NROTC PRK Laser Eye Surgery

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KingLear

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Nov 29, 2018
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Hello, I know USNA offers laser eye surgery to qualified midshipmen in their third year. Can a NROTC Midshipman also receive laser eye surgery from the navy?
 
King -- the following is a post I made about Army ROTC and PRK.

https://www.serviceacademyforums.co...at-want-prk-lasek-or-lasik.64572/#post-634181

Each ROTC is a little bit different in how they handle the surgery, so wait to hear from someone with NROTC knowledge and experience; but, this post might give you some background and there might be similarities. Best wishes to you and good luck with the surgery
 
DS is a NROTC-MO and completed laser eye surgery last summer before his third year. Our understanding is that the USNA Mids are run through Bethesda for eye surgery during the summer (as you indicated) but for NROTC it is still self-pay. This may change in the future. DS had to receive approval from his Battalion and keep all the documentation both pre and post-op. There are some specifics that is needed for the medical file. We selected an eye surgeon who had done thousands of these procedures. Outcome was successful and he's had good post-op visits at the 30, 60 and 120 day intervals. It needs to be done post 20 years old (recommendation) and at least 6-9 months before a flight physical or other Navy follow-up physical in order for the eyes to settle. Keep copies of all the documentation and approvals.
 
DS had same experience as max5757. It was self pay. Choose your surgeon wisely. There are many options out there that might offer discounts. We went with recommendation from our optometrist. Little did I know my sons surgeon wrote the textbooks on lasik and is highly respected in the field...its your vision and future so do some research. My son came out with 20-15 vision...had it over winter break junior year, had to get permission from CO, had aviation physical fall senior year when he went back to school.
 
max5757 said:
DS is a NROTC-MO and completed laser eye surgery last summer before his third year. Our understanding is that the USNA Mids are run through Bethesda for eye surgery during the summer (as you indicated) but for NROTC it is still self-pay. This may change in the future. DS had to receive approval from his Battalion and keep all the documentation both pre and post-op. There are some specifics that is needed for the medical file. We selected an eye surgeon who had done thousands of these procedures. Outcome was successful and he's had good post-op visits at the 30, 60 and 120 day intervals. It needs to be done post 20 years old (recommendation) and at least 6-9 months before a flight physical or other Navy follow-up physical in order for the eyes to settle. Keep copies of all the documentation and approvals.
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USNA is not just in the summer. My son had it in the late fall.
 
KingLear said:
Hello, I know USNA offers laser eye surgery to qualified midshipmen in their third year. Can a NROTC Midshipman also receive laser eye surgery from the navy?
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No. You're on your own if you're NROTC. The USN requires at least 6 months between the surgery and whenever you get your exam.

The USN prefers All-laser wavefront-guided LASIK or SmILE (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction), but PRK is perfectly acceptable too. You won't be disadvantaged in the waiver process if you get PRK. The USN cares about the outcome.

If you want to be an aviator, then your refraction cannot be worse than +6.00 diopters or -8.00 diopters. Your astigmatism cannot be worse than 3.00 diopters. I think the USN will consider a waiver if you are within 1.00 diopters of the standards though. Your eye exam must be completely normal though. For example, the eye surgeon will look at the back of your eye (ie retina) to make sure you don't have holes, tears, or lattice degeneration. Your optic nerve must be normal too.
 
Rotc will not pay for eye surgery. AF will pay for it if you are active duty and a pilot as it was offered to my son. NO idea about reserve or Guard and as been mentioned before they will do in if you are in the academy
 
GoCubbies said:
No. You're on your own if you're NROTC. The USN requires at least 6 months between the surgery and whenever you get your exam.

The USN prefers All-laser wavefront-guided LASIK or SmILE (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction), but PRK is perfectly acceptable too. You won't be disadvantaged in the waiver process if you get PRK. The USN cares about the outcome.

If you want to be an aviator, then your refraction cannot be worse than +6.00 diopters or -8.00 diopters. Your astigmatism cannot be worse than 3.00 diopters. I think the USN will consider a waiver if you are within 1.00 diopters of the standards though. Your eye exam must be completely normal though. For example, the eye surgeon will look at the back of your eye (ie retina) to make sure you don't have holes, tears, or lattice degeneration. Your optic nerve must be normal too.
Click to expand...

I don’t think SMILE is currently acceptable for aviation so take that into account. It is only in the very early stages of being performed within the DoD. Within the Navy there is much more PRK performed than LASIK, but the Army and Air Force have slightly different proportions for who knows what reason.
 
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