Questions abotu PRK

[scarfacekracker]

My vision is currently 20/30 in both eyes and I have astigmatism. I can see good during the day but at night its pretty rough. I am currently enlisted and am thinking about PRK. I finish my college degree in 11 weeks and would like to get the surgery done shortly after this because my unit will be deploying back to Iraq in AUG. I am wondering what everyone thinks I should do?
I know that the Navy will do the PRK for free but I am told that the wait is around a year or so. I would not mind paying out of my own pocket in order to get the PRK done prior to Iraq. Actually would feel more comfortable going to a civilian doctor because I have seen what the Naval Hospital is capable of, but lets not get into that. Please let me know what you think. Im planning on doing this on my pre-deployment leave. Which is going to be 2 or 3 weeks. My vision should be fine in this timeframe correct? Im planning on talking to the OSO and the flight surgeon about this but want to get some advice prior.

 

[danthaman]

I was undeployable for 3 months after I had PRK done because of the medication I was on (steroids). So that might give you some issues there with a deployment to Iraq in Aug. But seriously, why shell out all that cash if your vision is already 20/30?

 

[Wankertank]

But seriously, why shell out all that cash if your vision is already 20/30?

His astigmatism may be disqualifying.....

However..If your vision is better than 20/40 and less than 1.50 astigmatism you still qualify for SNA so there is no reason to get PRK, just as danthaman has said. I wouldnt get it unless you actually needed it to qualify.

just my 2 cents.

 

[scarfacekracker]

I believe that my vision is good enough to qualify SNA. I would have to check my astigmatism. But at this point it is just a mere annoyance. I would like to get it done but I do not want to put myself in a nondeployable status. I will have to talk to our flight surgeon about this matter. Thanks for the info.

 

[Jeff29]

Unless there is something else real screwed up with your eyes, no reputable surgeon will touch your eyes at 20/30.

 

[Thisguy]

seriously, most people who are 20/30 don't realize it, and probably have no reason to see an optometrist.

At 20/30, you could just wear contacts/glasses when you fly.

 

[SpiderUSMC]

Unless there is something else real screwed up with your eyes, no reputable surgeon will touch your eyes at 20/30.

Not really true. Depends if one of your eyes is worse than the other. My "good" eye was 20/35-20/40 before surgery and my "bad" eye 20/70. Of course, the "bad" eye was the dominant one. Even at 20/30 you could still improve (depending on what you correct to) to 20/20, 20/15 or even 20/12.

I'd certainly consider my surgeon "reputable".

 

[scarfacekracker]

I have tried wearing glasses and contacts already. I can't stand putting in contacts every day and I have bent to many pairs of glasses at work. I just want to get the PRK done so that I do not have to worry about these things. My vision is really not that bad I would just really like to improve my night vision. That is the main concern. I guess I will just have to start talking to some docs that perform the procedure and see what they think. Im not satisfied with my current vision.