AN IMPORTANT STUDY OF THE REAL WORLD IMPACT OF LASIK AND PRK LASER EYE SURGERY

Most people do not realize that nearly 20% of all laser vision correction in the US is performed in the US Military. The US Military views the impressive improvements in vision with LASIK or PRK laser eye surgery as critical to helping its members carry out their combat tasks. A recent study conducted by the Warfighter Refractive Eye Surgery Program looked at the amount of impact of having LASIK or PRK laser vision correction was on specific visually demanding tasks. A survey of 360 active duy US military members who had undergone either LASIK or PRK was conducted in which each member was asked to rank how their vision affected their military preparedness for various tasks on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being worst and 5 being best. Before surgery, using glasses or contact lenses, the average score was 3.6 out of a possible score of 5. Six months after laser vision correction, the average score had increased to 4.8 without glasses or contacts, showing military members were significantly better off with laser eye surgery.

SPECIFIC MILITARY TASKS IMPROVED WITH LASIK and PRK LASER EYE SURGERY

Some of the specific tasks the study evaluated included weapons sighting ability, functioning at night, ability to function in extreme weather, and use of personal masks such as hazardous materials masks.

EXAMPLES OF SITUATIONS IN WHICH LASIK AND PRK DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE MILITARY PERFORMANCE COMPARED TO WEARING GLASSES OR CONTACTS:

In my own practice, I have seen many patients who were not in the military, but whose job performance also benefited greatly from having LASIK or PRK rather than wearing glasses or contact lenses. Some examples would be firefighters who need to wear protective masks or law enforcement officers who need to sight a gun in a crisis or even world travelers who go to remote areas and are afraid of losing their contacts or glasses — or worse yet, having a contact lens complication in an area where good eye care is not readily avaliable. For all of these patients, having LASIK or PRK is not just a way to avoid the nuisance of wearing glasses or contacts – it actually can improve their job performance and safety!