Other options besides PRK

[Spence]

I wear soft contacts now and my vision prescription is -5.50 in my left eye and -5.25 in my right. Is there any other option for me besides PRK? Does anyone here believe that the http://www.rebuildyourvision.net/ Web site works by just doing eye exercises. The pilot from www.fighter-pilot.org recommended that link before getting PRK.
Thanks!

 

[NavyLonghorn]

www.fighter-pilot.org? wow.

 

[Birdman]

www.fighter-pilot.org? wow.

"How do I become a Fighter Pilot?"
“Do you want to be a fighter pilot?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so…” I said.
“Well, good, because I have a couple of flight contracts and if you want one, I can probably get you to OCS this summer.”
Bottom line, if you are in normal physical health and under the age of 30, you stand a good chance of getting a fighter pilot job.

Wow, What percent get Jets, Vance? or maybe I should just go to the unemployment office and tell them to sign me up for fighter pilot? lol

 

[Spence]

Yea, you're right, it is cheesy, but are there any other options besides PRK?
Thanks guys!

 

[TheBubba]

Spence... what is your vision?... 20/?

 

[UMichfly]

Spence, you might want to take a look at this link:
http://www.nomi.med.navy.mil/NAMI/WaiverGuideTopics/pdfs/Waiver Guide - Ophthalmology.pdf

It gives you the Navy standards on things. You will see another option on there which is a soft contact lens waiver. Given the severity of your refractive error, I'm not sure whether or not you'll be able to fall within the 20/400 limit for that but it's certainly worth a shot.

 

[NavyLonghorn]

"How do I become a Fighter Pilot?"
“Do you want to be a fighter pilot?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so…” I said.
“Well, good, because I have a couple of flight contracts and if you want one, I can probably get you to OCS this summer.”
Bottom line, if you are in normal physical health and under the age of 30, you stand a good chance of getting a fighter pilot job.

Wow, What percent get Jets, Vance? or maybe I should just go to the unemployment office and tell them to sign me up for fighter pilot? lol

The guys went to Top Gun, so it must all be true.

 

[FelixTheGreat]

I remember buying a eye exercise book from Barne's and Nobel a couple of years back, that stuff is ridiculous. I gave the book an honest college try and nothing happened. You would need all the patience in the world to sit down with something like http://www.rebuildyourvision.net/ every night for however many years it took to get your eyes better. With school and work, the cost of PRK more than justifies the time and hassel it saves.

 

[FatKid]

I did vision therapy to go from 20/70 to 20/25 uncorrected.

With the program, I wore glasses that were 180 degrees out of my astigmatism correction and did a bunch of focusing exercises, mainly reading eye charts close up and at a distance, also looking at the fuzzy dot pictures that have dinosaurs hidden in them. The theory was that you stimulated muscles around your eye that would help reshape your eye.

My History:
I had Hard contacts and was able to take them out and pass the initial vision screen but when I got to NAMI they did the laser mapping and NPQ'd me. I did 6 months of vision therapy and was able to go back to NAMI again and passed. Once I got through NAMI I received my issued pair of glasses I had one flight physical, and all they checked was my corrected vision (20/20). When I got to Intermediate jet I hooked up with the opthomologist and was put on the soft contact lens program. The contact program requires checkups every six months and I managed to avoid doing any eye exams on my flight physicals because I was in there all the time for my contacts. The only time I had to do a no kidding uncorrected vision exam was when I was in the RAG and I was 20/200 corrected to 20/20. Since then I have had PRK and it is the best!!! If there is any way to do PRK prior to entry I would look into that. I hated flying with glasses because I would get oil and sweat all over them. Contacts were good until you got dirt in your eye or they dried out. Plan on 2 months for PRK recovery. Good Luck!!

 

[PropStop]

Other than glasses, contacts, and PRK, all I can think of is SWO.

 

[Spence]

Spence... what is your vision?... 20/?

With my prescription, it's probably around 20/600...20/700.

 

[UMichfly]

If that's what your vision ends up being, you're relegated to PRK or SWOdom unfortunately. The contact waiver only goes to 20/400.

 

[AppleCello]

keep in mind that eyes greater than a certain limit (-5.00, i think?) require a waiting time of 6 months after PRK surgery before you can go for your physical/waiver. less than that is a 3 month wait.