Contact lenses

Very interesting topic and discussion.

I really need to study up on the different types of eye disorders and corrections. Over the past two years, my left eye has gotten a lot worse, to the point of needing correction for distance vision. The problem I have is that the AME and the Ophthalmologist are at odds with each other, and, quite frankly, I agree withe the eye doctor.

My eyes have had a problem since birth, needing correction for a muscle problem where the eyes are looking in slightly different directions at the same time. It is especially apparent when my eyes are tired. Over the years, my brain has adapted to use only one eye at a time. I cannot see stereograms and the like, never could.

I ceased using my glasses at around age 21, as they were a cause for miserable headaches, and I could see very well without them. Now as I am getting to the "older" stage, my vision in the left eye currently is around 20/70 for distance vision. I have adapted to that as well, as I read with that eye and drive/fly with the other eye. As I said, my brain, while processing great peripheral vision, pretty much ignores the information from the unused eye at the time, allowing me to switch back and forth from panel to outside constantly and still use the peripheral vision to tune the radio, glance at the maps and instruments, etc.

Fast forward to this last medical. He alluded to me needing glasses for this year's medical, as I was "just barely passing and need glasses." So I get my prescription at the eye docs and proceed to pass with "flying colors" at the medical.

But you know what? I can see better while flying without them. Sure, now with my left eye, I can once again see the individual white asphalt dots on the road and runway at 2 miles out, but I have lost my peripheral cues. In order to allow my left eye to see distance, I now have to have bifocals, which makes blurry areas that make you turn your head to clear up. I have found it a lot more difficult to "adjust" to this problem, than my original vision problem.

So here is my question. Since my right eye has 20/25 natural distance vision, and my left eye has 20/20 near vision, and I can only see out of one eye at a time, why is it necessary to correct my vision in such a way as to compromise my safety? I have never had any depth perception problems.

/rant off
 
Aztec Driver said:
So here is my question. Since my right eye has 20/25 natural distance vision, and my left eye has 20/20 near vision, and I can only see out of one eye at a time, why is it necessary to correct my vision in such a way as to compromise my safety? I have never had any depth perception problems.

/rant off
Click to expand...

Based on what have read here and elsewhere, it's because the FAA says so based on somewhat faulty logic in my perception, since unless I have misinterpreted things, a real possibility, a pilot with the same functional capability as you because of LASIK does not require corrective lenses after getting a SODA. :D

Cheers
 
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Aztec Driver said:
Very interesting topic and discussion.

I really need to study up on the different types of eye disorders and corrections. Over the past two years, my left eye has gotten a lot worse, to the point of needing correction for distance vision. The problem I have is that the AME and the Ophthalmologist are at odds with each other, and, quite frankly, I agree withe the eye doctor.

My eyes have had a problem since birth, needing correction for a muscle problem where the eyes are looking in slightly different directions at the same time. It is especially apparent when my eyes are tired. Over the years, my brain has adapted to use only one eye at a time. I cannot see stereograms and the like, never could.

I ceased using my glasses at around age 21, as they were a cause for miserable headaches, and I could see very well without them. Now as I am getting to the "older" stage, my vision in the left eye currently is around 20/70 for distance vision. I have adapted to that as well, as I read with that eye and drive/fly with the other eye. As I said, my brain, while processing great peripheral vision, pretty much ignores the information from the unused eye at the time, allowing me to switch back and forth from panel to outside constantly and still use the peripheral vision to tune the radio, glance at the maps and instruments, etc.

Fast forward to this last medical. He alluded to me needing glasses for this year's medical, as I was "just barely passing and need glasses." So I get my prescription at the eye docs and proceed to pass with "flying colors" at the medical.

But you know what? I can see better while flying without them. Sure, now with my left eye, I can once again see the individual white asphalt dots on the road and runway at 2 miles out, but I have lost my peripheral cues. In order to allow my left eye to see distance, I now have to have bifocals, which makes blurry areas that make you turn your head to clear up. I have found it a lot more difficult to "adjust" to this problem, than my original vision problem.

So here is my question. Since my right eye has 20/25 natural distance vision, and my left eye has 20/20 near vision, and I can only see out of one eye at a time, why is it necessary to correct my vision in such a way as to compromise my safety? I have never had any depth perception problems.

/rant off
Click to expand...
That is NOT a rant. It is the view from your PIC seat.

Ah, and here is the kernel. The FAA's view is that the safety of the public overrides the safety of the individual. Thus, after reading about Delta 554 (AAR 97/03) they conclude that you need to futz with your glasses, determine what you need to determine, and put up with the inconvenience. Or you need to get an Aspen or G600 and dump the charts.

