I take it this is your story?
You are correct.
To the poster 3 posts above...if you have halos and you are taking your physical and they ask if you see halos/starbursts you answer NO!
This works fairly well until you roll into the groove for the first time at night during advanced jets (in my case intermediates). When you are staring at the ball from 3/4 of a mile and you have glare and starbursts, it makes seeing any subtle movement very difficult. Now I learned how the work with it because as you get closer, the picture obviously becomes clearer. So, you just roll in a little high (maybe 2 balls) and about halfway through the approach work it down to 1 high, then continue to work it down so you touchdown with a centered ball. The grades for all my night pattern work show this trend.
Now this works on a nice clear night on an 8000 foot runway, but I'm guessing that most of the LSO's on this board would suggest that this is not the way to do it. In fact, I would guess that if a person continued to do this, they would not get their night quals. The only options are to continue doing things as I explained (which will result in instructors and LSO's concluding that you are incapable of getting to a good start), or you admit that you have a problem.
I chose the latter. The Navy spent a lot of time and money trying to fix the problem, but to no avail. The kicker is that there are no tests that specifically test for glare and starbursts. If you have a ridiculous level of GASH (Glare, Astigmatism, Starbursting, and Halos), it will lower your performance on other tests, but unless the problem is very extreme, you will pass your eye exam. So, in the end, it was up to me. I had the Head of Refractive Surgery on the phone saying, "Jeff, if you're safe, I'll tell NAMI and you'll be back flying, if you're not safe, you need to tell me and you'll be done."
Hardest decision I've ever had to make. But, ultimately, I wasn't safe. It would not have been fair to my crewmembers if I ended up in a two-seater, it would not have been fair to the guys on the platform and those on the deck when I was landing at night, and it wouldn't have been fair to my wife and kid.
Now I'm not saying that if you have the tiniest bit of GASH that you should run to the doc and tell him (almost everyone has a little bit), but don't ignore it either. I was very lucky in the fact that the Navy was willing to try to help me fix the problem. My guess is that was the first and last time they will do it with a student. If you have a problem, just get it fixed before you apply.
Like most everyone on this board, I worked real hard to get into flight school (for me it was a 12 year process), so walking away was about the worst thing I've ever had to do. My eye problems were actually the result of a mistake that the eye surgeon made (a very simple oversight). So, I don't spend much time with other topics on the board, but if do try to check out the PRK post fairly regularly. If I seem a little opinionated or if I seem to harp on certain topics, just remember that you don't want to be me, and cut me little slack.
BTW, I have actually found a doc who can probably fix my eyes, but it's quite expensive. I have talked to the clinic that screwed up my eyes in the first place about reimbursing me for the money I have already spent, and paying for me to get a retreatment, but they are giving me a pretty hard time about it. Legal action is not an option as the statue of limitations has run out, so my only option is bad publicity and consumer pressure. I am working on a blog that details my experience. If the original clinic refuses to help out, I will publish the blog (which will show up on page 1 of Google when a search is done for this clinic or its doctors). I may also ask for some help from fellow AW members to send feedback to the clinic and provide reciprocal links on other sites.
