Lasik

[Bubba]

Hello everyone!
1st post....I'm so excited

I've not flown in a long time ('96). I had Lasik in February at my 33rd birthday, and it was the greatest thing I have ever done besides getting my PPL. Long story short.....I'm going for my ratings, and I want a 1st class medical. Will my AME require confirmation that my eyes are 'good' or do I need to provide verification from my eye surgeon before I see the AME?(aka Faa forms) Thanks for the help.

[JEP]

Originally Posted by Bubba

Hello everyone!
1st post....I'm so excited

I've not flown in a long time ('96). I had Lasik in February at my 33rd birthday, and it was the greatest thing I have ever done besides getting my PPL. Long story short.....I'm going for my ratings, and I want a 1st class medical. Will my AME require confirmation that my eyes are 'good' or do I need to provide verification from my eye surgeon before I see the AME?(aka Faa forms) Thanks for the help.

Generally, the AME will not care. The FAA on the other hand will want to see you records before they issuse you the medical. Before you get the medical I would get all of your eye exam records and have them sent in along with the medical exam. It will make for a much smoother transaction.

Am I an AME? Nope!
Do I work for the FAA? Nope!
Did I have LASIK? Yep!

You will need the records.

[My Flight Surgeon]

JEP is correct. The FAA does want some information one time. You can have the eye surgeon write a letter including the statement “healing is complete, visual acuity remains stable, and you do not suffer sequela, such as glare intolerance, halos, rings, impaired night vision, or other complications” or he can complete an FAA Form 8500-7. In either case he needs to include your name, birthdate, address and SSAN so the FAA can link the information to your records. The link to get Form 8500-7 is http://forms.faa.gov/forms/faa8500-7.pdf

Enjoy your neo glasses vision.

[Bubba]

Thanks a lot. Im due for my 6 month check anyway. I'll just have my doctor fill out the form while I'm there. Thanks again.

[DE727UPS]

I did Lasik a few years ago and have experienced some regression. The doc had told me to expect this and that I'd not be able to do a tweak because of my thin corneas.

I've slowly gone from 20/15 to 20/30 in one eye and 20/40 in the other. I'm wondering if it will keep getting worse?

Also, whenever you bring up Lasik at an aviation messge board, there are quit a few people who wouldn't think about doing it because of the risk. Personally, I think the risk is very low and well worth it. What does "my flight surgeon" think?

Do you see a lot of guys who have done Lasik? Know personally of any horror stories?

[Bubba]

My eyes are actually getting better. I was 20/30 after surgery. Now I am 20/20, 20/15.

I think I was the <1% of the patients that experienced problems after surgery, except it was my fault. I could see just fine after surgery, except for light sensitivity. Went home, slept, woke up, and my right eye was fantastic, left eye not so much. I had inadvertantly rubbed my eye under the protective goggles while I was sleeping. No big deal. I go in the next day for the follow up. The doctor puts me back under the microscope to adjust the flap and puts a contact lens over it. I come back the next day, and he removes it....I can see!! I wasn't really worried about it, but it was a little pain to deal with. The left eye was about 1 week behind my right eye as far as clarity was concerned, but at my 10 day checkup the left eye was better. At 3 months the left eye was 20/15, kinda ironic.

Anyway that's my horror story, and it wasn't that big of a deal. My eyes were right down the middle durning my pre-op evalutation, corneal thickness, genreal eye health etc. I was pretty blind w/o glasses before the surgery, with glasses I've always been 20/20, but 25+ years having to wear glasses too much. HOpe this helps.

[My Flight Surgeon]

I don't see a large number of pilots who have had LASIK. That may be that for years professional pilots needed 20/20 to fly, especially in the military.

This procedure has been performed so often by the guys doing it that it is very safe. Complications are quite rare. The problem is that if you are in your 20's or 30's and have it done, you will end up like the rest of us who are over 40 and eventually require reading glasses - just a fact of life.

Regression does occur but the vision usually does not go back to where it was previously (Coke bottle glasses). You will probably not lose much more.

[My Flight Surgeon]

Here is the link to the FAA's brochure on Laser Eye Surgery. http://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/pil...aserEye_II.pdf

[todd584]

I had lasik about a year ago and I didn't tell my AME when I got a first class. Oops. Should I inform someone now or wait until my next one?

[My Flight Surgeon]

To keep yourself "clean" with the FAA, I would submit either a letter from the eye surgeon or a Form 8500-7 directly to the FAA. You might want to read my post from 11:28 today. Send it to:
FAA
Aerospace Medical Certification Division AAM-300
PO Box 26080
Oklahoma City, OK 73125-9914

Technically, this should be done before you fly and not necessarily at your next flight physical.

Hope the info helps.

[todd584]

Thanks a lot, very appreciated

[My Flight Surgeon]

You are welcome.

[tonyw]

I had Lasik done and when I went in to get my medical renewed, I had to have the surgeon who performed the surgery fax the form to the AME. Once that was done, I got myself a nice new first class medical.

My vision is still 20/20. I cannot recommend Lasik enough. No glasses and I see just fine!

[N422NM]

I had my first class done today. I've never had Lasik or anything, and my vision has improved from needing corrective lenses (a very light perscription) to not needing them, back to 20/15...

I had the restriction removed on my medical stating that I needed corrective lenses. Should I expect to hear from the FAA something along the lines of "Why no lenses needed now ?"

