LASIK Experience

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Due to the (ever so lengthy) FDA approval process.

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This is also probably why the US guys have to charge more. They have to jump through a lot of hoops for the FDA, so they have to recoup the costs somehow.
 
I would love to be able to see without my contacts but I absolutely hate whenever somebody messes with my eye, drives me absolutely nuts so I dont forsee this happening for me. When I first got contacts the eye doctor tried to put them in himself, an hour later he decided to give me a try at them.
 
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I am considering getting Lasik surgery done. I am just worried about losing my night vision because I've heard a few stories where thats happened and then the pilot has to quit his job. But anyway, I have 20/80 in both eyes. If you have Lasik done, and you have 20/20 is it possible to fly in the Navy or Air Force? I want to serve my country by being a pilot if at all possible. O yea and correct me if I"m wrong. You can't fly in the Navy or Air Force if you have glasses and/or contacts. But what about National Guard, or Air Force Reserve?

Good Day

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Don't quote me on this, but I believe Navy/Marine test standards are 20/40 and Air Force is 20/70. If you want to be in either branch DON'T get lasik. It's still considered an experimental treatment and you will be automaticaly disqualified when you go to your initial flight physical. I'm not sure about the Air Force, but I know that the Navy and Marine Corps are doing an experiment with allowing PRK surgery. However, make sure you talk to a recruitor BEFORE you get anything done. Also Reserves/Guard do just about everything according to Air Force standards.

This is just my knowledge from my short experience with the military. Also just a word of advice from someone that didn't think very hard about their decision before going in (Marine Corps OCS). Think really long and hard before you go, the military lifestyle isn't for everyone (even if half your family was military aviators and you grew up with a fighter pilot father). It wasn't for me.
 
I believe that a bunch of Navy guys were part of a LASIK study. They were trying to determine the difference in night vision among people who had the traditional LASIK done with the microkeratome cutting the flap versus the new version where a laser did the cutting.

They're still flying so I have to believe that the Navy will let you do it.
 
Don't know if this thread is still active or if anyone is still bothering to read it, but I thought that I would add my $0.02 worth of input to the convo.
I had LASIK done in January 2004 and I am happy with it. I am now the proud holder of a Category 1 Medical (Canada's equivalent of the First Class Medical) and can now continue on to becoming a pro pilot.
I did not get it done just because I didn't want to wear glasses or contacts anymore. I got it done because I needed it to pass the Category 1 Medical up here in Canada. If I could have passed the medical without LASIK and had to have worn glasses that would have been fine with me, but I couldn't so I had the procedure done. Don't get any unnecessary surgery done. If you can get a First Class/ Cat 1 Medical without surgery great! Only get it if it is absolutely necessary for you to become a pro pilot. My advice: if you are serious about becoming a commercial pilot and need the surgery, do it. Just make sure you get it done from a experienced, reputable doctor. And most of all, don't go for the cheaper place. These are your eyes for cryin out loud!!!!! Be smart!
 
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Just make sure you get it done from a experienced, reputable doctor. And most of all, don't go for the cheaper place. These are your eyes for cryin out loud!!!!! Be smart!

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Amen to that. I had been going to this eye doctor for a while and he never pushed the procedure on me. I would ask about it, and he would say, well, you gotta be sure you really want it. Because if you don't, you're not going to be happy no matter how good your vision turns out.

I finally just got sick of putting contacts into my eyes, worried about things like infection, and all that kind of stuff. And being the financial geek that I am, I did a cost benefit analysis. I figured contacts and glasses and solutions were running me about $400-$500 a year. So I figured that it would pay for itself in nine years, tops.

And I did the research into the procedure, asked all sorts of questions, and weighed it over. When I decided to do it, I did it fast.

Like I said, though, one of the most reassuring things about this doctor was that he did an astronaut's eyes, and that he never pushed it on me.
 
