I concur with Pima, an old high school friend of mine is currently one of the grand poobahs of eye correction surgery. I asked him about LASIK and PRK and he told me that over all the results of PRK are much more stable than with LASIK. That is why the military chooses this, the example he used was where one of his patients got into a car accident and the cornea tore along the cut lines of the LASIK procedure that occurred 5 years earlier! The DoDMERB issue is another, more immediate consideration, and that cannot be ignored.Can a current cadet have LASIK done outside of the Air Force doctors? I know the Air Force will pay for PRK but LASIK is so much better and I am willing to pay for it.
I cannot see why you would do that, mainly because it would open you up to a DoDMERB issue. You may personally believe LASIK is better, but it is not approved by the AF, whereas PRK is approved.
The question is not about money for the AF, it is about protocols and eyes when pulling 8 or 9 G's will have issues.
Isredmond,
My DD is also looking into this. At the Academy they can't schedule the eye exam until 2nd semester of their sophomore year (C3C). The surgery itself will not be performed until after commitment which is the first class day of their C2C. I could be wrong on this, so I will defer to others if I am incorrect. This is just the information provided to me by my cadet. I had it done it the good old days when it was just RK, diamond bladed scalpel was usedNow my eyes are just getting old and I need reading glasses. Sure was nice for twenty years not wearing any glasses or contacts
Does the AFA do the eye surgery for free?
OK, I'm going to sound snarky for a moment - do you think the AFA under the military medical system providing PRK for cadets would charge them for it? The obvious answer is no.
Having provided that "please think for a moment" jab, USAFA provides PRK under both the rated and warfighters program. One is for potential pilots to become qualified and the other is to provide surgery for non-rated officers. The reasoning is that a one-time surgery is cheaper than a lifetime of glasses/contacts for the government.
OK, I'm going to sound snarky for a moment -
I thought it was disqualifying for pilot status if you had lasik prior to entering AFA. I recall my son being told, do not do any eye surgery... there is the civilian way then the air force way??? When air force does it they know what they have is the way it was explained...
The bigger issue is that, for USNA at least, LASIK or PRK prior to applying can be disqualifying for admission. At a minimum, they look at your eyesight PRIOR TO surgery in determining whether to grant a waiver and the fact you had surgery may actually count against you. Again, this is for USNA but I would think USAFA would take the same approach.
If you are considering corrective surgery to improve your chances of being medically qualified for a SA . . . don't do it unless you check and double check with that SA to fully understand its impact on the admissions process. Don't take the first answer you get, or the answer you want to hear.