Eyesight Question (sorry!)

[cWood30]

I can already tell through much searching and hashing over this site for the past few days that this is probably the number one asked question about the aviation program, along with, "When do I get to fly an F/A 18?!"

But I just couldn't find any tangible, up to date information to help me out.

I'm going to be going into Marine Officer Training, hopefully to be a SNA. I'm a 3rd year Sophomore at Colorado State(long story, I've got my &*%^ together now) , and I have been wearing contacts for 4 years, with a Right eye prescription of -3.50 and a Left eye prescription at -4.25. Right now, I'm just trying to make some big decisions on what I want my Marine career to be. I have a true passion for physics, aerodynamics, mainly aviation. I would absolutely LOVE to be able to pilot an aircraft, fixed or rotary wing.

My question is that is it possible for me to qualify for Aviation (as a Pilot firstmost, but NFO is fine with me) with my eyes? I have two cavaties, and no other physical problems whatsoever.

I've read quite a bit on PRK, and research PRK, and contact lenses being worn as a Pilot and as I said before, was hardpressed to find some good, concrete information. It was all sort of here and there. Thanks for any help/direction you can give me, I'm all ears to you gentlemen and ladies. ~ Chris W.

EDIT: And before anybody answers, let me just give this site a big Thank YOU!! for all the information I've found already. There are some remarkable people on this site that are helping uneducated landlubbers like me out quite a bit!

 

[Fezz CB]

What are your eyes uncorrected? 20/40 is the worse you can have, and needs to be corrected to 20/20. I'm not familiar with prescriptions other than I have -6.00 (yup...20/500 over here). If your vision is 20/40 uncorrected, youre fine. If not, I'd think about PRK or settling with SNFO.

Uhh...cavities? Dude....dont worry about that. Dental will take care of you so it aint a problem. I have my filling in 2 wks and I just got my NOMI upchit today.

 

[cWood30]

I'm not entirely sure what those numbers stand for though (20/40). I've looked a bit, and seen them everywhere, but can't find what they stand for. Other than 20/20 is perfect vision, 20/40 is near perfect but might not be perfect enough for a Pilot. I just got a new contacts (I'm at 20/20 with contacts) and had a full exam at that time. Would that uncorrected number be on that exam? I have nearsightedness, meaning I can see things close to me just fine, and distance things get blurry. Is there anyway to discern the uncorrected vision numbers from my contact prescription?

Also, if my eye's are naturally out of spec, can I have PRK done to bring them to 20/20 and still have the opportunity to be a Pilot?

 

[Fezz CB]

I have nearsightedness, meaning I can see things close to me just fine, and distance things get blurry.

Thank you Captain Obvious

The worse you can have uncorrected is 20/40, each eye. So if this is what you have, dont worry about it then. When you take your flight physical before you service select, they will determine this for you.
Read up.

http://www.nomi.med.navy.mil/Nami/WaiverGuideTopics/exams.htm#sna

 

[cWood30]

LoL... Yaya, just thought I'd clear it up and make sure I had it right!

Ok, so after looking at that chart I see that 20/20 and such is for DVA. I googled that, and that seems to be the ability of the eye to adapt to a new scene, such as when you jerk your head and what not. Does this mean that DVA is not related to your ability to see at distance, i.e., my need for contacts?

BTW, I do a very impressive "You're a muuunster!!" as well as, "It's a THONG!"

 

[Fezz CB]

Would that uncorrected number be on that exam?

Also, if my eye's are naturally out of spec, can I have PRK done to bring them to 20/20 and still have the opportunity to be a Pilot?

Question #1: Yes. It should be on your record. If its not, just ask your doctor and s/he will tell you.

Question #2: Yes. But make sure you do PRK ahead of time because it may take some time to have your waiver approved after the procedure is performed. You should have it performed before you service select.

 

[cWood30]

Great news! Are these standards/practices the same for the Marine Aviators?

And if anybody has any other advice or comments, I'd love to get some overall feedback.

