Objective To investigate the influence of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and sub-Bowman keratomileusis (SBK) on corneal higher-order aberrations.Methods This prospective study involved 38 subjects (76 eyes) treated with LASIK and 41 subjects (73 eyes) treated with SBK.Higher-order aberrations data were obtained from corneal topography before and after the operations.Higher-order aberrations were analyzed with Zernike polynomials.The data were analyzed with a paired samples t test and an independent samples t test.Results The uncorrected visual acuity postoperation were better than 0.8 for all eyes.The preoperative and postoperative differences in vertical coma (Z31),horizontal coma (Z-13),coma (|Z|13),trefoil (|Z|33),and spherical aberration (Z04) in the LASIK group were significant (t=10.201,2.990,-8.525,-2.140,-16.736,P＜0.01).The corresponding differences were also significant for the SBK group (t=12.840,2.899,-12.518,-2.944,-23.854,P＜0.01).The differences in the change in values (postoperative minus preoperative) of Z13,Z-13,|Z|13,|Z|33,Z04 between the LASIK and SBK groups were not significant.Conclusion Both LASIK and SBK can increase postoperative corneal higher-order aberrations,but there is no significant difference in the change in higher-order aberrations between the two types of operations.