Military Lauds New Laser Eye Surgery
Gone are the days when laser eye surgery meant an automatic disqualification for would-be military pilots. A more sophisticated version we told you about in May 2003, called wavefront-guided LASIK, is now being used by Air Force doctors as a “performance enhancement” procedure designed as “an improvement to the human weapon system.” The Air Force now allows (in fact, seems to encourage) the procedure for pilots who don’t fly high-performance or training aircraft, but does not allow it for “those whose aircraft have cabin altitudes potentially above 14,000 feet.” The new procedure does a better job of precisely adjusting for the small aberrations on the cornea that can throw off vision.
Permitted For Some Pilots...
Gone are the days when laser eye surgery meant an automatic disqualification for would-be military pilots. A more sophisticated version we told you about in May 2003, called wavefront-guided LASIK, is now being used by Air Force doctors as a "performance enhancement" procedure designed as "an improvement to the human weapon system." The Air Force now allows (in fact, seems to encourage) the procedure for pilots who don't fly high-performance or training aircraft, but does not allow it for "those whose aircraft have cabin altitudes potentially above 14,000 feet." The new procedure does a better job of precisely adjusting for the small aberrations on the cornea that can throw off vision. It does so by creating a map of the corneal surface to guide the laser. Conventional LASIK surgery relies on the person's prescription for glasses. Laser surgery was approved by the Air Force for non-flying personnel in 2000 and extended to low-altitude pilots last June.
