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January 09 Boards

That's what I'm worried about. My astigmatism is borderlined at -1.00 which is the limit. My OR keeps saying something about as long as I'm good in corpus I'm okay. I think if I'm borderlined I still want to get prk to hopefully avoid getting screwed later on.
 
Charity said:
That's what I'm worried about. My astigmatism is borderlined at -1.00 which is the limit. My OR keeps saying something about as long as I'm good in corpus I'm okay. I think if I'm borderlined I still want to get prk to hopefully avoid getting screwed later on.
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I had PRK in March of '08 and my right eye has finally healed to 20/20 10 months later. Granted, the right eye healed abnormally for some reason compared to my left eye but keep in mind that the healing can take quite a while.
 
cpgillie said:
I have no clue. Maybe because they only select a handful of people, or maybe because they're INTEL...spies, sneaky :icon_smil. I hope its the latter and that I get selected in February!
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I could be drawing the wrong conclusion, but when I was talking to the Ensign who conducted my PRT in October, he said that Intel had recently taken in a lot of applicants. Perhaps, because they took so many back in the fall, they didn't need a January board.
 
Hmm...all I know is what my OR has been telling me. Which is that they have been selecting very few people :confused:.
 
DFSpence said:
I had PRK in March of '08 and my right eye has finally healed to 20/20 10 months later. Granted, the right eye healed abnormally for some reason compared to my left eye but keep in mind that the healing can take quite a while.
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10 months? I'm hoping that since mine is so minor that it wouldn't take that long. Hopefully it will correct to 20/20, otherwise it would be a complete waste. The eye surgeon I saw acts like there's no reason why it shouldn't correct to 20/20. How long did you have to wait to get a waiver? I'm being told 3 months, but I've heard people say 6 months. Maybe it depends on how bad your vision is before the surgery?
 
I just watched some prk videos on youtube and it looks like it sucks. I thought all they used was a laser, but it looks like they pretty much scrape the front of your eye off. Does it hurt during the procedure or after? or both?
 
Charity said:
10 months? I'm hoping that since mine is so minor that it wouldn't take that long. Hopefully it will correct to 20/20, otherwise it would be a complete waste. The eye surgeon I saw acts like there's no reason why it shouldn't correct to 20/20. How long did you have to wait to get a waiver? I'm being told 3 months, but I've heard people say 6 months. Maybe it depends on how bad your vision is before the surgery?
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I'm hoping that 10 months IS doable - I'm a little over 2 months postop (the time my Dr told me that I would be stable) and I'm not 20/20 in both yet.
There is a set time for the waiver, see section 12.15 in the waiver guide. It does depend on your pre-op prescription.

Charity said:
I just watched some prk videos on youtube and it looks like it sucks. I thought all they used was a laser, but it looks like they pretty much scrape the front of your eye off. Does it hurt during the procedure or after? or both?
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Don't do that - eye surgery isn't pretty to watch.
Some say its painful, but its more of an annoyance for wearing protective contacts for a week straight afterwards. Worth it? Totally.
Short and crude version of the surgery - they dope you and your eyes up, shove a shoehorn in above and below your eye to keep you from blinking, use an electric toothbrush to clean off the excess epithelial eye cells, use one of a couple of methods to remove more upper epithelial cells, then lase you.

Not to toot my own horn, but I've tried to keep an account of my surgery - feel free to ask questions, either PM or there.

http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145609&page=1
 
Charity said:
I just watched some prk videos on youtube and it looks like it sucks. I thought all they used was a laser, but it looks like they pretty much scrape the front of your eye off. Does it hurt during the procedure or after? or both?
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There are 5 layers of the cornea. With PRK the doctor literally grinds off the first two layers and then lasers the eye. It takes a while for those two layers of cornea to heal hence the recovery time. Though it did not hurt during the procedure, I had quite a miserable weekend, especially since they forgot to give me Demerol :icon_rage. The entire weekend my eyes were watering and it felt like there were lemons being squeezed into my eyes. That was my experience, I'm sure thats worse than most are though.

Was it worth it? Absolutely :D
 
Morning guys! How is everyone this week? Everyone still as tense as they were two weeks ago? I'm definitely ready to get my final select. Having spoken to my recruiter a week ago, he said to expect it in 2-3 weeks or two months. Haha anyone got any update on theirs? Is the efficiency and rate of this process contingent upon your recruiter? Just in observation it appears that some still waiting give the impression that it is.

With all this talk about eyes you guys have me trippin' out about my own.
 
One week, to the day, is not 2-3 weeks or 2 months. Just observing other boards, probably gonna be later than sooner :)
Hit the driving range, see a movie, be happy 'bout your pro-rec.
 
Well, thanks for the info. I guess I just need to stop thinking about it for now. I just feel like I'm taking a chance if I don't get it done, but I also feel like I'd be taking a chance with prk. I'll just see what the flight surgeon says and go from there.
 
Hey everyone, first post, but the info i've found on this site has been very helpful. I found out wednesday that I am Pro-Rec'd NFO!!! Congrats to everyone else who got pro-rec'd for JAN09.
 
Charity said:
I just watched some prk videos on youtube and it looks like it sucks. I thought all they used was a laser, but it looks like they pretty much scrape the front of your eye off. Does it hurt during the procedure or after? or both?
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I had it done last January (left eye) and february (right eye). It varies pain wise for everyone. Some dont have much discomfort, but for me it was a bitch. I didn't want any pain medication so I didn't fill the Lortab prescription until about 2 hours after the initial numbing eye drops wore off... little more than I could tolerate, but maybe I'm just a sissy girl.

For me it was a bitch, but I'd do it 1000 times if it means that I can fly. I had worse than 20/400 in both eyes. Now both are 20/30 or better. I'm due to go in for my 1 year postop now, just been busy with school.

During the procedure you'll feel pressure on your eye while they scrape the first layer away (feels very uncomfortable, but doesn't hurt). Then when the laser starts going you'll feel the heat on your eye lid where it's closest to it, but its hardly noticeable.

Last I heard they were about to approve LASIK for pilots and I would definitely go that route over going PRK, but be 100% sure (call the naval refractive center in San Diego yourself) that LASIK is approved for naval pilots before you decide to do it.

The procedure is definitely worth it. Even if you don't get to be a pilot, the improvement to your quality of life (depending on how bad your eyesight was) is great.

I have a wife and son and was always worried about someone breaking in and me not being able to do shit about it because I wouldn't be able to see them at night with my contacts out.

Find a good doctor and get it done is my suggestion.
 
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