AIM: To assess the corneal sensitivity and the incidences of dry eye after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and femtosecond laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK). METHODS: The Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3. We searched on PubMed from inception to March 2016. Summary weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to analyze the datum. Random-effects or fixed-effects models were chosen up to between-study heterogeneity. The main outcomes were composed of the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores, tear film break-up time (TBUT), Schirmer Test and corneal sensitivity. RESULTS: Eight eligible studies including 772 eyes (386 in SMILE group and 386 in FS-LASIK group) were identified. The parameters have no significiant difference heterogeneity between SMILE and FS-LASIK group preoperatively. There were significant differences between the two groups in OSDI scores at one and three months postoperatively, in TBUT at one and three months postoperatively, in corneal sensitivity at one week, about one month and three months postoperatively. However, there was no significant difference observed in Schirmer Test at the follow-up periods. CONCLUSION: Compare to FS-LASIK, dry eye and the corneal sensitivity recover better in the SMILE group, in first three months after the surgery.