Klaydabby Posted May 21, 2018 Report Share Posted May 21, 2018 Hello everyone, I've been lurking on the boards for a couple weeks now. I stumbled upon the woft program awhile back and I think I'm ready to take the leap and kick things into gear. That being said, the first step in this process is my eyes. They are 20/400 uncorrected but correctable to 20/20. I have a lasik consultation planned in the next couple of days to see if I'm a candidate. If I am, then I know I will have to wait a minimum of 3 months before I can get my physical done and start putting my packet together. I read on the woft applicants guide that I will need to take some paperwork to the lasik surgeon for them to fill out on the day of the surgery. However, those links were dead and I cant seem to find anything regarding this issue. I called the aeromedical dept. At rucker and the administration told me plainly "not to worry about it. Just get your lasik done and your flight surgeon will tell you what you need during the physical." I'm not a fan of this approach and was wondering if anyone has a copy of the forms needed for lasik pre-op and post-op? Thank you to anyone who can help, and hopefully my consultation goes well. If it does then my WOFT preparation begins! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbussma Posted May 22, 2018 Report Share Posted May 22, 2018 Documentation I used when I had LASIK in 2016.Corneal Refractive Surgery Worksheet.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbussma Posted May 22, 2018 Report Share Posted May 22, 2018 Have you gotten a flight physical yet? I would 100% do that before you go get LASIK. Also, what you were told by Lyster is essentially what you'll wind up doing. Your flight surgeon will send your pre-op as well as all your post-op forms as one packet in order to get your exception to policy once you're outside the mandatory 3-month recovery window. If you can't get a flight physical now, I'd at least be in contact with a flight surgeon before you go get LASIK so you can be sure you meet all of the other requirements to submit your exception to policy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaydabby Posted May 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2018 I haven't gotten a physical yet, no. I've looked around on here and from what I understand it wouldn't be wise to go to the flight surgeon preOP. Better to go postOP with the proper paperwork. Likewise, it would probably be more wise to find out if there are any other disqualifying factors by doing the physical before.(there shouldn't be, lost 110 pounds but have zero complications.) I assumed with all my research that my first course of action would be to fix my eyes and see if they can be fixed in the first place. Would it actually be better to get with my recruiter first and do a flight physical and see what they say? I mean I'm obviously not going to pass, but I'm assuming they're going to map my eye and see if my corrected vision is an exception? My eyes have very acute astigmatism. (So little that my prescribed contacts are not astigmatism based.) And I'm -4 in both eyes. If that helps 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbussma Posted May 22, 2018 Report Share Posted May 22, 2018 If your uncorrected vision is 20/400, you're way out of standard. The standard is uncorrected vision greater than 20/50 but correctable to 20/20. I will say I'm Guard, so the process may differ slightly than the AD side. I don't believe there is anything stating you have to consult a flight surgeon prior to getting either procedure done, but considering their job is to know everything flight physical related, it can't hurt. I'll also say that, unless I was looking to get LASIK done anyway, I'd want to be sure there was nothing else that would keep me from flying before spending several thousand dollars on my eyes. I'd also want to have the opinion of a flight surgeon before going through it. My unit has a flight surgeon in house though, so it may not be feasible for you to get to one near where you live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaydabby Posted May 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2018 Yeah, I've been considering Lasik ever since I was 17.(23 now) So nothing major there, this just gave me a reason to fast track it into action. I was going to use the 3-6 months of wait time to get into perfect PFT shape and study to destroy the GT score and SIFT. However, in hindsight it does make more sense to see if I can actually pass a flight physical prior to devoting myself entirely to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singhdrewan Posted May 23, 2018 Report Share Posted May 23, 2018 I did PRK last year also to pass a class 1 flight physical. I was at a -3 in one eye and a -.5 in the other. I called Rucker and was sent the CRS worksheet. Got it filled out, and finally passed part 2 of my flight physical this last Friday. All they wanted was the CRS worksheet during my flight physical. I offered my whole file on my eyes, but they just asked for the worksheet. MEPS, on the other hand, wants its own paperwork and ALL of your paperwork for your surgery and all around a huge pain (in my experience). Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kur Posted May 28, 2018 Report Share Posted May 28, 2018 If you want to get LASIK regardless of selection, do it first. It makes everything more straightforward I believe. I'm in the recovery months r/n but it also works out because I'm finishing up college in the meantime. If selection isn't time critical, I'd say plan everything else around LASIK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ac1001 Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Check out the latest Army Aeromedical policy letters. It has all of the standards for Lasik, pre and post op surgery standards, I believe it has the form required by your Lasik doctor as well. You can google the Army Aeromedical policy letters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaydabby Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Thanks for everyone who responded and gave the me links to the worksheets. I also found the Aeromedical Policy letters to be helpful as well. I decided to go ahead and go through with the surgery regardless of selection. Surgery will be tomorrow. I also found out that the maximum your eyes can be to NOT require an exception to policy is -6.00 or +4.00. Thankfully mine fall into -3.75 in both eyes and acute .5 astigmatism in both eyes. So thankfully I won't require another exception to policy regarding that. (Hopefully) As far as getting my flight physical done first, I spoke with my recruiter about it and the only way we can get that done is to do MEPS first and then schedule the flight physical after doing that one. I know I can schedule one on my own. However, I'm not that worried about it. The only thing that I can ever see causing me a problem in a flight physical would be some excess skin I have. Currently 5'11, 183lbs, however at my heaviest I was around 314lbs. Nothing major, don't want people to think I have wings hanging off me, just some slight leftover stomach skin. No broken bones, no weight related medical issues. Moving on, getting Lasik tomorrow and that will start my 6 month process before I can even head to MEPS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbussma Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Moving on, getting Lasik tomorrow and that will start my 6 month process before I can even head to MEPS. Not sure if you're talking about the mandatory recovery period after the procedure, but it's 3 months for LASIK. It's 6 for PRK. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaydabby Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Not sure if you're talking about the mandatory recovery period after the procedure, but it's 3 months for LASIK. It's 6 for PRK.For MEPS it's only 3 months as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbussma Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 I thought you were talking about your flight physical, not MEPS. Sorry about that. Just did a quick search and it looks like it's 6 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willhp Posted June 5, 2018 Report Share Posted June 5, 2018 I thought you were talking about your flight physical, not MEPS. Sorry about that. Just did a quick search and it looks like it's 6 months.Six months is correct for MEPS. There is another thread on this forum where this question was brought up before and addressed with where to find the regulations. MEPS requires a 6 month post op recovery timeline. The actual flight physical only requires a three month post op recovery timeline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simpsj17 Posted June 6, 2018 Report Share Posted June 6, 2018 Lyster health clinic at ft Rucker made me wait 6 months after my PRK to do a flight physical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daabears Posted June 9, 2018 Report Share Posted June 9, 2018 I have a question to tag along here. I have a little over a 3 month gap in between WOCS and WOBC right now and have been siting around 20/50 for my eyesight. I havent had my second flight physical yet and have considered asking my flight surgeon if he/she would approve me getting LASIK done during that 3 month waiting time. I know I would have to get the B Co commander to approve of it too. Does anyone have any advice to give on that subject? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElJay Posted June 10, 2018 Report Share Posted June 10, 2018 I got a brief from the optometrist in aeromed and he made it sound like it was no big deal to get lasik while in a hold. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaydabby Posted June 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2018 Quick update, Lasik Completed. 9 days post op. Everything is good and I'm off the Anti-biotic drops. However, sadly, I'm no longer seeing 20/20. I talked to my surgeon and they said "That's normal vision is going to fluctuate." I believe that, so I'm going to hold on to hope they will re correct back to 20/20. On the off chance that they don't re-correct and I need an enhancement, does this add time to the 6 month wait time for MEPS? Pessimistic question I know, but just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simpsj17 Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 Every time you get the operation done its another 6 months. Dont sweet it man your vision will come back. Right now your eyes have basically scabbed over and your eyelids are going to smooth out the surface of your eyes as you blink. It normal and the halls at night will go away it just takes time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.