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Old 4th Jun 2005, 05:53
  #227 (permalink)  
Hornetboy
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Unda
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Hey FastJetz,

It all depends who you speak to, unfortunately. I found not all the medical staff were aware of the latest adjustments when I was researching, and I'd imagine it would be hard to be. But there were some fantastic people who went all out to help me. (And some not so fantastic who couldn't be bothered, and one in particular who referred me to the wrong type of surgery being the only type allowed!!)

I can't give you all the specific references as I'm...well....on the other side of the globe at the moment, but I think Health Bulletin 11/02 was one of them, regarding laser eye surgery. There was another one regarding visual acuity that you may find in an old thread titled "Glasses in the RAAF" or something similar. And some medical staff actually handed me an actual refractive surgery summary page for applicants (not comprehensive), but it all takes a bit of asking around.

To the best of my knowledge, it is now 6/12 uncorrected, but there are also dioptre limits. If you exceed those, then PRK is allowed, not LASIK. LASEK, a form of PRK, is also allowed. But there are requirements pre- and post-op that you must fulfil. Feel free to PM with any more specific questions, and I'll do what I can when I get home in a few weeks. But once again, the moral to everyone's story is to double check/make sure of everything yourself. Especially as the rules have been quite fluid with such changes lately.

When I was at OSB toward the end of last year, the Wing Commander said there was one guy who had gone through with laser surgery before me (mind you I hadn't conducted surgery yet, as I appealed to sit FSP/OSB first), so I suppose I'm the second. Now I've done the surgery, waited the 3 months post-op, and my file is sitting somewhere in Canberra waiting to be medically cleared. It's a long process mate. But if you want it enough....

Cheers and Good Luck
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