Enhanced survival chances when captured: Your captors can’t remove glasses you aren’t wearing to compromise your vision.Most troops that have this procedure improve their vision to 20/20. Reduced reliance on glasses: After successful LASIK, you can see well and perform your duties without therapeutic eyewear.Choosing LASIK over glasses has multiple benefits. If you’re farsighted, nearsighted or have myopia, you’ll need vision correction to serve in the military. Effective use of night-vision goggles is difficult when wearing glasses.In case the enemy captures you, they could remove your glasses, reducing your capability to function or escape.Foggy weather may compromise your vision when on glasses.

Besides the high risk of breaking or loss in austere environments, reliance on eyewear can work against you in a host of other scenarios in the military. While contacts and glasses can correct refractive errors, wearing them in active deployment is considered too dangerous. Wearing them exposes you to risks of eye infection. Without it, you put your life and that of your fellow troops at risk.Ĭontact lenses aren’t a good option for combat, either. Excellent vision in many of these scenarios is necessary. Imagine your glasses dislodging while you’re in a firefight or on a parachute drop. It’s different in the military because the stakes – life and death – can be so high. With most civilian jobs, you can lose or break your prescription glasses without endangering yourself or your colleagues. Why Glasses and Contacts Are Hard in the Military Waivers are a request to have corrective eye surgery, with military approval, so that you can continue your military career. You may need a waiver for LASIK to resume certain duties in the military. Provided that you meet the applicable medical and administrative criteria for surgery, you can have it to correct your vision. It runs about 26 laser centers that offer LASIK and other refractive surgeries. The Department of Defense encourages members with refractive errors to consider having the procedure. Surgical vision correction isn’t a basis for discharge from the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps. If you develop an eyesight issue while in the military, don’t worry. You can have LASIK and serve in any branch of the U.S. Can You Have LASIK and Be in the Military? Corrective LASIK surgery brings your vision to the levels necessary for safety and success in operations such as flying planes, driving armored vehicles or performing other eye-centric duties involving high-tech electronics. You can have this laser eye surgery to correct nearsightedness, astigmatism or farsightedness, whether you’re in the military or looking to join one of the branches of service. Can You Have LASIK and Be in the Military?.

The Laser Eye Warrior by Dhyanesh S