but still. I was already kind of on the fence.

Then a coworker mentioned Korean LASIK is significantly cheaper. I wasn't totally sure if I believed that until Millie confirmed it: around 2,500,000 KRW (~$1,800 USD) for SMILE LASIK at a reputable clinic. That's less than a third of what I was quoted stateside.

I was already planning a trip to Japan. On the way, I had a layover window in Korea anyway. It felt like the universe telling me something.

Decision made.

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2. My Criteria for Choosing an Eye Clinic in Korea

Look, I'm an engineer. I don't just do things without researching them first. This is literally my eyes we're talking about, so I had a pretty specific checklist going in.

① Surgeon experience — number of surgeries performed

I know LASIK is machine-assisted, but the surgeon still matters. I'd done enough reading to know that outcomes can vary based on how experienced your doctor is. I specifically wanted someone with a high volume of successful surgeries — and a clean track record. No incidents, no horror stories.

② VisuMax 800 equipment

This one I found through Reddit, actually. Multiple threads mentioned the VisuMax 800 as the current top-tier machine for SMILE LASIK — apparently it's in the top 1–2 globally in terms of safety and precision. Once I saw it come up that many times from different people, I made it a hard requirement.

I asked Millie to only recommend clinics that had this machine.

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③ English-speaking coordinator on-site

This is a big one for me. I had a lot of questions. Like, a lot. Stuff I wouldn't even know how to ask through Google Translate. I needed an actual human who could accurately relay my questions to the Korean medical team — and relay the answers back in a way that actually made sense.

I wasn't just looking for someone bilingual. I wanted someone with real medical knowledge in both languages.

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3. Why I Chose Bright Eye Clinic 

It pretty much checked everything I was looking for.

The lead surgeon has performed over 50,000 SMILE surgeries with zero serious incidents. That stat alone made me feel a lot better about it. They also have the VisuMax 800, which was on my checklist.

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The English coordinator piece was what really sealed it, though. Millie told me the coordinators at Brighteyes aren't just translators — they actually understand what’s going on medically, which actually helped a lot during the consultation. That's a different level. When your coordinator actually understands what the doctor is saying, the consultation is so much more useful.

There was also one other thing Millie mentioned kind of offhandedly that stuck with me: apparently, Brighteyes recently bought out part of a building in Gangnam to expand their clinic. I'm not usually one to care about that kind of thing, but think about it — a clinic that's actively growing and investing means it's doing well, and it's doing well because people keep coming back. That felt like a good sign to me.

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4. The Full Process: Before, During, and After LASIK in Korea

Quick overview of my timeline: I was in Korea for about a week total. I arrived, had my eye exam and surgery the next morning, stayed for recovery, did a follow-up check five days later, then flew to Japan.

Here's the breakdown:

📋 Before Surgery

Booking

Millie told me booking through Creatrip gets you a 100,000 KRW cashback, so I booked through there. Worth noting — they also have an online consultation service where a Brighteyes coordinator will talk to you in English before you even land in Korea. I used this to ask some of my weirder questions in advance, and it saved me a lot of anxiety.

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Pre-surgery rules to follow:

• Stop wearing contact lenses at least 1 week before surgery — I do dailies, so this wasn't the end of the world, just slightly blurry commutes for a week

• No alcohol the night before — I was on the flight over and was about to open a wine with dinner. My girlfriend shut that down fast. She was right.

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🔬 Surgery Day

1. Getting there / check-in

First stop was the 1F reception desk — I showed my passport, filled out a questionnaire in the waiting area, and sat down.

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2. Eye exam (about 1 hour)

The actual exam took around an hour. Anna, the English coordinator, was with me the whole time from the moment things started. She walked me through each test as it happened, explained what they were checking, and made it way less intimidating than I expected.

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3. Consultation — deciding on the surgery type

After the exam, I sat down with a doctor to go over the results and confirm what surgery I was eligible for. Thankfully, SMILE LASIK was confirmed as viable for me.

