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Abysmal Vision, what are my options?

spitfiremkxiv

Pepe's sandwich
Contributor
Your visual accuity (20/200, etc) doesn't really matter. It's your degree of myopia plus your astigmatism that will matter, and it will read something like -3.50 -0.75, similar to a lens prescription. This is not a lens prescription, though, it is the refractive error due to your misshaped eyes, and it can only be determined while your eyes are dilated. When I took my flight physical, the standard you had to meet before the operation in order to qualify as SNA was -8.00 total, and then you needed to be 20/40 uncorrected after the surgery in order to qualify to be a pilot. I don't know if the -8.00 has changed, but with 20/200 vision I doubt that will be a problem for you anyway. There is also a separate standard regarding the amount of astigmatism you can have. I can break this down further for you if you need.

The Navy/Marines tend to have the most liberal (most advanced) vision standards, which has worked to my benefit and will likely work to yours. If I were you, what I would do now is come up with a game plan to get you where you want to be in 4-6 years, looking something like this:

1. Determine to the best of your ability whether or not you meet the current standards, which is what you are doing now, and good on your for it. Talk to an eye doc about whether or not you are a good candidate for PRK, but don't get it yet. You'll need to find out your refractive error with your eyes dilated.
2. Enroll in / get selected to NROTC, selecting a major appropriate for your skill level and study habits, and excel in everything while keeping your nose clean.
3. Once enrolled and underway, research PRK even further and compare your eyes with the most up to date Navy standards.
4. Get PRK only after you have some time under you belt in NROTC and have done the appropriate research. You have time, and the older you are, the less likely your eyes are to change after the surgery.
5. Once you have 20/15 superman vision, your good grades and good reputation around your unit will get you selected to be a student naval aviator.

Good luck!
 

OdeToArsenal47

New Member
Thanks, that's great advice. That's what I was thinking; if you give them a reason to select you, they will. That's given me more confidence in going down the NROTC path.
 

JSF_Dreamer

Busted Head
As someone who has had the PRK surgery in an effort to ensure that my eyes would not keep me from fulfilling my dream, I thought I should post here.

PRK is the only cleared eye surgery program for potential flight candidates. There is a study going on with active pilots who have gotten LASIK and are flying, but it is a closed study that not everyone can get into. The study has gone really well and they expect LASIK to be approved for all pilots in the near future although no time frame has been specified. (That comes from the Naval Refractive Surgery Center in San Diego. I called them for info before I had gotten my PRK in January of this year.)

Officers can not have a diopter rating greater than +/- 6.25 (or something like that) for officers and +/-8.0 for enlisted (they're trying to get it changed to 8.0 for both) before surgery. That means that even if your vision becomes acceptable after surgery, you will still be disqualified.

The acceptable vision after surgery is 20/40 or better in one eye and 20/70 or better in the other. Obviously, the better vision you have in each eye, the better.

Also, there is a wait-time after surgery of 6 months to 1 year in which you must get checked by your optometrist to ensure that your eyes still meet the requirements after your eyes have completely healed. This is why I elected to pay for the surgery myself while in college. That way I knew if after the surgery I would be able to do what I wanted and if not then I wouldn't owe the navy time while doing something I didn't have my heart in.

So as of right now I have 20/20 in my right and 20/15 in my left. This is 6 months after surgery. Luckily I didn't hurt my vision by getting steel leader in the eye while shark fishing a couple months ago (not fun, btw). Also, both my eyes were worse than 20/400 without glasses/contacts.


So, the moral of this long monologue is: don't let your vision keep you from doing what you want.





Edit: I just read in another post that LASIK has been approved since I talked to the Refractive center. Awesome for you guys that haven't gotten the surgery yet. PRK can hurt like a bitch. It's different from person to person, though.
 

nugget61

Active Member
pilot
Edit: I just read in another post that LASIK has been approved since I talked to the Refractive center. Awesome for you guys that haven't gotten the surgery yet. PRK can hurt like a bitch. It's different from person to person, though.

Wait, lasik is now approved? Do you have a link for that?
 
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