Severe Cornea Abrasion Medical Question

[Unregistered]

Over the weekend I noticed I might have pink eye. Well when I contacted my eye doc he immediately told me to come in. Come to find out he said my corneas look like the "50 yard line at the Super Bowl". Which in layman's terms means they are heavily scratched and infected. So he told me to lay off my contacts for a week and take some drops. He said I should heal perfectly and that my corneas will back to normal in a month. He told me I DID NOT HAVE A CORNEA ULCER. That we got to it in time and that my vision will still be 20/20 correctable.

My question is when I go back to get my 1st class for the airlines in 2014. I'm currently flight training under a 3rd. Do I have to list this under medical history? Because I read that if you list a Corneal Ulcer your medical is null and void until the FAA approves. So basically the 30K I have spent will be for nothing. :'(

 

[BillTIZ]

Wait for Dr Bruce.

But an infection that will clear up in a week, and stay off the contacts should be no more issue than a head cold report. If the doc says no ulcer, then no need to mention it.

I'd also throw away that set of contacts and cleaning cup and start fresh when the eye doc says.

 

[Unregistered]

Wait for Dr Bruce.

But an infection that will clear up in a week, and stay off the contacts should be no more issue than a head cold report. If the doc says no ulcer, then no need to mention it.

I'd also throw away that set of contacts and cleaning cup and start fresh when the eye doc says.

Glasses = One more Week
Drops = 2 a day until the bottle is out. The drug is Tobramycin which is approved according to AOPA.
1 a Day Contacts = 30 Days until my cornea is "hard" again
1 day/2 Week Contacts = After the 30 days depending my choice

 

[Henning]

Over the weekend I noticed I might have pink eye. Well when I contacted my eye doc he immediately told me to come in. Come to find out he said my corneas look like the "50 yard line at the Super Bowl". Which in layman's terms means they are heavily scratched and infected. So he told me to lay off my contacts for a week and take some drops. He said I should heal perfectly and that my corneas will back to normal in a month. He told me I DID NOT HAVE A CORNEA ULCER. That we got to it in time and that my vision will still be 20/20 correctable.

My question is when I go back to get my 1st class for the airlines in 2014. I'm currently flight training under a 3rd. Do I have to list this under medical history? Because I read that if you list a Corneal Ulcer your medical is null and void until the FAA approves. So basically the 30K I have spent will be for nothing. :'(

Why not get Lasik or whatever it is now and scrap the contacts? I've got so many friends who say it was the best thing that happened in their lives. I'm watching the development of the technologies to deal with aging lenses and these damned readers I've been using for the last few months.

 

[bbchien]

So you have learned to not keep your contacts in for a protracted period of time? GO BACK TO GLASSES FOR A MONTH.

Yes you HAVE to list this under medical history, section 19. What makes you think lying (omission) is a possibility? I will say that folks who do that should NOT be PIC part 121. "Moral Character" clause, 61.153c.

If you recover and the doc will write a letter, AND you meet vision standards, it's an item in section 19 (doc visits) and a yawn. But if you can't correct to standards, you will need a monovision checkride at the FSDO. The proactive AME arranges that if you can't make standards.....

Your vision is too important to leave the contacts in one hour more than you should. I have a guy who is recovered (he was one eye waived for about five months in recovery, right seat at a major currently). Your integrity is too important to think for a moment that you might omit proper reporting.

A good AME will go all out to keep you flying. Sounds like you need a relationship to one, not just a "get what you need and duck out" and avoid reporting.....

Sorry about the lecture. But I see this WAaaayyyy too often.

 

[gprellwitz]

Wait for Dr Bruce.

But an infection that will clear up in a week, and stay off the contacts should be no more issue than a head cold report. If the doc says no ulcer, then no need to mention it.

I'd also throw away that set of contacts and cleaning cup and start fresh when the eye doc says.

Whoa! Not sure what you mean by "it" here. If you mean "corneal ulcer", then I agree. If we mentioned everything the Dr. said we didn't have, then getting a medical would be more problematic than it is.

