Bringing the Naval Academy Into Focus

Troops in U.S. Naval Forces may be facing a wave of fine-tuning as LASIK vision correction surgery allows more qualified individuals to compete for fighter pilot careers. Thanks to LASIK, aging pilots are now able to stay in the force, lessening the need for annual recruits. However, an even more significant impact is made in the new range of available applicants training to become fighter pilots. Being a luxurious, romantic career, the job has always had a certain appeal to the masses training at the Naval Academy. Unfortunately, it was until recently limited to those members with perfect vision, leaving out potential candidates for the profession who would have other skills beneficial to the Navy.

Nowadays, a bus leaves the Naval Academy nearly every Thursday for Annapolis, Maryland, full of midshipmen who are about to receive their government paid LASIK surgery. Of every 1000 member Naval Academy class, about a third experience perfect vision with LASIK eye correction. This new influx of available midshipmen for fighter pilot training means that vision is no longer a major concern for application. Instead, the men must be judged almost entirely on academic class rank and military performance, resulting in more reliable fighter pilots for the Naval forces.

310 midshipmen competed last year for 272 flight training slots. 104 of these applicants had undergone laser eye surgery. "If we didn't have [laser eye surgery], where would those 104 midshipmen have gone? ... Tough to say, but we know they wouldn't have gone into flight training," said Capt. Michael Jacobsen of the office of professional development at the Naval Academy.

The exact procedure being used by the Navy isn't the normal "LASIK" (laser-in situ keratomileusis) being used by most civilians - instead they opt for PRK, or photo refractive keratectomy, which doesn't involve cutting the cornea of the eye as LASIK does. Naval officials fear that the loose cornea flap may cause problems in combat. The Air Force holds a similar standpoint, with nonpilots given their choice of procedures and pilots limited only to PRK.

If you or someone you know is interested in LASIK or PRK vision correction surgery, please feel free to contact a LASIK surgeon near you such as Dr. Steven B. Seipser of the Seipser Laser Eye Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for more information or to schedule a consultation.