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Army Corrective Eye Surgery Regulations


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Luckily, I am a candidate for corrective eye surgery since my eyesight is 20/70.

 

My question is do you have to get your sight corrected before or after applying for WOFT because I've been told that if you get your vision corrected before you join (By a non-army doctor, that you will be medically dq'd because the military doesn't know the reliability of the surgeon. That being said, the army would do the procedure as long as you were qualified in all other aspects.

 

Does anybody know if there is any truth behind this?

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I'm going to try to break it down question by question..

 

So to answer the first: Do you need to have your vision corrected prior to applying?

 

According to AR 40-501, you need to have 20/50 or better, correctable to 20/20. So that says yes.

However, at 20/70 correctable to 20/20 you would be eligible for a waiver.. but that is not guaranteed. So that would require actually going through with the flight physical and requesting a waiver. See below

 

WAIVERS:

Initial Flight Applicants: Failure to meet Class 1 visual standards will be considered for exception to policy on a case-by-case basis in the age of Refractive Surgery and considering the needs of the Army. Applicants must correct to 20/20, both near and distant. Uncorrected distant visual acuity must be 20/70 or better. Uncorrected near visual acuity must be better than 20/40. Cycloplegic refraction within 3/4 diopter of standards will be considered.

 

As far as the question of the military accepting civilian surgery.. as long as you meet the pre and post op assessment as outlined in the Aeromedical Policy letters.. and had PRK LASEK or LASIK.. then I couldn't see why or how you would be DQ'ed.

 

WAIVERS:

All Rated and Non-Rated Aircrew (to include ALL Applicants): FDMEs with PRK, LASEK or LASIK with an acceptable pre-/post-surgical assessment as outlined below shall be submitted "qualified, information only." Personnel failing to meet pre-/post-operative standards will be submitted "disqualified" and require an AMS for formal waiver/ETP consideration.

 

So whichever route you chose to take, you're going to have some work to do.

 

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Suggestion: Try to get the waiver mentioned above (didn't know such a thing existed, to be honest) before going for the PRK/LASIK. It could save you $$ if you get selected: just get the surgery later on the Army dime. If no waiver, get the surgery and try again after the waiting period.

 

Also, the information above is correct re: the surgery itself. They don't care who the surgeon is, they care about results. I don't think they'll do the surgery for a WOFT applicant who isn't currently enlisted. Doesn't make much sense to me.

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So I have a approved flight Physical but my eyes were right on the borderline at 20/50. What will happen if once I get to flight school my eye sight has deteriorated to worse than 20/50?

Eyesight stabilizes around the ages of 18-21, that's why you have to wait until you fall into that bracket to get corrective surgery. My eye sight has been the same for the past 6 years, which is a good sign. So the odds of your vision getting worse is low, unless you get in some sort of incident.

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So I have a approved flight Physical but my eyes were right on the borderline at 20/50. What will happen if once I get to flight school my eye sight has deteriorated to worse than 20/50?

You squint REALLY hard and you make out the line you need to in order to pass.

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