They view it as a matter of system safety vs. individual safety. The Marines would repeat their motto, which is "adapt". And so I adapt- I tell my airmen, nobody can tell what you are doing in the cockpit unless you are doing a part 135 ride. Wear the glasses to my office. Put 'em on after the wreck. Whatever. PASS THE REQUIRED TESTS.

Not saying that it's right or wrong, but that's their view.
 
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bbchien said:
Ah, and here is the kernel. The FAA's view is that the safety of the public overrides the safety of the individual. Thus, after reading about Delta 554 (AAR 97/03) they conclude that you need to futz with your glasses, determine what you need to determine, and put up with the inconvenience. Or you need to get an Aspen or G600 and dump the charts.

They view it as a mater of system safety vs. individual safety. The marines would repeat their motto, which is "adapt". And so I adapt- I tell my airmen, nobody can tell what you are doing in the cockpit unless you are doing a part 135 ride. Wear the glasses to my office. Put 'em on after the wreck. Whatever.

Not saying that it's right or wrong, but that's their view.
Click to expand...

I understand that logic but not the one that says LASIK pilots with a near eye and a far eye can fly without correction after the wait and a MFT/SODA (correct?) but the person with a near and far lens/eye is not eligible for a MFT /SODA even if like Aztec Driver they have adapted over many years.

Still it is what it is and as you say, it's their ball game and their rules. :wink2:

Cheers
 
X3 Skier said:
I understand that logic but not the one that says LASIK pilots with a near eye and a far eye can fly without correction after the wait and a MFT/SODA (correct?) but the person with a near and far lens/eye is not eligible for a MFT /SODA even if like Aztec Driver they have adapted over many years.

Still it is what it is and as you say, it's their ball game and their rules. :wink2:

Cheers
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Ah. The voice of experience. You really chose the "nom d'guerre" well. :)
 
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Reading another thread about cataract surgery which I am sure will be in my future sometime, hopefully long after I close the logbook for the last time, a thought occurred to me related to monovision lenses.

If one had monovision lenses implanted then, would one be eligible for the MFT/SODA like a LASIK patient?

According to the other thread "normal" cataract surgery only requires a two week wait for flying so as a consequence of implanting monovision lenses one could start flying again in two weeks with a required distance lens for the required three month period and then request a MFT/SODA.

Is the LASIK process strictly for the LASIK or is more generalized for the implantation surgically of monovision lenses?

By the time I need cataract surgery, this might be an option for bifocals that I will likely need by then. :D

Cheers
 
X3 Skier said:
Reading another thread about cataract surgery which I am sure will be in my future sometime, hopefully long after I close the logbook for the last time, a thought occurred to me related to monovision lenses.

If one had monovision lenses implanted then, would one be eligible for the MFT/SODA like a LASIK patient?
Click to expand...
Seems to me it would, because you'd be monovision all the time like a LASIK patient, but Bruce will know for sure.
 
bbchien said:
The real problem is that monovision reduces bifoveal fusion.
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I wasn't aware there was any requirements for bifoveal fusion for a third class medical. According to the following document, even pilots with monocular vision are able to get any class medical through special issuance:

http://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/pilotsafetybrochures/media/pilot_vision.pdf

It gives the following reasoning against monovision contact lenses, which isn't exactly the same as yours, since it seems to be founded entirely on alleged "lack of adaptation" which seems to me to bypass the more important question "But what does it mean operationally; that is, what does such a person actually miss that even a monocular vision person wouldn't?":
"Use of contact lenses has been permitted to satisfy the distant visual acuity requirements for a civil airman medical certificate since 1976. However, monovision contact lenses, a technique of fitting older patients who require reading glasses with one contact lens for distant vision and the other lens for near vision, ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE for piloting an aircraft.

The use of a contact lens in one eye for distant visual acuity and a lens in the other eye for near visual acuity is not acceptable because this procedure makes the pilot alternate his/her vision; that is, a person uses one eye at a time, suppressing the other, and consequently impairs binocular vision and depth perception. Since this is not a permanent condition for either eye in such persons, there is no adaptation, such as occurs with permanent monocularity. Monovision lenses, therefore, should NOT be used by pilots while flying an aircraft."

​
 
Jim, after all the research relating this issue, my understanding of the bottom line is the FAA position is that if the condition of monovision or monocular vision is PERMANENT, you can get the SI or whatever it is via MFT/SODA.

Even if a person is permanently adapted with "temporary" lenses by wearing them for 1,10,20 or 70 years every waking minute it is not acceptable to the FAA and since it is their ball game and their rules, facts to the contrary are irrelevant. :rolleyes2:

Who knows, with the stuff about the Medical community working on the medical exams in the Pilot Bill of Rights, this might change in the future. :dunno:

Cheers
 
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