[My Flight Surgeon]

No. The restricyions are based on the exam performed by the AME on that date. Vision can change a little, especially if you have been wearing contact lenses.

[Derek_S]

Originally Posted by My Flight Surgeon

Vision can change a little, especially if you have been wearing contact lenses.

Do you mean it can change as in get worse or better?

[My Flight Surgeon]

Contacts can reshape the anterior surface of the eye tempoarily. If you wear contacts on a daily basis, your vision may be different (slightly) than if you wear your glasses daily. It takes 3-4 days for the eye surface to go back to "normal" after taking contacts out.

[SharkFisher]

Originally Posted by My Flight Surgeon

Contacts can reshape the anterior surface of the eye tempoarily. If you wear contacts on a daily basis, your vision may be different (slightly) than if you wear your glasses daily. It takes 3-4 days for the eye surface to go back to "normal" after taking contacts out.

I am a contact lens wearer. The kind I have, requires that I take off before I go to bed. I've been wearing contacts for about 2 years and never purchased a pair of glasses (lazy), but I have to do so in the near future when I start up with my PPL. My question is, is/was there a harm done to my eyes since I never wore glasses? My vision has been 20/20 and I haven't had any problems with my eyes.

[My Flight Surgeon]

No harm has been done.

Enjoy getting the PPL.

[SharkFisher]

thank you very much sir! looking forward to it

[Fly777bigBIRD]

I have just reading this thread and I would like to ask a question.

I am 18 and do i have pretty bad eyesight? My power is -4.25 both eyes w/ anstigmatism.

Now if i get lasik sometime during this age or 20s, will that affect me in the future as it will go bad again?

Also, I use my laptop everyday either surfing web or playing games and my eyes constantly looking at the screen and evey now often i take a break or look away and come back.

I havent made my decision if i want to get it or not but i seen commericials on tv that offers LASIK for only $295 per eye? thats cheap?

I am in college right now doing all my ground school and not doing any flight training yet. Is it best to do lasik b4 i do my flight training or b4 i transfer to another school to do flight training?

-Thanks.

[My Flight Surgeon]

LASIK will correct your vision for now. As you age (into your 40's and older) the lens will harden and you will eventually need reading glasses like the rest of us.

$295 is cheap. You need to look at who is doing the surgery ( level of experience, training, how many cases do they do, do they have any complaints with the state medical board) and then go in for an initial visit. From a realistic point of view, the price is what it should be considering the computer does all the work.

It does not make any difference when youhave the surgery. You will need a form 8500-7 from the ophthalmologist to give to the AME.

[TheWife]

Originally Posted by Fly777bigBIRD

I have just reading this thread and I would like to ask a question.

I am 18 and do i have pretty bad eyesight? My power is -4.25 both eyes w/ anstigmatism.

Now if i get lasik sometime during this age or 20s, will that affect me in the future as it will go bad again?

Also, I use my laptop everyday either surfing web or playing games and my eyes constantly looking at the screen and evey now often i take a break or look away and come back.

I havent made my decision if i want to get it or not but i seen commericials on tv that offers LASIK for only $295 per eye? thats cheap?

I am in college right now doing all my ground school and not doing any flight training yet. Is it best to do lasik b4 i do my flight training or b4 i transfer to another school to do flight training?

-Thanks.

I had mine done when I was 21, and it was -4.75 and I also had astigmatism. It's been over 5 years, and the first time I had a problem was last year when I got a job that put me in front of a computer for 6 hours straight, then I was almost to the point of needing reading glasses, like +.50 but most places only carry +1.5 and higher, but then I quit the job and my eyes are fine now. I'd say if you are on the computer all day as well, take frequent breaks, as often as you can, look away from the screen and close your eyes for a minute. Your distance vision shouldn't be affected by the computer, but the reading vision might. But I would do the LASIK again for sure, and the sooner the better since it helps justify the cost by not having to buy contacts or glasses anymore. (But you still have to wait until 20 or 21 I think, they don't let you do it before that.) I would NOT however go to the cheapest person. You want someone that has some mega experience w/ the surgery, and has a good track record. I called a cheap place and the guy said "Out of 200 times, I've only cut off one flap, but we just stitch it back on." Um, no thanks! I went to someone that had done the surgery over 2000 times.

[Champcar]

I've yet to see what the big deal is with wearing glasses. They are not that big of a pain in the butt.

No way am I going to put myself into surgery for something so minor. I had eye surgery years ago to remove a peice of metal and that was the worst week of my life...no thanks.

[TheWife]

The big deal for me was, glasses gave me headaches, they were expensive, they break, they constantly need new rx's, the get fogged up, they get lost, if you have an emergency and have to run out of the house, you won't be able to see, they leave marks on your face, they aren't always attractive. Same thing w/ contacts. They gave me eye infections, they took time to put in and take out and take care of, they were expensive, they made my eyes tired and sore. I couldn't see anything at all if I wasn't wearing something. It's not fun to be driving down the street and have a contact pop out, or you get something in your eye. The cost of my surgery was equivalent to about 4 years of contacts, eye exams, and glasses. So in the long run, it was financially smart. It was an amazing feeling to wake up and see the alarm clock. To never have to think about packing eye supplies on trips, or having spares of contacts and glasses around. Well worth it. And I am sure removing a piece of metal from your eye would be a LOT worse than getting LASIK. It didn't hurt, really, it was just uncomfortable and weird. But it was over so fast.