LASIK & FAA/Medical
 

Hello all,
I’m getting a LASIK consultation next week. I found a clinic by my home that is ran by two military ophthalmologists who have performed LASIK for hundreds of military pilots. I understand I need to submit FAA Form 8500-7 after the procedure and aware of the risks.

On the FAA website, they mention I can immediately resume piloting provided I meet FAA vision standards, have no adverse conditions or complications, and that the post operative condition is stabilized.

Am I right in assuming I don’t need a new first class medical after the surgery? I was thinking I could get a new medical before the LASIK with my current corrective lenses (as mine is due a month after the surgery if I get it), then get LASIK, submit form 8500-7 to the FAA, chill at home for 10 days, go back to flying provided my vision is good according to the above FAA conditions.

Any advice is appreciated or if anyone can dumb it down for me, I’d appreciate it.

Sounds about right, they don't need to inspect all of you, just confirm that your vision is good (which is why you submit form).

But I'd call your AME and ask him to be safe.

If anyone cares for an update....

I got a new medical done a week before LASIK. I asked my AME about it and he said just bring the FAA evaluation of eye form at my next medical. Just google that and it'll come right up.

I had LASIK done in March. I was seeing 20/15 within 24 hours of the procedure. The procedure itself took maybe six minutes from walking into the room and walking out. I had zero pain, all I had to do was stare at a dot at each machine. The first machine cuts open your cornea to peel it back. This took 18 seconds per eye. I was then taken to another machine which then reshaped the cornea and this took 10 seconds per eye. I was given a tylenol PM, sent home and I slept probably 16 hours total. I've had no complications and the Dr. said my eyes are healing just fine. His staff even filled out my FAA form and faxed it in for me. I just have to use eye drops in the mornings to wake my eyes up and I'm seeing clearly! 10/10 would recommend.

I was told by a armature Doctor that the flap they make never really heals back down. It’s kinda like static cling stickers on a window. Obviously lots of people have had it. But it made me think there is a risk the flap could peel up. Anyone have firsthand experience with this?

How long do you have to keep using the eye drops in the morning? Forever?

You can forgo the flap option with prk, but painful and longer healing (aprox 30 days) as the outer surface is disolved away and must grow back. If you get a lasik touchup, this is sometimes the only option as the flap procedure was already done.
Eye drops are around a few weeks. Some people end up with using otc eye drops for comfort later on.
Only eye trama would cause the flap to lift..... Such as extreme chopsticks throwing competitions.....a while ago, military medical thinking said high g forces could be a problem on the "flap"

Considering this for myself in the near future, thanks for the write up. Thread Hi jack question: anyone have experience with epilasik, SMILE, or the lens implant options?

Thanks for the reply. I’ve cut way back, only doing chopstick trowing on the last Wednesday of the month now!

I limit myself to recreational chopstick throwing completions, not extreme. So I should be okay.

Everyone seems to be different. When I wake up, my eyes feel pretty dry, so I throw a drop in each eye and I'm good to go within 10 seconds. I've been using drops less and less as the days go by. I use them as needed now, which is 3-4x a day, and as my Dr. said, that's because we are in the desert SW and it's just a fact of life with it being so dry.

The military had some concerns with this, used to be no-go for pilots and special ops, but the Navy at least allows it for both today. Seems like the flap sticks pretty good.

I opted for PRK due to flap concerns when I got my vision corrected last year (best thing I’ve ever done). I had mine done at a surgical practice with two doctors. The doc who did my consult and performed my procedure sold me on the PRK due to my concerns about the flap and what it could mean to my career if something happened.

At one of my follow ups I had to see my surgeon’s partner. He was an older doc and had been doing vision correction surgery for nearly 20 years. He asked why I had chosen the longer recovery of PRK over lasik. I explained that I was a pilot and concerned about eye/vision damage if the flap came loose. He said that in 20 years he had seen it actually happen twice and he was able to replace the flap both times. One was a result of a screwdriver to the eye. The other was from a dog attack. Both patients went on to continue to have great vision after he repaired the damage. He said the moral of the story is that if you have a career that is highly vision dependent (like a pilot), the flap isn’t really a concern. He said that if a person sustained enough trauma to the eye to dislodge the flap to the point of disrepair, that person would have sustained heavy and permanent eye and vision damage regardless of the lasik flap. At that point a loose flap would be the least of the persons concerns - their vision would be jacked either way.

Here is what I did, for PRK (similar to LASIK) but PRK (years ago...) was recommended for special ops, pilots, etc categories

1. Told my AME about my PRK plans. got him to "bless it" (not needed, but..
2. got PRK done
3. got PRK doctor to complete Form 8500-7
4. went to AME with 8500-7. He nodded
5. got an entirely "fresh" FAA medical (probably not needed, but this issuance of a fresh medical made me feel good about the entire thing)

done