I had a ton of questions going into this consultation. Like I mentioned — a lot. Anna translated everything in both directions, and nobody seemed rushed. The doctors didn't give off that "okay wrap it up" energy that you sometimes get. That made a big difference.

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Side note: my girlfriend went through the same exam and got told she wasn't eligible for SMILE LASIK — corneal thickness too borderline for her prescription. She was disappointed, but honestly it actually made me trust the clinic more.

4. The surgery itself

From prep to finish: about 10 minutes. I'm not exaggerating. It went by so fast that I didn't really have time to get scared.

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Right after the surgery, my vision was very blurry — like looking through frosted glass. I couldn't really tell if anything hurt yet because the numbing drops were still doing their thing. My girlfriend dragged me over to pay before I could fully register what had just happened.

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5. Picking up medication

We stopped at the pharmacy on the way out to pick up the post-op eyedrops and medication.

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6. Back at the accommodation

I slept for a few hours. When I woke up, the anesthesia had worn off and my eyes felt... kind of achy? Not sharp pain, more like a dull pressure. Totally manageable. I just put in the drops and went back to sleep.

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✅ After Surgery

Day 1 post-op

When I woke up the next morning, I could see. Not perfectly — things were still slightly hazy around the edges — but I could read stuff across the room. It was genuinely surreal. I kept just... looking at things.

Follow-up visit (5 days post-op)

I went back to Brighteyes for a check-up. They ran a full set of tests to make sure everything was healing correctly. My vision came out at 1.0 — and the doctor told me that was still not the final result, and my eyesight would likely continue improving as healing progressed.

Now (2 months post-op)

I'm writing this from my apartment in San Francisco. Vision is completely clear, no halos, no significant dryness. I went running yesterday — no glasses, no contacts, no puddles I couldn't see coming.

No regrets. Definitely worth it.

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5. How to Book LASIK in Korea as a Foreigner

— Back to Millie

I want to quickly walk through why Creatrip is worth using if you're a foreigner trying to navigate Korean medical tourism, because honestly I think people underestimate how much friction it removes.

① English-only listings
Every clinic on Creatrip has been vetted for English support. You don't have to guess whether someone will be able to communicate with you.

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② Reviews from actual foreign patients
You can filter reviews by nationality and see how the experience actually went for people from different countries. That's especially useful for vision correction, since outcomes can vary based on eye characteristics.

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③ Online consultation before you arrive
This was huge for Brandon. He had a ton of pre-op questions that he wanted answered before committing to the trip. Through Creatrip, he connected with a Brighteyes English coordinator and got real answers — not a FAQ page, an actual back-and-forth conversation.

If you're considering LASIK in Korea, this is where to start:

[스팟] Bright Eye Clinic Online Consultation 

6. FAQ: What Foreigners Ask Most About LASIK in Korea

Q1) Can I really do the consultation and surgery on the same day?

Yes. One of the biggest advantages of getting LASIK in Korea is the “one-day” system. From the detailed eye exam to the surgery itself, everything can often be completed in a single visit. The exam usually takes around 2–3 hours, followed by the procedure.

However, depending on your eye condition or the type of surgery, the schedule may vary slightly.

Q2) Why is the price gap so huge compared to the U.S.?

LASIK in Korea is significantly more affordable (around $1,800–$2,000 for SMILE Pro), not because of lower quality, but due to the country’s highly competitive medical market and high volume of procedures.

Q3) How long do I need to stay in Korea before and after?

Most patients stay in Korea for about 5 to 7 days. While the surgery itself is quick, you’ll need time for recovery and a follow-up check to make sure everything is healing properly.

We generally recommend staying at least a few days after surgery before continuing your trip.

Q4) How do I do follow-up check-ups in my home country after the surgery?

You can request an English medical record from the clinic in Korea and bring it to a local ophthalmologist in your home country for follow-up check-ups if needed.

If you have any questions or concerns, Creatrip provides 24/7 real-time support in English, Chinese, and Japanese for international visitors completely free of charge. Reach us anytime on WhatsApp (+82 10-8818-2915) or LINE (@creatrip, @required). You can also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Youtube to stay updated on all things Korea!