<p>I currently correct my eyesight with classes and contacts. I heard that people who wear contacts or glasses (or do not have 20/20 vision I think) must undergo an eye surgery before entering the academy. How does that work? Does the academy provide the surgury for free?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Many threads on this but bottom line: Do NOT get surgery prior to the academy. That will automatically disqualify you. You MAY be eligible for surgery that the AF will pay for after 3rd year (could be 4th I'm not sure) but only if the AF deems you to be a candidate for it. The reason you can't correct now is that your (young) eyes may still change and certain types of procedures can become problems for you at high altitudes. Repeat: do NOT do anything now. You may not be pilot qualified now but everyone gets retested later anyway. It won't keep you ot of the academy.</p>
<p>Well I think all eye surguries require you to be 18, anyway. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>So are you saying, "if you have pretty bad eye sight, you may not be 100% disqualified from becoming a pilot?"</p>
<p>You can have really bad eyesight, and if it is correctable and you get chosen for the surgery, yes, there's a chance you can be a pilot</p>
<p>Wow, this is a first. I have always thought that if you had bad eyesight, you were flat out screwed. At least that is basically the public's perception. Everyone who I told that I would probably apply to USAFA was like, " 'ya know those glasses ain't gonna fly"</p>
<p>Nope, my eyes are -3.00 for both of them or 20/200 and I was "Navigator Qualified" for USAFA by DoDMERB.</p>
<p>-3.00 is pretty bad, mine at -1.75. I dont think this affects their decision. If you don't qualify for a free surgury (which would otherwise be a few thousand), you can just pay for it I assume.</p>
<p>That's a bridge you cross when you get to it, which is sometime before Junior or Senior year. I don't know if they let you get PRK on your own, I think they have to do it or you are DQ'ed.</p>
<p>Right now, all it does is make it harder to get an appointment.</p>
<p>so is 20/200 the worst possible? when i took my driving tests, my instructor told me to look into the eye machine and said if i could read anything. i said no and he simply wrote down on my form 20/200. I guess that's probably the worst.</p>
<p>If the surgery gets done at all, it will be performed by the AF.</p>
<p>No, 20/200 is not the worst vision possible (although it'd not good).</p>
<p>The highest you can have is 20/400. That's what they put me down as, but I'm also 20/200 or -3.00 in both eyes.</p>
<p>It is possible to have worse than 20/400, but after a certain point, for all intents and pruposes, I'd say it doesn't really matter for practical purposes.</p>
<p>Actually I think, -6.00 or 20/400 is the end. Anything after that is disqualified with no possibility of waiver. At least that's what they told us.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback - I don't think my eyesight will be a problem at all. And it will be nice to get free surgury, eye surgury can be pretty costly.</p>
<p>Mine is worse than that and I didn't need a waiver, I'm even PNQ. </p>
<p>I heard it's -8.00 you need a waiver, -10.00 you're out of luck.</p>
<p>-10? Wow, it can get that bad? If someone has -10 the poor person must be blind, lol. And I thought -1.75 was bad...</p>
<p>have there been any cases where the air force laser surgery went wrong and the patient ended having even worse eye sight afterwards... or even going blind???</p>
<p>There are always possibilities of complications. Life isn't perfect.</p>
<p>It is significantly harder to get into the AFA if you are not pilot-qualified. They typically accept 75% PQ and 25% not PQ. So if you aren't PQ you have to get into that 25%, not easy to do.</p>