PRK/LASIK

I am currently a 200 cadet in AFROTC and in order to get a pilot slot I will have to get corrective eye surgery. My question is if I have waited to late? I have heard I should only get it done after SFT but I have also heard if you wait until your 300 year then you will not have time to recover for the UPT medical and in turn would be DQed from flying. Please shed some light on my situation.

Thank You!

This is what is recommended,

If you're a 4 year major you should have the eye surgery NLT Sep 1 of your Junior Year
If you're a 4.5/ 5 year major - NLT Sep 1 of your Senior Year

You cannot have it done until you're 21 and your eyes are stable/not significantly still changing. Choosing between LASIK and PRK can be a significant decision. You will have to get a waiver, either way.

Before you go screwing yourself and your chance at getting a pilot slot you need to check the dates, you must have PRK and LASIK done for a certain amount of time before you can even go to wright pat for you FC1, which means you will DQ yourself if you do it in the wrong time frame. Which in turn means you go for supplemental board which can be hit or miss. I suggest talking to your det cadre, I talked to mine and they recommended I wait till after IFS/UPT because you can attend with both glasses/contacts then get the procedure done by the AF later.

On a side note, everyone that had LASIK (3) in my group at wright pat had some crazy things done and most have to wear glasses still, one had to go back in 1 year to check the incisions, PRK is the way to go if possible.

I agree with the above posters. Do not do this yet. Eyes are the last thing you want to mess with if you want to be a pilot. Our DS at 18 for his DoDMERB was on the cusp. He didn't need a waiver, but he was right there at the limit. His eyes did change for the better and never had it done.

He got his pilot slot and WPAFB cleared him no problems for his FC1 flight physical. OTOH another cadet had his done and he was the only cadet that got CSO out of 13 because he was not medically cleared.

MSFaygo said:

You cannot have it done until you're 21 and your eyes are stable/not significantly still changing. Choosing between LASIK and PRK can be a significant decision. You will have to get a waiver, either way.

Click to expand...

Incorrect. My son was 19 when he had his PRK done. No issues with it and he is now a pilot.

Stealth_81

Stealth you know I respect you to the moon and back, but....

Your DS was at USAFA and just my guess it was the AF docs that determined this decision, with no cost to the cadet. ROTC cadets are on their parents insurance. They do not see ADAF docs. They can search out a doctor that knows the AF requirements for pilots, but they are not a dime a dozen impo.

I agree with you that it can be done younger, but this is a totally different scenario for !any reasons....starting with as a USAFA cadet they have access to docs that know the ins and outs for FC1 physical.

The OP is going up for SFT/EA. If selected he will have to be able to attend FT anywhere from May to Aug. School will restart in the fall, and their rated board meets Feb of their junior year (6 months before USAFA). If they go to Max 5 or 6 and their school starts in August, it can impact when they can have the surgery because their eyes may not be healed. If they go Max 1,2,3 or 4thwn it is different.
~ However, they will not know their Max date until maybe May.Thus, even if they get 2, the doc might not get them in until Aug. 1. and that means when they put up for the board is still less than 6 months out from the surgery.

As I stated earlier, our DSs friend had the surgery. He used the same doctor that Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods used. He was DQd for pilot because of the timing. He was sent CSO.

Our DS pleaded with us to let him do it, but Bullet being a retired 15E WSO told him point blank....you don't screw with your eyes unless you have too!
~ When he was sent to WPAFB we were on pins and needles worrying if he would get an FC1 due to his eyes. He did, no problem. We, however, didn't expect him to have an issue where they required him to take an EKG(maybe it was an EEG or ECG...can't recall) 25% of the AFROTC cadets with him failed the first exama and had to do the higher level exam.

Evers,

You will be sent to WPAFB if selected for UPT. It is a 3 day TDY.the exam is not like DoDMERB...45 minutes. It is 8-4 with every doctor you can think of. It will end with meeting a flight surgeon.

Once ADAF, every year you will have a physical. One year it is called the short...think DoDMERB 30-45 minutes. The other year is the long physical and it is about 3 hours.
~ DS (2012) grad, pilot now, just did his 2 year and it included them dilating his eyes.

Pima,

I understand that they are different situations. However, the statement made was that PRK/LASIK cannot done until they are 21. That statement is incorrect, which is what I pointed out.

Stealth_81

I didn't mean to give bad info...glad you caught it. DS just completed a PRK pre-exam over break. I guess it was just his doc that wouldn't do it before age 21. I was just trying to pass on what we learned as I've had trouble getting much 'documented' info on the subject and it can be a deal breaker if done outside of accepted regs.

Not that it matters to the OP's original question/post, but I came to the same conclusion that Pima shared...DS can pass with glasses so I don't think its worth the risk of having to try to get a waiver for prior eye surgery (if he is even fortunate enough to even get a future pilot slot).

My DS is not wanting to be a pilot, but I want to add that his vision had to be unchanged for 1 year. He had his surgery when he was 20 and all of his follow-up exams went fine.

I went to FT this past summer and had LASIK done at the end of September. The only deadline that you need to meet is your 3 month check up must be completed before the rated board meets (first-ish week of January) so as long as you get it done before October you should be in good shape. As for the poster saying you can't get it until you're 21, that's wrong, not sure where they got that information. I don't turn 21 for a few months and several other cadets in my det got LASIK before their 21st as well. I was extremely far-sighted and the way the doctors explained it to me was that the more far-sighted you are before the surgery, the longer it will take to completely recover. I was seeing 20/25 the day after, 20/20 the week after, and 20/15 at my 3 month check up.

That being said, I wouldn't recommend waiting until the last minute to do it like I did. Talk to your cadre and if you know you need to get it done try and get it scheduled within a few weeks of returning from FT. You will have plenty of time to recover before school starts and you won't be rushing to get all of your supplimental paperwork (records from your LASIK, etc..) completed and in order at the last possible minute. Just make sure you talk to your cadre before scheduling any appointments (consultation or otherwise).

If you have any specific questions PM me, I went through this whole process within the last 3 months.

Undflyboy-Sent you PM

+1 to everything undflyboy said. I had PRK done ~2yrs ago in the same time frame and it worked out fine. However, like Pima said if you don't have to mess with the eyes then don't. I originally had 20/200 vision (corrected with glasses to 20/20) and the flight doc said my surgery was unnecessary. That was completely opposite of what I heard for 2+ years. In the end I would get your prescription and call wright patt and run it by them to get the thumbs up or thumbs down. Hearing it from the source will beat anything you hear here.

So true kevster. WPAFB are flight docs and they know the FAA FCI requirements inside and out.

Off topic....kevster are you at Laughlin now?

Yes ma'am! Took me about 30 minutes to see all it has to offer. Hahaha, but it looks like its a fantastic town to focus on flying. Got my casual job and now am hitting the boldface for IFS.

Study...study...study! If I recall correctly DS reported on Thursday 1st boldface was Friday.

LMAO...30 minutes? You must have driven slow or stopped to get gas! Laughlin is as close to a stateside remote as you can get! Never saw such a small commissary or BX in the 20 years Bullet served. Have to say the hotel is really nice!

Good luck and God speed.