webecheck

i just had prk and got back to flying after just 2 months. the navy makes you wait until you have completed steroid eye drops until you return to fly. the usaf will grant you a waiver provided you meet certain criteria. the usaf surgery center now does prk/lasik for all type airframes, no restrictions anymore. and yes, you can pull g's w/ contacts. even the dreaded 2.5 mile perch break turn wont dislodge a contact.

i would wait and let the military pay for the surgery if i were you. also, nearly all surgeries recommended by the docs at wilford hall are the prk type. you can choose whatever you like, provided you meet the criteria for both, but most people opt for prk.

crewdawg

I'm not sure about all the details on PRK or LASIK but I'm pretty sure they are both approved. One of my UPT instructors got PRK done and had to wait until he was off the steroid drops to get back on flying status. Whatever you do, contact a military (branch of your choice) flight Doc before doing anything....from what I remember they want alot of pre-surgery information.

I feel your pain on the contacts, they can be a real nuisance. But, flying with glasses is much worse IMHO. Yes, you can pull G's with contacts. I have been up to 9 G's with no real problems....yet.

Goodluck

ToiletDuck

Pulled 5 and mine stayed on just fine. Someone correct me please if I'm wrong here but I believe that in the AF you can wear them so long as you can demonstrate that you can put them in with your gloves on. I had a few students when I did IFS that wore them.

Triumph

You are allowed to wear contacts while flying military airplanes. You just have to wear their "approved" types of contacts, and have it ok'd by the flight doc. As for Lasik and PRK, I had a friend in UPT that had done the PRK thing, and he had no problems. However, a few months ago, the flight doc came into our squadron and briefed us on how LASIK was in the process of being approved in the Air Force. The catch was that you COULD NOT go out and have it done on your own. If you came in to do a flight physical and had done Lasik, that was a permanent DQ, whether you were getting your initial class 1, or you had been flying for a decade. The flight surgeon has to recommend you for Lasik, and then they send you to one of their approved doctors that does lasik.
In short, I'd not be doing the lasik or PRK thing without talking to a flight surgeon first.
Good Luck

runge

Hey, hate to revive dead threads, but this seemed like a good place for a related question -

Does the "wearing contacts = ok" thing apply for pilot candidates too? Or is that just for current, active pilots whose vision is deteriorating?