Deviations Eyesight and refractive surgery
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 19
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From: Belfast, N Ireland
Deviations Eyesight and refractive surgery
I've just returned to PPRUNE after a long break and was very interested to see the references to "Deviations" in relation to eyesight standards. I have an odd history. I used to be -8 diopters, right on the limit for class 1 renewal. I had lasik in 1998 and passed IAA Class 1 in 2001 - no problems with eyesight. I was totally up front re lasik. The eye doctor who tested me was actually a lasik practitioner and noted on my examination form that I had been "previously highly myopic". In 2002 as I was preparing for the GFT at EGAD, I applied for a CAA class 1 under the reciprocal arrangements that exist between IAA and CAA. The CAA queried my pre-op prescription and subsequently relegated me to a class 2. The CAA's current position is that "it is not possible for someone to gain a medical certificate by refractive surgery that you would not have obtained by wearing glasses." Surely the reverse should also apply in that it should not be possible for a person to be refused a medical certificate by having refractive surgery that they would have obtained by wearing glasses, particularly if they have actually passed a Class 1 medical. I have absolutely no doubt that I'm a hell of a lot safer with my lasik-corrected Class 1 standard vision, than I could ever be wearing a pair of Pilkingtons finest, which after all get dirty, scratched, steamed up or knocked off by seatbelts, headsets and the like. I know this is going over some old ground but maybe with a slightly different slant.
