Is Lasik just too risky for professional pilots? | Aviation International News

Is Lasik just too risky for professional pilots?

You may have seen the ad featuring a picture of a stereotypical pilot in cool sunglasses and touting: “Fighter Pilot Requirements: Lightning Reflexes, Nerv

By Kim Rosenlof

May 8, 2008

You may have seen the ad featuring a picture of a stereotypical pilot in cool sunglasses and touting: “Fighter Pilot Requirements: Lightning Reflexes, Nerves of Steel, 20/20 Vision. Lasik. We’ve got the vision part covered.” For professional pilots whose vision is correctable to 20/20 with contacts or glasses, ads like this may tempt them to want to toss their glasses or contacts out the window.

And they may be further swayed by the industry touting a 97-percent success rate. But the voluntary election to have Lasik surgery may be more risky to professional pilots than to the general public based on data from the FAA, SurgicalEyes.com and personal experiences of some pilots who have had the vision-correction procedure.

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