Upgrading the warfighter

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Brian Ferguson
  • Air Force Print News
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Airmen who wear glasses or contact lenses know how difficult it can be to deploy to an environment riddled with sand and dust.

The Wilford Hall Refractive Surgery Center is offering to fix this problem, giving Airmen the chance to surgically correct their vision, with no wait.

"If you look at an Airman as the most advanced weapons system in the Air Force, refractive surgery would be like upgrading the avionics on an F-16 (Fighting Falcon)," said Lt. Col. Charles Reilly, director of the center.

"We have no waiting list for the surgery, because we have more capacity, so our ability has grown," he said.

There are many surgical options for patients at the refractive surgery center: Laser-In-Situ Keratomileusis, or LASIK; Photorefractive Keratectomy, known as PRK; and some newer procedures such as Epi-LASIK, which is a combination of the two.

Advancements in technology and systems, and improved efficiency also have contributed to the expanded capacity of the center, Colonel Reilly said.

In the past, the waiting lists for corrective eye surgery have been long, with waits up to one year.

Military members requesting the surgery must first fill out an application, have their commander's authorization and an eyeglass prescription that is at least one to two years old. On average, only ten to fifteen percent of patients who apply for the surgery will not qualify.

Colonel Reilly says that the demand for the surgery has not decreased, capacity has simply increased and the center has surgical openings most every day.

Maj. Phillip Mason, an emergency medicine physician, received PRK one-and-a-half years ago. He had deployed before the surgerey and then after the surgery.

"After the surgery I had no limiting factor when it came to my vision," said Major Mason.

Colonel Reilly says that vision is the most important asset one has for taking in information in the world around us, so one should be very careful when contemplating surgery and then having surgery done.

"The risk isn't zero, there is always a risk," said Colonel Reilly, "and there are never any guarantees when it comes to surgery."

Wilford Hall has a tremendous success rate with refractive surgery, and has never had an aviator not return to flight status after surgery.

Colonel Reilly says that patients here have a 96 to 98 percent chance of achieving better than 20/20 vision after surgery.

"Outside of a little pain, the experience was very pleasant," said Major Mason. "It is a pretty well-oiled machine here at Wilford Hall."

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