Has anyone's child been denied a waiver with USCGA for Myopia? We went through the whole remedial process and everything seem favorable from the optometrist. His glasses prescription is right eye -9.00 left eye -9.75. Just curious if there is any need to appeal?
Waiver Denied
- Thread starter jnow
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I think the issue will be that this is a judgment call on their part as to how much risk they are willing to take on. There is nothing objective to challenge - the vision is way beyond the DQ threshold. He may have an issue obtaining his 100 ton license with vision that bad.
We knew his vision was beyond the threshold. Just don't know why they put him through the remedial process knowing what his vision was from the first round of testing. I just hate to give up on the USCGA if that is what he really wants for his future! Does anyone know how long the appeal process takes?
It may be too late anyway. Conditional appointments are withdrawn if a waiver isn't obtained by today. Next step should probably be to talk to your AO about the appeal process, find out the exact reason for the denial of the waiver, and then attempt to obtain some medical to contradict theirs. Without some contradictory medical to rest your argument on, you are just saying pretty please let me in.
GoCubbies
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I'm not sure an appeal would work on this one. The standard is -8.00 diopters spherical equivalent (SE) and waiverable if no worse than -10.00 SE.
The refraction of your DS in the left eye is already at -9.75. "Spherical equivalent" means the cylinder (degree of astigmatism) of his eye glasses prescription is added to the -9.75. Using the spherical equivalent formula probably kicks him over the -10.00 diopter standard. The only way the spherical equivalent formula doesn't kick him over the -10.00 waiverable standard is IF his cylinder is 0 or -0.50. His eye sight is so bad that I really doubt his cylinder is 0 or -0.50. He most likely has some level of astigmatism with -9.75 diopters.
Let's say his prescription in the left eye is -9.75-1.00x081. It looks like he is waiverable at first glance because the sphere is -9.75 which is better than -10.00. However, the services use the "spherical equivalent" standard/forumla which means you have to use a little algebra (I always point this out when kids ask me when are they ever doing to use algebra after HS)...
-9.75 +(1/2)(cylinder) =SE
-9.75 +(1/2)(-1.00) = SE
-9.75 +-0.50 = SE
-10.25 = SE
As you can see, the SE is now -10.25 which is not in waiverable standard.
My suspicion is your DS may have a prescription something closer to like -9.75-2.00x081 which is a SE of -10.75.
As mentioned before, the only way your DS can meet the no worse than -10.00 waiverable standard is if his prescription is something like -9.75-0.50x180 or -9.75-0 (no cylinders which means he has no astigmatism).
Take a look at his eye glasses prescription and see if it still meets SE standard. If so, then an appeal may be worthwhile. The other thing you need to check out is his visual acuity. With spheres of -9.00 and -9.75, his VA may actually be worse than 20/400.
Good luck.
does he correct to a clear and precise 20/20? With the above stated prescription and the fact that his uncorrected distance vision is possibly well over 20/400, he would need to correct to a clear 20/20 to be considered for a waiver. If his waiver was denied by the Academy, he would likely have to appeal to CG Headquarters which, last I knew could take 6+ months to get a decision.