Lasik? & How hard is it to get in the Marines?

[scotch]

Have any of you gotten Lasik Before entering the Marine Corps? Especially if you had just graduated. I ask because i don't like the idea of going in the marines with glasses. Should I or Shouldn't I get lasik before I enlist.

Is it hard to get in the Marines?
I'll graduate in 2013 and i'm passionate about becoming a Marine. I'm healthy and strong male. I'm not too athletic but i like to work out. I am near sighted so i wear glasses(see above). I get straight A's in school. I go to school online too.

Could any of you guys give me a rough outlook of what I can do?

[BR34]

You can get LASIK while in the Corps. And it will be covered by your medical plan. However, there will be a pretty lengthy wait.

[scotch]

Oh thats good thanks!

[thewookie]

Why would you go in the military looking for LASIK?

Going in the military looking for someone to zap your eyes is like asking for the lowest bidder to perform open heart surgery.

Let me give you a tip: the less you have them cut or touch you the better. God I love me a Doc, but I don't want no part of them unless I have to - you hear me now?

You want LASIK get some civilian who has done it a million times to do it before you go,,, or just deal with it.

Many a fine Marine has worn BCD's (or stupid looking glasses for you civilians), and done just fine.

And it's not hard to go to boot camp, it might be hard for you to finish and become a Marine; but basically, if you have a clean record, have a little smarts and do what your told, then you can go to boot camp.

Good luck.

[scotch]

Thanks for the advice wookie, it helped. :)

[SGT7477]

That surgery doesn't work for everybody.

[Donut Brigade]

Why would you go in the military looking for LASIK?

Going in the military looking for someone to zap your eyes is like asking for the lowest bidder to perform open heart surgery.

Let me give you a tip: the less you have them cut or touch you the better. God I love me a Doc, but I don't want no part of them unless I have to - you hear me now?

You want LASIK get some civilian who has done it a million times to do it before you go,,, or just deal with it.

Many a fine Marine has worn BCD's (or stupid looking glasses for you civilians), and done just fine.

And it's not hard to go to boot camp, it might be hard for you to finish and become a Marine; but basically, if you have a clean record, have a little smarts and do what your told, then you can go to boot camp.

Good luck.

I read this a while back.


GET LASIK! I cannot stress this enough.

I have horrible vision and can't tell a horses ass from it's nose without my glasses. If you're going to Iraq what i'm about to say won't matter because you'll be living in a nice FOB and whatnot and going back to a nice base with a real med center and BAS after every patrol, but if you're going to Afghanistan where you'll find yourself living out of your gun trucks or living out of small captured Taliban compounds with the nearest BAS or med center being 40 clicks away if you're lucky then you need to get LASIK.

ESS ICE glasses with RX inserts don't hold up under the rigors of combat, having the RX inserts creating the small gap between the ballistic plastic combined with the humidity of southern Afghanistan will cause them to fog up on every single patrol, in other words - they suck not to mention they have so many little parts that snap on and off that during a combat deployment you're going to lose **** and have to improvise, not to mention they break easily. I had prescription Oakley M-Frames for my whole deployment and they were pretty good but they'll still break, just not as easily as ESS glasses. The Oakley's were well worth the money, but NOTHING is better than getting LASIK. Night patrols absolutely sucked having to wear my clear Oakley RX M-Frames as a barrier between my eyes and my NVG's which were next to impossible to clearly focus them.

When I broke my M-Frames, it was a solid month before I could get them replaced because by the time my platoon got access to a sattelite phone and the time it takes to ship them from America, and then the time it takes to actually get the mail to the front lines, you're looking at more than 4 weeks.

If your unit won't get you on the list for LASIK or won't get you LASIK before you deploy, then go out in town and get it done at a civilian LASIK eye clinic and spend the $3,000 or so that it costs. It's mission essential and I cannot go another deployment with RX glasses. I come home in a few weeks and the second I get back i'm scheduling a pre-op screening for LASIK and if I get put at the end of the list i'm just going to get it done at a civilian doc.

