Eye exams

[wildflyin69]

Hey, here's a heads up to any of you future SNA's especially those of you who are going to have PRK. I would recommend having your color vision checked. If any are you are color weak like me, you may not know about it until it's too late. I fail the standard eye exam but I just took a Farnsworth Lantern test (alternative approved by the navy) today to see if I'll meet the requirement before I move ahead to the eye surgury. I won't know the results for a few days because the doctor has to graph them out, all he said is that his estimate is that I'm pretty close, so I either just made the cut-off (not quite sure what it is), or just missed it. Anyway, there are a lot of people that never had their color vision officially checked, in my case it was part of a standard eye exam, so I've known for a while. I don't get red and green confused or anything, but i start having problems when the colors get really really light. Just letting you guys know. If you are a bit color weak don't worry, there are a lot of pilots who are.

"Push the stick foward, the houses get bigger; pull back, the houses get smaller... unless you keep pulling back, then they get bigger again."

 

[bunk22]

What does PRK have to do with affecting color vision? Perhaps I'm just confused about your statement. Isn't the Farnsworth Lantern test the two vertical lights with red, green, or white as the choices? If so, you'll know whether or not you pass or fail right there. You have to get 100% to pass. It's not that hard by the way. I've never been able to pass the number in the dots test. The only color vision test I've ever taken in the Navy has been the light test and I've been an Naval Aviator for almost 7 years now plus two years of flight training. So yes, there is hope out there if you are color weak, if that's what it's called.

 

[wildflyin69]

PRK has nothing to do with color vision. I'm just saying that you might want to check that you're meeting color vision standards before taking the leap to correct near-sightedness through surgury. And there are different types of Farnsworth lantern tests, mine was to put a bunch of paint chips in order.

"Push the stick foward, the houses get bigger; pull back, the houses get smaller... unless you keep pulling back, then they get bigger again."

 

[bunk22]

Originally posted by wildflyin69
PRK has nothing to do with color vision. I'm just saying that you might want to check that you're meeting color vision standards before taking the leap to correct near-sightedness through surgury. And there are different types of Farnsworth lantern tests, mine was to put a bunch of paint chips in order.

Regardless of having color vison problems or not, correcting near sightedness would be a good thing. At least I think so. Anyway, the only exam I have ever taken for my flight physical, from the first one at Pensacola to now has been the light test I mentioned. The others most likely don't matter. I have actually taken the one you are talking about though. In college, the local Optometry school needed some volunteers for testing so I went. I ended up taking every damn color vision test imaginable. If you are stressing about something this small, don't. It's not a hard test. If you can determine traffic lights from a distance, you should pass.

 

[wildflyin69]

cool, if that's the only test I have to worry about then I'm all set Load off my mind...

"Push the stick foward, the houses get bigger; pull back, the houses get smaller... unless you keep pulling back, then they get bigger again."