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bs180
8th Jan 2008, 22:06
Hello, I live in southern ontario, canada and am starting aviation college in 8 months and have some concerns over my vision to pass the transport canada medical. Also, I worry about diminishing vision to pass the yearly test plus the airline requirements. I wear contact lenses, corrected to about 20/15, and my prescription is -2.75 in my right eye, -2.00 with mild astigmatism in my left. I am a candidate for laser eye correction, and have read that it is now 3 months between successful surgery and having a medical reinstated. Would it make most sense to get the laser correction immediately?

chris-squire
9th Jan 2008, 15:36
I'm not sure how useful this will be but I have had some experience regarding uncertainty of medical.... I found the best way to to contact my issuing authority as this eliminated any possible doubt or speculation. They will be able to advise you better than anyone else and if appropriate, they will issue a letter confirmg that you are cleared to fly. Personally, I would phone your issuing authority, go through the whole thing with them, go and do the medical and go from there. I would do this fairly sharpish so that you have got time to have the laser eye surgery and be flly recovered for when you actually need your medical to be valid.

Chris

Exhibitz
9th Jan 2008, 16:29
Don't quote me on this, but in order to get your class 1 medical I believe you only need to be within the boundaries of -5/+5 dipoles. They discourage people from having laser eye surgery unless it's vital. I have no idea about the US medicals, however I can't imagine them being much different. If you still believe that you should go ahead, I suggest you do it ASAP as i'm sure there will be many limitations within the initial months.

Diaz
9th Jan 2008, 21:32
Just be careful with laser- my mother had some laser surgery done on both eyes, they over-corrected one, and under-corrected the other- that seriously messes with your vision.

They did eventually fix it, and this was a few years ago, so it's much less likely now- just keep it in mind before jumping in.