diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index db3b691..79e6e93 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -68,7 +68,17 @@ interface ISseMiddlewareOptions {
      *
      * @default JSON.stringify
      */
-    serializer?: (value: any) => string|Buffer;
+    serializer?: (value: any) => string | Buffer;
+
+    /**
+     * Whether to flush headers immediately or wait for the first res.write().
+     *  - Setting it to false can allow you or 3rd-party middlewares to set more headers on the response.
+     *  - Setting it to true is useful for debug and tesing the connection, ie. CORS restrictions fail only when headers
+     *    are flushed, which may not happen immediately when using SSE (it happens after the first res.write call).
+     *
+     * @default true
+     */
+    flushHeaders: boolean;
 
     /**
      * Determines the interval, in milliseconds, between keep-alive packets (neutral SSE comments).
diff --git a/src/sse_handler_middleware.ts b/src/sse_handler_middleware.ts
index 5f4d603..f0a6436 100644
--- a/src/sse_handler_middleware.ts
+++ b/src/sse_handler_middleware.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,16 @@ export interface ISseMiddlewareOptions {
      */
     serializer: fmt.SseSerializer;
 
+    /**
+     * Whether to flush headers immediately or wait for the first res.write().
+     *  - Setting it to false can allow you or 3rd-party middlewares to set more headers on the response.
+     *  - Setting it to true is useful for debug and tesing the connection, ie. CORS restrictions fail only when headers
+     *    are flushed, which may not happen immediately when using SSE (it happens after the first res.write call).
+     *
+     * @default true
+     */
+    flushHeaders: boolean;
+
     /**
      * Determines the interval, in milliseconds, between keep-alive packets (neutral SSE comments).
      * Pass false to disable heartbeats (ie. you only support modern browsers/native EventSource implementation and
@@ -36,7 +46,7 @@ export interface ISseHandlerResponse extends Response {
 }
 
 export function sseHandler(options: Partial<ISseMiddlewareOptions> = {}): Handler {
-    const { keepAliveInterval = 5000, flushAfterWrite = false } = options;
+    const { keepAliveInterval = 5000, flushHeaders = true, flushAfterWrite = false } = options;
 
     return (req, res, next) => {
         //=> Basic headers for an SSE session
@@ -46,10 +56,10 @@ export function sseHandler(options: Partial<ISseMiddlewareOptions> = {}): Handle
             'X-Accel-Buffering': 'no'
         });
 
-        //=> Write immediately on the socket.
+        //=> Flush headers immediately
         // This has the advantage to 'test' the connection: if the client can't access this resource because of
         // CORS restrictions, the connection will fail instantly.
-        write(': sse-start\n');
+        flushHeaders && res.flushHeaders();
 
         //=> Start heartbeats (if not disabled)
         if (keepAliveInterval !== false) {