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All things LASIK surgery (aircrew/other -- merged)

I had lasik done and i have 20/20 vision, however as in my case and the majority of cases with Lasik your night vision is compromised. I have halo's around light sources at night and although for civilian life it is fine in the case of landing and flying at night time it would be a serious issue.
 
You can have certain procedures (there is a list. ask your medical section). No the CF will not pay for it. If you are trying to be a pilot you would have to have it done before you apply (min 6 months before actually) As you need to pass the medical (which is the whole reason you want to have the procedure). My father had Lasik this year. 20/20 No Halo's no dryness no nothing. If your eyes have not stabilized (ie. your perscription has changed recently and keeps changing ever year or two) then yes it will continue to change and you will probably have to do Lasik again when you sight deteriorates again.
 
I did a bit more searching again (thanks Michael for the tip on only searching this site, that helped a lot!), and I seem to have found a bit more of info and a few more things to ask.

I can't believe that I missed it, but it seems that I'll be too young to get LASIK when I plan to apply...  Chances are that it won't last at all.  Nighttime doesn't seem to be a much of a issue with Wavefront-guided LASIK, only for normal LASIK.

It seems that what type of aircraft I fly doesn't get picked until about a year into the program.  Would it be possible to get LASIK half way in the training?  If the case it didn't help that much, couldn't they put me in a helicopter?  That way I could apply a little earlier.

I might try to take a internship with Lockheed or another aircraft company while doing my degree and take my time.  It seems that I can't rush in like I hoped.
 
Frozen said:
  Would it be possible to get LASIK half way in the training?  If the case it didn't help that much, couldn't they put me in a helicopter? 
Click to expand...

No - CF medical entry standards are uniform for the Pilot MOSID.  You cannot begin training without meeting the requirements.
 
Hey everyone,

I'm a longtime forum reader, and a new poster because I couldn't find some information I was looking for (I tried to search through the forums but came up with nothing for this specific question).  Sorry in advance if there's another thread I should post this in.

I'm hoping to apply for pilot and have done a lot of research into the vision standards (have spoken with a CF Flight Surgeon from DRDC) but was still unable to get one question answered.

Does anybody know if laser eye surgery will prevent a pilot from flying high g-force maneuvers? (fighter jets, aerobatics, etc.)  The flight surgeon never got back to me with an answer to this, and I've heard mixed answers from other sources. 

Any help is greatly appreciated.  Thanks
 
The CANFORGEN is on this website that lists the types of Laser Eye surgery approved for aircrew. Aircrew = pilots. Its even in this subforum I think.
 
PuckChaser said:
The CANFORGEN is on this website that lists the types of Laser Eye surgery approved for aircrew. Aircrew = pilots. Its even in this subforum I think.
Click to expand...

Thanks PuckChaser, I'm aware of the types of surgery that are approved.  My question was just if there are any restrictions imposed on aircrew who have undergone a procedure.  Over on the avcanada forums someone posted saying that CF aircrew who had undergone refractive surgery were restricted from certain aircraft because the effects of high g-force loading on eyes was not well known.  I was just wondering if there was any merit to their claims.
 
According to my optometrist, hyperopia and astigmatism are much harder to correct that myopia and, in some cases, cannot be corrected.

Here's a LVC center in Vancouver that publishes statistics on their success rate: http://www.pacific-laser.com/our-statistics/

 
Can anyone comment or post a link related to policy or practice pertaining to laser eye surgery in the CF? More specifically, what the industry calls "mono-vision" - for those who do not know, this refers to the procedure where one eye is corrected to 20/20 and the less dominant eye is corrected to some degree but also compensate for presbyopia.

cheers
 
http://hr.ottawa-hull.mil.ca/health-sante/pd/pol/4020-01-eng.asp

That is up to date as of Jan 2010.  I don't recall anything in there about mono-vision - it does outline can do and can't do procedures and restrictions, etc. 

If it's a fairly new thing, my advice is to talk to your MO about it.

MM
 
medicineman said:
http://hr.ottawa-hull.mil.ca/health-sante/pd/pol/4020-01-eng.asp
That is up to date as of Jan 2010.  I don't recall anything in there about mono-vision - it does outline can do and can't do procedures and restrictions, etc. 
If it's a fairly new thing, my advice is to talk to your MO about it.
Click to expand...

Thanks MM,
Is there an external (internet) source for that file? I won't be near my DWAN machine for a while.

cheers,
Frank
 
Yeah - I don't have it with me, but google CF Health Services Policy and Direction or CFHS Instruction 4020-01 and you should be able to find it.

MM
 
PanaEng said:
Can anyone comment or post a link related to policy or practice pertaining to laser eye surgery in the CF? More specifically, what the industry calls "mono-vision" - for those who do not know, this refers to the procedure where one eye is corrected to 20/20 and the less dominant eye is corrected to some degree but also compensate for presbyopia.

cheers
Click to expand...

Interesting...after my last eye exam, I mentioned that I was toying with the idea of Lasik or PRK.  I was surprised to learn that I'm not a candidate.  I've been nearsighted since my teens, and within the last couple of years I can no longer read while wearing my glasses, as I always could.  I tried bifocals, and couldn't get used to them.  The ophthalmologist mentioned that while I wasn't a candidate for both eyes, he suggested getting only one done.  I thought he was dipping into the pupil dilation stuff at the time...but I guess not!
 
I was searching around and couldn't find an answer to my questions. SO here it is. My plan in life is to join the infantry(Regular) and take all the cool courses I can (paratrooper, sniper, etc) Maybe when I have a few tours under my belt and I am older I would like to try out for CSOR or maybe even JTF2 Special Operation Assaulter. Would having laser eye surgery restrict me from anything at all? Thanks in advance.
 
Im no expert, but can you back that up?(not calling you out...just curious) CANFORGEN? I've read a few posts on here regarding Lasik requirements for Pilot. I also can't imagine why having gone through Lasik would disqualify someone for Clearance Diver? What about Combat Diver? I would suspect the two would have similar requirements and restrictions.

EDIT: I found the CANFORGEN

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/72796.0

Pilots seem to be allowed to undergo laser eye surgery now. No mention of Clearance diver, but the links to trades that allow and do not allow refractive surgery does not work anymore. Not sure where to find that list.
 
I was being facetious. He asked if he would be restricted from "anything at all".

There's 80 bazillion pages on vision questions here. I'm not going to draw this out any longer than it needs to be. Suffice to say that Clearance Diver and fighter pilot are opposite ends of the same spectrum.
 
Just for the record, the requirements are different.

Mininum medical categories for vision, colour vision and hearing are different for those.

Combat Engineer (Combat diver) 
323225
task statement
http://www.forces.gc.ca/health-sante/pd/cfp-pfc-154/AN-Dapp4-ta041-eng.asp


Clearance diver
212225
task statement
http://www.forces.gc.ca/health-sante/pd/cfp-pfc-154/AN-Dapp4-ta341-342-eng.asp

 
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