Thanks for the help so far Fezz!

 

[Fezz CB]

Great news! Are these standards/practices the same for the Marine Aviators?

And if anybody has any other advice or comments, I'd love to get some overall feedback.

Thanks for the help so far Fezz!

Correct. And if you dont already know, Marine pilots are designated Naval Aviators (Thats what my MOI, a cobra pilot, told me). Theres another wrinkle for your brain

No prob. Good luck dude!

 

[cWood30]

Hmm, I talked with my Recruiter, and I think he's under the impression that any eye correction voids you from being a Pilot. Is it possible that he is wrong, or are we wrong?

 

[Fly Navy]

Hmm, I talked with my Recruiter, and I think he's under the impression that any eye correction voids you from being a Pilot. Is it possible that he is wrong, or are we wrong?

You can have up to 20/40, correctible to 20/20.

Naval = Navy AND Marine Corps... technically a Marine Officer is a Naval Officer (though they don't go by it). A Navy Officer is a Naval Officer. All Marine Aviators are Naval Aviators.

 

[PropStop]

You can get PRK and still get in. Based on the numbers you gave i think you have an astigmatism of greater than -1.0 (as do I) so you cannot fly for the Marines (this info is dated though, 1999, when i was turned down for an astigmatism also, but not as severe). At the time I applied the Navy and the Marines had the same requirements.

A year later the Navy changed their requirements for astigmatism and that is what allowed me to get in. You still have to have better than 20/40. I understand that shortly after the Navy changed their standards the Marines too changed theirs to match the Navy. Unfortunately for me i was already picked up - worked out well though, i'm far to lazy to be a Marine. I suspect, however, that your astigmatism is still too great for either service. I don’t know if PRK can fix an astigmatism, here’s a link to some eye info: http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/astigmatism.htm

Your recruiter should contact MEPS and find out exactly what you need. you can go to Walmart and get an eye workup done for not much money and then give those numbers to the recruiter. Or you can say, "Sign me up!" and go to MEPS. If they deny you pilot, you owe them nothing. Side note though - going to MEPS SUCKS!

I apologize if any of this info is out of date. Good luck!

 

[nugget81]

PRK does not exclude you from being a pilot. I know because I had it done last March and now I have a SNA slot with the Navy. However, it does medically disqualify you from pilot, but don't fret, it's waiverable as long as there are no abnormalities after surgery. Based on your prescription I can guarantee that your vision is worse than 20/40 and more than likely you would need something along the lines of PRK to get an aviation slot. That being said, there are limits on how bad your eyes can be before the surgery. I don't have information on that aspect of it, but if you search the PRK area of Airwarriors you should be able to find the specifics.

 

[cWood30]

Thanks guys, I'm getting some good info here. Sounds like the first thing I should do is get signed up. After that, meet with my eye doctor to determine if I qualify for PRK, and hope for the best!

 

[bunk22]

I'm going to be going into Marine Officer Training, hopefully to be a SNA. I'm a 3rd year Sophomore at Colorado State(long story, I've got my &*%^ together now) , and I have been wearing contacts for 4 years, with a Right eye prescription of -3.50 and a Left eye prescription at -4.25. Right now, I'm just trying to make some big decisions on what I want my Marine career to be. I have a true passion for physics, aerodynamics, mainly aviation. I would absolutely LOVE to be able to pilot an aircraft, fixed or rotary wing.

Might want to research it more but I think your -3.5 and -4.25 is out of limits, even if you have 20/40. I could be wrong but I thought the limit was around -1.5 or -2.0. Don't quote me on that, I'm not a flight surgeon or eye doc.

 

[Brett327]

Might want to research it more but I think your -3.5 and -4.25 is out of limits, even if you have 20/40. I could be wrong but I thought the limit was around -1.5 or -2.0. Don't quote me on that, I'm not a flight surgeon or eye doc.

I'm no eye doc, but -3.50/-4.25 is WAY worse than 20/40. My contacts are -2.00 and my vision is ~20/100.

Brett