Hello all, I recently looked into joining the Andrews ang base in d.c., however upon reading the Upt guide for that unit I found out they only accept prk eye surgery waivers not LASIK which is what I have had. Is PRK the standard requirement for all ANG units? Another concern of mine is my age, I just turned 28 this past september, I have a bachelors degree, comm instrument pilot with multi am I completely out of luck with getting into the AF? I hear they accept LASIK.

 

I'm already a pilot and I know that once you're winged, you may be approved for PRK or Lasik - it depends on your corneal thickness and the surgeon's final opinion.

I've heard that cadets at USAFA can get PRK or Lasik done prior to going to pilot training. I'm not 100% sure about it, but I think you should be OK.

 

PRK is generally the only accepted method, and you must still meet certain technical ctiterial (spherical error limits, etc).

LASIK has not generally been allowed, and never for off the street hires. The concern has always been that the corneal flap (which apparently never fully heals) could be knocked loose in an ejection or due to proximity to a blast overpressure.

There have been a few recent experiments with LASIK, but only for those personnel who are already in the military, already in a flight status (or service academy cadets), and who have been specifically screened and approved. The purpose of these experiments is to determine if LASIK is safe for pilots in the long run.

As fas as I know you are currently disqualified for flight status, but pending the outcome of their experiments they might grant blanket approval for LASIK for all comers in the near future.

But info on the internet might be outdated...you need to get the straight scoop from the USAF. Different services may (probably) have different rules but ANG should be the same as USAF. For all I know they issued blanket LASIK approval last Friday.

The folks at baseops.net might know more about this.

 

Things may have changed recently, but last I was told was that if you got LASIK on your own, you would never fly for the Air Force again (permanently disqualified). And obviously someone that didn't have their wings yet would be permanently disqualified as well...
This came straight from the FS. He said that you have to go through the AF to be approved for the LASIK, and it has to be performed by an AF approved doctor.
PRK is another story...

 

Things may have changed, so don't take this as gospel. But, it used to be that you couldn't fly unpressurized or ejection seat a/c with lasik. This is due to the flap. Since you have to fly an ejection seat a/c in order to go through training, lasik disqualifies you. However, these things change so I wouldn't give up until you get an unequivocal "NO" from the AF flight surgeon at Brooks. My wings are proof that you shouldn't give up on the med folks, but I won't bore you with the story.

 

You need to look at the following site, AFMS Public Site -. You also need to google the 2009version of AFI148-23 and look at ch 12. There are waivers out there for certain types of Lasik. I'm not the flight doc so don't ask me for all the specifics. It is constantly changing. The waiver takes a year after the surgery, so if you have already had it, it won't take as long. The unit can hire whatever they want. So if they don't like Lasik then you are screwed. Your age is your main problem. It now takes so long to get someone through the process that we would consider you too old. Baseops. net and wantscheck.com also have whole sections devoted to your questions. As a hint to anyone reading this, STOP COMING TO US SO LATE. You need to have your come to jesus moment about joining the military alot ealier, not after you can't find a job in the real world.

 

Good evening. Here is my take on your post. The short skinny: Guard, Reserves, Active Duty: it doesn't matter which, will all have the same requirement for lasik or prk. In the end, everyone that goes to upt(Air Force Pilot Training) has to go through Brooks AFB and has to meet the same medical requirements. That is where they will do a final medical "weed out" process. As far as whether it's (prk or lasik) are legal, I don't know. You would want to talk to an Air force flight surgeon about that(Again, the navy, army, etc may have different rules). Don't listen to recruiters, and I would take with a grain of salt any info from people who may have dealt with that specific issue in the past. I am not saying anyone is probably going to try and steer you in the wrong direction, but all of this stuff changes, sometimes yearly and many people frequently forget those couple of little details that can be very pertinent. If you know someone who has recently been through your exact dilemma I would certainly use that as a starting point and go from there. All that being said, there is a waiver for almost anything in the Air Force; it just depends on who you are and what your particular circumstance is. Before you are "winged" it is usually more difficult to get waivers than after, but it absolutely can be done. In the end, if it's what you really want to do, go for it. All they can do is say no. I have personal friends that were told they would never be an Air Force Pilot and I went to their pilot training graduations, so, Good luck.

Check baseops.net out for some good info on what the latest gouge is (Again: the info on baseops.net is not the regulation, but it is usually pretty accurate info):

UPT Medical Questions and Answers Archive