I'm only 13 years old, so I would have to wait at least 5-7 years to get LASIK, but I don't know if I would do it. True, I hate wearing glasses and probably would get fed up with contacts. Plus, most of the time LASIK turns out fine. However, it just seems too risky and I have heard horror stories about it. The prospect of permanently wrecking one's vision would be too frightening, IMHO.
 
I had Lasik done a couple of years ago. While I have regressed to the point where I do wear glasses when I fly, I don't need them around the house. And I wear them becasue I want better than 20/20 when I fly.

I'm not one to worry much about low statistical risks. When I talked to the loss of license insurance people, they said it wasn't a problem to have Lasik. If there was a significant number of pilots who lost vision due to Lasik, the loss of license insurance companies wouldn't provide coverage if you did the procedure and had a problem.
 
My prescription right now is something like 20/175 and I - like many of you here - detest having to wear glasses. Right now I think I'll make due with contacts but for the future I did find it interesting that the Air Force permits PRK to be performed on its personnel (including pilots). As I researched, it looked like over 90% of the people that came in for the surgery walked out pilot qual. There are four basic categories that one gets put into when you're entered into the list for surgery, and airmen are put right at the top of the list. I even read that this surgery is being performed on seniors at the Air Force Academy. Definitely something to look into for those of you that want to fly for the military.
 
I had LASIK with wavefront done at age 16.. 3 years down the road still see 20/10 in one eye and 20/15 in the other... Worked out great for me, just make sure you pick the doctor with the best reputation.
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do lasik really screws up your night vision? just curious is that I hear rumors about it. Where do you guys go for your lasik? how much did it cost for u guys? or did your optemetry recommended to you?

I can't seem to find a list history of sucessful procedures within the years. It still seems new to me.
 
"do lasik really screws up your night vision?"

Yeah, the first night I saw the halo's. After that, didn't. I'm a night freight pilot, you think I'd take an unreasonable risk with my vision? I weighed the risk and am glad I did LASIK. This was several years ago. What really made the final decision in favor of doing LASIK was finding out my loss of license insurance would still pay off after doing LASIK as an elective procedure. As conservative and unreasonable as insurance companies are that they would still take care of me if something went wrong made me think LASIK must have a pretty good track record.

The technology must be getting better now, too, because back when I did it, they said folks should wait until they were 18 to have it done.
 
greezergriff7 said:
I had LASIK with wavefront done at age 16.. 3 years down the road still see 20/10 in one eye and 20/15 in the other... Worked out great for me, just make sure you pick the doctor with the best reputation.
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Is wavefront the procedure that doesn't actually cut your eye (lens) and just uses a pulse of laser to reshape it??
 
tonyw said:
Not really. I haven't had any problems with halos or anything like that.
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The only problem I ever had was slight headaches when driving at night. My optomotrist suggested to turn on a portion of my dome light and that would help. Your eyes adjust to the light in the car and then when that big truck with blaring lights comes around the corner, you won't get blinded.
 
I could barely see before LASIK. I could not even see the big E on the eye chart with my right eye. I could see the E with my left but not read the first line under it. So pretty blind.

I had LASIK done about 1 year ago. Results not perfect, but much better. The good is that I do not wear glasses to see since I can drive (passed the DMV test easily) and I can read just fine without them. The bad is, I am only corrected to 20/40 in both eyes since my vision was so bad prior. Now together with both eyes, I read at 20/20. But for my first class medical, I need to wear glasses since I can not see at 20/20 with each eye on its' own. So while I don't wear glasses, I do have to wear them to fly. That sucks, but it's life and I'd still do it again since my life outside the cockpit is much better.

Oh, and I had to argue with LensCrafters since they refused to make such a small perscription and I had to explain over and over why I needed the glasses. They still thought I was nuts. I told them to call the FAA and tell them what some nut case told them so they can get their answer and realize, the FAA is strict on the vision requirement just like they are on the 60 year old retirement age...

Good luck to anyone who considers LASIK.
 
I have no side effects from lasik after having it done over a year ago. Never had loss of night vision or halos even temporarily. My vision is 20/16
 
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