Anyone with Esophoria?

[war eagle]

Question about eye portion of flight physical

I know this question isn't directly related to PRK, but I'm hoping somebody can help. I had PRK done in May of 2006 and the surgery went fine - waiver recommended. When I went for my flight physical in February of 2007 the doc said I was NPQ for SNA because I had a condition called esophoria. She told me that the limit for pilots is a 6.0 and my level of esophoria is "a 9.0 or a 10.0". The doc also said "this would have squeaked in under the old standard, but not anymore."

It threw my depth perception off enough to where I failed 4 of the 5 tests they gave me for depth perception. The weird thing I don't quite understand is why I've never had a problem with this at all before in my life. Playing sports, driving, and the little bit of flying I've done... I've never had a problem. Right now, I'm PQ for SNFO only, commissioning in May 2008. Anyone ever heard of guys getting this fixed or waivered?

 

[Schnugg]

Eye muscle exercises can help with "lazy eye" symptoms...which is what that basically is. Not sure if you'll have time to make a difference...having had the PRK may be making your eyes function differently than they were used to for the past 20 or so years. It most likely exacerbated the problem now.

It also helps to know how to answer the question about where the arrow lines up, where, which step the ball rests on, etc...

Which depth perception test did you do...the O rings?




Disclaimer: I'm not a Doctor, but I play one on television.

 

[UMichfly]

Schnugg is spot on with the eye exercises. I had exophoria (the exact opposite of what you've got) and I was completely unable to pass the depth perception test. My eye doctor gave me a card called a"Bernell free space fusion opaque card" which has a series of small circles that converge to one pseudo-3D circle if you focus right. It is for esophoria and exophoria so I imagine it'd work for you. I used it 15 minutes a day for a few months and I nail those exams now.

 

[BigRed389]

Yeah look up "vision therapy."

Apparently depth perception problems are quite curable.

I got worried when I failed my depth perception test at MEPS...being tired seemed to make a huge difference because I was fine with the civilian optometrist.

 

[MSkinsATC]

Yeah the civilian optometrists have a bunch of different depth perception things, the Govt likes one or two, which one did you take?? I failed it at MEPS was extremely disappointed, went home and saw my optometrist the next day and passed every depth perception test he had!!?? Not sure what that says for the MEPS tests, but I had my optometrist draft a letter, put it in my package, still got selected, wnet back to MEPS with a doc...not a 2nd class...had no problem. Another thing to keep in mind was already stated above, know how to anser the question.

Lastly if it becomes a huge problem, the head eye doc when I was selected was at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego...not sure on the name sorry. Good Luck

 

[erelislt]

Anyone here was diagnosed to have "exophoria"? I guess it's when you see better things further away then things closer to you. I have 20/20 vision, and "qualified for service" but now I have this exophoria on my record; which I was told disqualifies me from Pilots; which is ok because I was not planning to become one. I would like to hear from someone who has exophoria.

 

[erelislt]

I know this question isn't directly related to PRK, but I'm hoping somebody can help. I had PRK done in May of 2006 and the surgery went fine - waiver recommended. When I went for my flight physical in February of 2007 the doc said I was NPQ for SNA because I had a condition called esophoria. She told me that the limit for pilots is a 6.0 and my level of esophoria is "a 9.0 or a 10.0". The doc also said "this would have squeaked in under the old standard, but not anymore."

It threw my depth perception off enough to where I failed 4 of the 5 tests they gave me for depth perception. The weird thing I don't quite understand is why I've never had a problem with this at all before in my life. Playing sports, driving, and the little bit of flying I've done... I've never had a problem. Right now, I'm PQ for SNFO only, commissioning in May 2008. Anyone ever heard of guys getting this fixed or waivered?

I just got the same thing, but I was not planning to go Pilot. Can you update how everything went regarding exophoria? Did it cause any further problems? Thanks.

 

[UMichfly]

If you look at the second post in the other thread you posted this question in, you'll see that I HAD it. Mine was bad enough that I was unable to pass that depth perception test with the annoying circles when I first did my DODMERB for ROTC. I went to the eye doc and he gave me a little card with some eye exercises on it that were intended to get my eyes to play better with each other. I did the exercises on the card for 30 minutes a day for a month or two and it completely fixed my vision. I went to NAMI yesterday actually for my API flight physical and was 100% good to go. Let me know if you have any other specific questions which I didn't answer here or in that other thread.

 

[feddoc]

To the OP, Schnugg is spot on with his advice....as is UMichfly and BigRed389.

 

[feddoc]

http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135589

 

[bunk22]

It threw my depth perception off enough to where I failed 4 of the 5 tests they gave me for depth perception. The weird thing I don't quite understand is why I've never had a problem with this at all before in my life. Playing sports, driving, and the little bit of flying I've done... I've never had a problem. Right now, I'm PQ for SNFO only, commissioning in May 2008. Anyone ever heard of guys getting this fixed or waivered?

How many people go through life every day, driving the streets, reading signs, have no issues then go take a color vision light test or color dot test and fail? Told they have a color defeciency. It's just a standard that could probably be raised or lowered due to Navy needs. Don't need people, they be much more selective.

 

[erelislt]

If you look at the second post in the other thread you posted this question in, you'll see that I HAD it. Mine was bad enough that I was unable to pass that depth perception test with the annoying circles when I first did my DODMERB for ROTC. I went to the eye doc and he gave me a little card with some eye exercises on it that were intended to get my eyes to play better with each other. I did the exercises on the card for 30 minutes a day for a month or two and it completely fixed my vision. I went to NAMI yesterday actually for my API flight physical and was 100% good to go. Let me know if you have any other specific questions which I didn't answer here or in that other thread.

Thanks for your post. I was recently selected for STA-21 program and I never knew I had exophoria. I was selected for CORE and planning to go for Supply Officer (I am SK). I just want to find out if this exophoria diagnosis can disqualify me from comissioning. Or should I just re-take the sight test again after some sight exercises?

 

[erelislt]

If you look at the second post in the other thread you posted this question in, you'll see that I HAD it. Mine was bad enough that I was unable to pass that depth perception test with the annoying circles when I first did my DODMERB for ROTC. I went to the eye doc and he gave me a little card with some eye exercises on it that were intended to get my eyes to play better with each other. I did the exercises on the card for 30 minutes a day for a month or two and it completely fixed my vision. I went to NAMI yesterday actually for my API flight physical and was 100% good to go. Let me know if you have any other specific questions which I didn't answer here or in that other thread.

Can you tell where I can find these eye exercises or what they are called? That would be great, thanks!

 

[Flamedog]

I also have slight exophoria (5.0) and I am a pilot selectee. The cutoff is 6.0 so I just made it. If anyone knows where I can get the "free space card" I would like to make my exo go away. I don't want it coming up during the NAMI wammie. I passed all the depth perception tests and everything that exo is "supposed to" mess up and the flight surgeon said I should be fine but I don't want to take any chances.

 

[UMichfly]

The exercises that I did were called the Bernell Free Space Fusion card exercises. They were similar to these ones http://www.bernell.com/product/2105/27 but I couldn't find the exact one. I would just go ask a civilian doc. That's where I got my card from.