Did not disclose PRK, now facing class 1 flight physical. Help.

[mike_rohdik]

I find myself in a bit of a predicament and could use advice from anyone with experience or perspective relating to my situation. I'm currently AD Coast Guard and just finished applying for OCS and am confident I have a solid chance of getting picked up. I am planning on applying for aviation but I have run into a problem. Before I enlisted, I received PRK surgery and did not disclose this to the CG. I was told that a waiver would take months and that no doctor could ever tell if you have had PRK once I'd healed. My eyes have no issues (20/15) but I have recently learned that it CAN be detected through a corneal topography, a procedure that is mandatory for class 1 physical for flight duty. Does anyone know how big of a shitstorm it would cause if I just leveled with my Doc and came clean? Would they try to jam me up for fraudulent enlistment or auto-DQ me for flight? I imagine it's largely dependent on the individual Doc, but what is the best way to proceed here? Is it less big of a deal than I think or am I SOL? Any guidance would be helpful.
-Mike

 

[Swanee]

Plenty of pilots have had either PRK or LASIK.

The NAMI waiver guide is pretty clear here.


As far as your lying about medical stuff, I can't answer that other than to say answer any question you're asked truthfully.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

You need to 100% disclose this.

If you are willing to lie in order to pursue a commission who knows what else you’re capable of doing,.. something that may get someone injured or killed.

 

[Skywalker]

I had to disclose a bunch of stuff up front on accession, commissioning, and again for NAMI and NASIS. Including PRK. I didn’t end up requiring a single waiver and they gave me a clearance without issue.

The best time to have said something was initially, the next best time would be now.

 

[Anthony2000]

I find myself in a bit of a predicament and could use advice from anyone with experience or perspective relating to my situation. I'm currently AD Coast Guard and just finished applying for OCS and am confident I have a solid chance of getting picked up. I am planning on applying for aviation but I have run into a problem. Before I enlisted, I received PRK surgery and did not disclose this to the CG. I was told that a waiver would take months and that no doctor could ever tell if you have had PRK once I'd healed. My eyes have no issues (20/15) but I have recently learned that it CAN be detected through a corneal topography, a procedure that is mandatory for class 1 physical for flight duty. Does anyone know how big of a shitstorm it would cause if I just leveled with my Doc and came clean? Would they try to jam me up for fraudulent enlistment or auto-DQ me for flight? I imagine it's largely dependent on the individual Doc, but what is the best way to proceed here? Is it less big of a deal than I think or am I SOL? Any guidance would be helpful.
-Mike

Not that you should do this but PRK is not detectable… only LASIK is. I’ve had many eye docs look at my eyes since my PRK and none of them have noticed


Disclose it, if they pull your med records in this day and age it will show up.

 

[Skywalker]

Not that you should do this but PRK is not detectable… only LASIK is. I’ve had many eye docs look at my eyes since my PRK and none of them have noticed


Disclose it, if they pull your med records in this day and age it will show up.

Bad gouge. I had PRK with ideal results and some optometrists can tell without asking.

 

[Anthony2000]

Bad gouge. I had PRK with ideal results and some optometrists can tell without asking.

Interesting yeah I’ve been told some can tell, I guess if they have patients with it or perform the procedure, but every eye doc or physical I’ve got since I got it none of them have been able to tell.

 

[sevenhelmet]

Disclose it, and hope for the best. It’s the right thing to do, and lots of pilots fly with PRK’d peepers.

 

[nittany03]

Not that you should do this but PRK is not detectable… only LASIK is. I’ve had many eye docs look at my eyes since my PRK and none of them have noticed

Unless something has radically changed, I suspect this is bad gouge. Even 20 years ago they did a corneal topography at your initial NAMI physical. I remember the corpsman saying "you got PRK, didn't you, sir?" And I said something like "yep, I'm in the study program on a waiver," because that used to be a thing. There was a big blue dot in the center of the screen where they could see where my corneas got lasered.

 

[MGoBrew11]

Yeah, really bad gouge. They can absolutely tell.

My very first physical at Navy OCS the doc was looking at my eyes and said, “Do you have a waiver for PRK?” I said yes, and asked how he knew I had had it. He said he could easily tell based off of the shape of the cornea. And it wasn’t a hack job either. I’m still 20/20 11 years post op.

OP, you really should have disclosed from the beginning and someone gave you really bad gouge to not be upfront with it. But now that you can’t change that, you better disclose now. You’re only digging the hole deeper if you don’t fess up.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I find myself in a bit of a predicament and could use advice from anyone with experience or perspective relating to my situation. I'm currently AD Coast Guard and just finished applying for OCS and am confident I have a solid chance of getting picked up. I am planning on applying for aviation but I have run into a problem. Before I enlisted, I received PRK surgery and did not disclose this to the CG. I was told that a waiver would take months and that no doctor could ever tell if you have had PRK once I'd healed. My eyes have no issues (20/15) but I have recently learned that it CAN be detected through a corneal topography, a procedure that is mandatory for class 1 physical for flight duty. Does anyone know how big of a shitstorm it would cause if I just leveled with my Doc and came clean? Would they try to jam me up for fraudulent enlistment or auto-DQ me for flight? I imagine it's largely dependent on the individual Doc, but what is the best way to proceed here? Is it less big of a deal than I think or am I SOL? Any guidance would be helpful.
-Mike

You have put yourself in a not good situation, was it your recruiter that encouraged you not to disclose or did you just decide yourself not to disclose? What could happen is unknown and unfortunately for you it won't be known until you disclose, it could anything from just noting it in your medical record to a discharge for fraudulent enlistment.

 

[Griz882]

Just disclose it for your physical. First, it is unlikely someone will even notice and if they do you can claim “I misunderstood the form back then.” Chances are you’ll be fine but you might have to answer a few questions.

 

[Anthony2000]

You’ll be asked one final time if you need to disclose something after you get picked up. Probably best to do it then if you are currently submitted.

 

[Anthony2000]

You’ll be asked one final time if you need to disclose something after you get picked up. Probably best to do it then if you are currently submitted.

If you’re passed that 6-month window and have had no problems and are at 20/20, then getting the waiver should be no problem. Honestly ask your recruiter best course of action.


In the mean time though, either way you go you’ll need all medical documentation for it.

What I submitted for my PRK:
Pre-op eval
All notes from the docs, eye scans, test(s), notes on my visits, etc
Post-op eval

** There is a document for the waiver the actually surgeon will have to sign and verify your results on. I don’t know if I can post it on here, but any recruiter will have it. It’s one page straight forward. YOU WILL NEED this.

So get everything together in the meantime

 

[Swanee]

If you’re passed that 6-month window and have had no problems and are at 20/20, then getting the waiver should be no problem. Honestly ask your recruiter best course of action.


In the mean time though, either way you go you’ll need all medical documentation for it.

What I submitted for my PRK:
Pre-op eval
All notes from the docs, eye scans, test(s), notes on my visits, etc
Post-op eval

** There is a document for the waiver the actually surgeon will have to sign and verify your results on. I don’t know if I can post it on here, but any recruiter will have it. It’s one page straight forward. YOU WILL NEED this.

So get everything together in the meantime

Did you reply to yourself? ....are you disclosuring multiple personalities? ?



Edit: yes, I typed disclosuring....