[TTX]

I got mine twice, in 2001 and last Oct. My eyes are now 20/20. You have to wait for 6 months after surgery before the recruiter even do anything.

[Chumley]

scotch,

Most people's vision changes throughout their life many times; usually it gets worse, but occaisionally better too. If you were to have LASIK today, there's no guarantee that you will continue to have perfect vision 5 years from now, and you may end up in glasses again anyways, which sucks - I know. I don't know if you can have the surgery multiple times or not, but anytime you have surgery, there is always a risk.

I know about 10 people personally who have had it done:

1 - excellent results almost 20 years ago, however she uses glasses to read again.

5 more - perfect vision - one guy went to 20-15 correction in both eyes.

1 - is COMPLETELY BLIND now, due to the fact that they didn't test him for macular degeneration ahead of time - he won a lawsuit, but he's BLIND.

1 - major complications - she can't really see at night now - no driving past dusk.

2 - I know two people that have perfect vision in one eye, and the other eye is permanently F-ed up from LASIK.

Nowadays the odds are really good with LASIK, I know. The odds of both eyes getting F-ed up are slim. IF I was going to do it, I would wait until the USMC will pay for it: IF it gets screwed up once you're enlisted, at least you'll have made it through Boot and Earned your Title, and therefore eligible for Disability ( not much of a bonus ). If your surgery isn't done well as a civilian you may be DQ'ed without ever getting a shot at the USMC.

ALSO - If I were able, I'd only do one eye at a time, starting with my worst eye. IF it gets screwed up, I still have my better eye. Once the first eye is 100%, then schedule the other if you choose to.

FYI - I wear contact lenses and I dislike my glasses. My prescription isn't terrible, but it has changed three times since I started wearing glasses when I was about 17 - so approx every 5-10 years for me.

Good luck!
C

[RIP5953]

I've been on the LASIK list for about a year now.

[NoRemorse]

I'm on Chumley's list of people who've had LASIK. I had severe astigmatism and wore BCGs my entire enlistment. When I came back to NY I had it done by the big guys here and they charged $3,500. There...

[fallfast90]

Why would you go in the military looking for LASIK?

Going in the military looking for someone to zap your eyes is like asking for the lowest bidder to perform open heart surgery.

Let me give you a tip: the less you have them cut or touch you the better. God I love me a Doc, but I don't want no part of them unless I have to - you hear me now?

You want LASIK get some civilian who has done it a million times to do it before you go,,, or just deal with it.

Many a fine Marine has worn BCD's (or stupid looking glasses for you civilians), and done just fine.

And it's not hard to go to boot camp, it might be hard for you to finish and become a Marine; but basically, if you have a clean record, have a little smarts and do what your told, then you can go to boot camp.

Good luck.

Not true. While i was in, i got dental implants. I was born without 2 teeth, and i got all the paperwork together and got it done. Just a little info...they had to graft on extra bone to my gums, then they had to screw in 2 posts straight into me. Then finally they screwed on the real teeth. The entire time they gave me a retainer to wear so you couldn't see the screws. I had all this work done in Bethesda MD, and they did an awsome job. The military paid for my teeth for the cost of about 6+ grand. Get all you can while your in whether it be medical, education, etc.

[thewookie]

Not true. While i was in, i got dental implants. I was born without 2 teeth, and i got all the paperwork together and got it done. Just a little info...they had to graft on extra bone to my gums, then they had to screw in 2 posts straight into me. Then finally they screwed on the real teeth. The entire time they gave me a retainer to wear so you couldn't see the screws. I had all this work done in Bethesda MD, and they did an awsome job. The military paid for my teeth for the cost of about 6+ grand. Get all you can while your in whether it be medical, education, etc.

Not true for you; but I bet you are the exception and not the rule.

I would not go into the military looking for medical work.

But I'm happy it worked out for you.

[MLMonk]

If you can pass the IST, ASVAB and don't need major waivers, then joining the Marines is easy, same with bootcamp.

The SSgt I had got LASIK, he said he waited about 1 1/2 years before they did the surgery on him from the time he applied for it. You need to be 21 to have it done, because supposingly thats when your eyes are at a standstil in changes.