Considering LASIK...Any advice?

[OakRBust]

For me it is really simple.....


Put on your glasses or put in the contacts. Yeah you may look like a dork.... or they may suck to have to put in but.... you'll look like a dork with a really good job!!




I am with the guy above..... 1 in a 1000 complications is still way to many if you are currently holding a first class medical.


Anyways.... If you do get the surgery you will probably be fine but I would really think about it first.


Good Luck!!

 

[FlyToVegas]

PRK

I rejected LASIK in 1995 due to its invasiveness and took PRK as it was a much more superficial (though the healing time was longer) procedure. My vision went from 20/200 to 20/20...the healing time was about two weeks and perhaps a month before I could really see well at night. It changed my life for the better and never a problem or question getting a Medical. (Incidently I went to an excellent clinic in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and was treated by a very personable and prfessional physician who had been performing it about eight years by that point.) I would without question recommend the procedure to anyone. Incidently my uncle also had the procedure at age 55 and came out perfect.

 

[flyplanes2000]

Read this

 

[Chas]

My opinion + facts

My doc told me people who have larger pupils sometimes get starry vision looking at night lighting .
Worse yet though is as people approach 40 they start to need reading glasses which means wearing glasses anyway down the road!! Chas

 

[Sooneruga]

FamilyMan

The Air Force does NOT allow LASIK for pilots, only for nonflying members of the the Air Force. But you're right, the AF does perform PRK on pilots

 

[de727ups]

Did it.....

Like it.....
One of the best decisions I've ever made was to have Lasik. I wouldn't go to the cheapest doc I could find. Mine was 1K per eye...the guy is an ex-airforce eye doc....very good man.

 

[Pilotadjuster]

Intacs?

I recall reading about another procedure which basically sounds like they implant a permanent contact lens behind your cornea (?). the article was in (I think) Flying last year. Haven't heard much about it since then, but sounded like a much better alternative to Lasik or PRK.

Anyone familiar with this?

 

[bobbysamd]

Dorkism

I wore glasses for many, many years, from the third grade to 1990, which was about thirty years. I went to a regional interview wearing my glasses, which were thick on the left eye because of prisms, which I really didn't need, and bad vision that side. I wasn't hired. I thought that I wasn't hired in part because I projected the wrong image. I found a great optometrist in Prescott who got me into extended-wear disposable contacts. Also, G-d bless him, he straightened out a bogus waiver I was given by an AME in that city who was also an ophthamologist.

I wore my contacts full-time and wore them to subsquent regional interviews. Same result. Not hired. Apparently it made no difference whether I looked like a stud pilot or a dork.

In later years, in my forties I needed reading glasses along with my contacts. In my work I do a lot of reading. It became a real pain in the a$$ to put on and take off my reading glasses constantly. I discussed getting bifocals with my optometrist (based on how that Prescott AME jobbed me with a bogus waiver, I refuse to use opthalmologists). She thought it was a good idea. Now, this year, I've stopped wearing my contacts and I wear my bifocals full-time. By the way, my new AME told me last December I no longer need the waiver (SODA) and asked the FAA on my behalf to drop it.

More importantly, I think I look just fine in my bifocals. They are the kind without lines (not that I cared, particularly), and much less upkeep is needed. In addition, I see plenty of pilots for majors wearing glasses, including Delta pilots.

Just a little more food for thought.

PM me for the name of the great Prescott optometrist and/or horrendous AME.

 

[reaperman]

intacs

pilotadjuster,

Yeah, I've heard of them. I believe they're indicated for MILD cases of myopia, so my -6 diopter eyes don't qualify. I'm not sure of the limit, perhaps -2.5 or less. There's just no hope for me other than trying to stay healthy and cutting the bottom off a new pair of Coke bottles every year.

 

[Pilotadjuster]

Coke Stock

Guess its the same for me--my right eye is about the same as yours (the very top line of the eye chart is fuzzy...). I'll stick with my gas perms and back up glasses. Too many Lasik horror stories.