Contact Lenses With Short Sight/Astigmatism

[-<M4v3r1ck>-]

Hello,

I've been reading the detailed eyesight requirements for visual correction accpetable to gain Class I certification. I've already spoken to the CAA and know I can get a Class I with Deviation. My question is: instead of glasses can I wear contact lenses to correct my slight short sightedness andastigmatism?

The reason I ask is that on the CAA website it says I CANNOT wear contact lenses to correct near sight. However, perusing these forums gives me the impression that people can and do.

I'd rather wear contacts if possible.

Any info?

Cheers,

Mav :ok:

[-<M4v3r1ck>-]

Nobody? :(

The reason I ask is that it says on the site they cannot be worn to correct near vision but I only have -0.25 dioptres of short sight in the right eye (the lowest possible value I think) and 0 in the right. They contacts mostly correct my astigmatism.

I'll contact the CAA before my medical as it is but just thought I'd ask around in the mean time...?

Mav :ok:

[pumuckl]

Hi Maverik
I think you are confusing long sightednes and short sightedness a bit. If you have a prescription beginning with minus (-), then you are short sighted, ie you can read no problem, but you can't see things as well in the distance. My understanding is that it is ok to wear contacts if you are short sighted. You won't need to correct your near vision as you don't have a problem with that.

However, if you are long sighted, then you can see things in the distance, but you can't ie. read as well. Ie you will require correction for your near vision in this case. My understanding is that you cannot wear contacts if you are long sighted.

With your prescription of -0.25 you should have no problem being allowed to wear contacts. However, how severe is your astigmatism? My otpometrist told me that an astigmatism can easily be corrected by wearing hard contacts, so if your astigmatism is less than 2 dioptres (CAA regs), you should be fine.

However, call the CAA or take a printout of the CAA eyesight regs with you to your optometrist who will be able to interpret them for you and let you know if you will be ok. I rang the CAA and spoke to a doctor there. He asked me to fax my prescription to him and rang me back as soon as he got it to tell me all is fine - very helpful.

Regards
P.

[Whirlybird]

I wore contact lenses for shortsightedness for ages; absolutely no problem with the CAA or any AME. I only had to switch to glasses (bifocals) when I started to need longer arms in order to read the map. :eek:

[-<M4v3r1ck>-]

pumuckl & Whirlybird,

Thanks for the replies. It looks like I have indeed confused myself. I am slightly short-sighted so equated that with having near vision (as the CAA refers to it)...which is correct. However it says contacts cannot be used to CORRECT near vision. Like you point out, I don't need correction for that so hey presto! My skimming of the CAA's website put the wrong idea in my head and it lingered. My fault for not reading critically (I was a tad knackered mind!) :bored:

All looks good then - I think contacts will give me more natural peripheral vision and be less intrusive...no doubt will take a bit of getting used to after glasses but no prob.

Cheers chaps,

Mav :ok: