laser eye surgery

[tdrogers21]

Does anyone have any info on how difficult it is to get a medical waver for laser eye surgery?

[Eagle 1]

If you have had corrective eye surgery, waviers are almost impossible to get for new accessions to enlisted and officer programs (esp. aviation, submarine, and spec war/ops communities). The problem lies in that there is not a substantial track history on the long term success of the different procedures.
There a presently four surgical procedures to correct abnormal visual acuity: Radial keratotomy (RK), Photorerfractive Keratectomy (PRK), Laser In Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK), and Intra-Corneal Ring inplants (ICR). RK involves surgical incisions on the cornea, and has been determined by NAVY docs to not produce stable visual corrections in operational enviornments.(read 'don't do RK', no waviers at all). LASIK (the "hot' civilian procedure) and ICR are relatively new and the services are continuing to conduct operational evaluations and long term data collection. NO waviers are given for these procedures at this time.
However,if you are are active duty and wish to have PRK (a series of fine laser ablations which re-sculpt the cornea)to correct your vision in order to be eligible for certain programs, you have to have prior approval of you CO, be accepted in a long term follow up program and satisfy some other medical conditions. (best bet is to talk with a Navy Doc before you get the surgery because the requirenemts can change). This probably tells you more than you wanted to know, hope it helps. The above pertains to Navy, the other services may have some different rules and conditions. Best of luck.

[norm]

I thought PRK was acceptable for enlisting w/ a SEAL-contract. Others on the forum have said there was a 6 month wait? prior to enlisting if you've had the surgery. I'd like some clarification

[DemoPup]

Yeah i heard the same thing too from a Squid recruiter..... he said there were lots of eye surgery stuff but he said PRk was okay.... just so long as you got it before a certain amount of time.....

[Nemo]

The Navy has a SEAL recruiting site at http://www.sealchallenge.navy.mil that is worth checking out.

[Eagle 1]

The site mentioned in the above post, under FAQ #3 states: 'There are no vision waviers; however the vision requirements are under review. Contact a SEAL recruiter for up-to-date information.' The gouge that was quoted in my post was from BUMED msg dtg 291330Z SEP99 and CNO msg dtg 21221Z DEC99. Check out the NAVY's BUMED web site for the latest info. Read the fine print.

[cmkdirk]

It sounds like there are quite a few uninformed individuals giving responses. The dod has recently posted requirements on their official site http://www.defenselink.mil/...Having been in the dive fairer program and discharged for laser surgery I received had crash course on the subject. The word came directly from Great Lake's CO...."One year after surgery is required..After one year of stable vision, following prk surgey, a waiver will be granted for enlistement. After enlistement you may apply for a dive waiver. Pending results of surgery and eye exams, a waiver may or may not be granted."..That was 3 years ago. Now if you go to the dod site you will see that dod is now excepting LASIK surgerys too. Recruiters know nothing! They will tell you what they think you want to hear. I have done extensive research on the subject because I plan on re-entering the Navy after my degree is complete. If you would like further info please email me. I have many resources on the subject and a little personal experience.

[Jack Ryan]

Originally posted by cmkdirk:
[URL=http://www.defenselink.mil/...Having]http://www.defenselink.mil/.. Now if you go to the dod site you will see that dod is now excepting LASIK surgerys too. I have done extensive research on the subject [/B]

cmkdirk,

I tried the link for the DOD, but could not get it to work for me. My question is this: On the navymedicine site it says that only PRK is allowed as of right now for the special warfare community. In your reply you say that lasiks is now allowed. Is the information you have on lasiks something that has just recently be implemented.

Also, if something is accepted by the DOD does this mean the each branch of the military has to comply with what the DOD decides is allowed or not allowed.

Thanks - Jack Ryan

[Jack Ryan]

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