If you mean the Dr. visit, then I vehemently disagree. It's a Dr. visit in the prior 3 years for other than routine exams.

Just want that clarified here!

edit: I see I was typing my reply before I saw Dr. Bruce's. Looks like we're on the same page!

 

[Unregistered]

So you have learned to not keep your contacts in for a protracted period of time? GO BACK TO GLASSES FOR A MONTH.

Yes you HAVE to list this under medical history, section 19. What makes you think lying (omission) is a possibility? I will say that folks who do that should NOT be PIC part 121. "Moral Character" clause, 61.153c.

If you recover and the doc will write a letter, AND you meet vision standards, it's an item in section 19 (doc visits) and a yawn. But if you can't correct to standards, you will need a monovision checkride at the FSDO. The proactive AME arranges that if you can't make standards.....

Your vision is too important to leave the contacts in one hour more than you should. I have a guy who is recovered (he was one eye waived for about five months in recovery, right seat at a major currently). Your integrity is too important to think for a moment that you might omit proper reporting.

A good AME will go all out to keep you flying. Sounds like you need a relationship to one, not just a "get what you need and duck out" and avoid reporting.....

Sorry about the lecture. But I see this WAaaayyyy too often.

No, I completely understand. I was not sure if it had to be listed since its a temporary thing and not permanent. So next week when I go in to see my doc just ask him to write a letter saying the problem is corrected and I am back to normal. Then in two years just hand it in with my app? I am going to have him check me again next week before I start back on my contacts.

My current AME is not in public practice anymore. He went to a drug testing company and only does medical after his day job. So I have only seen him twice. Once for my first medical and the second for a boy scout high adventure medical.

 

[bbchien]

You've essentially got it.

But let those corneas heal and harden up fully before you subject them to another round of abrasion.....sleeping with them in is particularly brutal.

 

[weilke]

1. Don't sleep in your contacts.
2. Don't swim in your contacts and leave them in afterwards.
3. Don't fall for contact manufacturer propaganda that tells you to keep their brand in for 30 days without untoward effects.
4. Don't sleep in your contacts.
5. Don't work with your fishtank containing tropical fish and then sleep in your contacts.

Sounds like he treated you for overwear/conjunctivitis rather than an ulcer. Stay out of the contacts, use the conservatively when you get back in, get a set of stylish glasses so you don't feel that pressing need not to leave the house with them.

 

[Ghery]

When I first went to my current optometrist years ago he asked if I was interested in contacts. I said I had a problem with voluntarily putting a foreign object on my eye. He agreed that was a good approach. Yes, he prescribes and sells them, but he's also perfectly happy to sell me new glasses once a year.

 

[BillTIZ]

Whoa! Not sure what you mean by "it" here. If you mean "corneal ulcer", then I agree. If we mentioned everything the Dr. said we didn't have, then getting a medical would be more problematic than it is.

If you mean the Dr. visit, then I vehemently disagree. It's a Dr. visit in the prior 3 years for other than routine exams.

Just want that clarified here!

edit: I see I was typing my reply before I saw Dr. Bruce's. Looks like we're on the same page!

I did not say don't report the dr visit, I said report it like you would report a visit for a bad cold and since recovered.

My apologies to dr Bruce, I keyed in on the no cornea ulcer and not the existing abrasion.

 

[BillTIZ]

When I first went to my current optometrist years ago he asked if I was interested in contacts. I said I had a problem with voluntarily putting a foreign object on my eye. He agreed that was a good approach. Yes, he prescribes and sells them, but he's also perfectly happy to sell me new glasses once a year.

I've been wearing soft disposable contacts since early 90s, as soon as USAF approved contacts for aircrews. Had to be 20/20 with contacts, be able to take them out and be 20/20 with glasses immediately. Had to keep a pair of glasses in flight suit pocket when flying.

I could wear them 12-16 hrs a day, take them out every night, clean, throw them away every two weeks.

No that I need bifocals, I have bifocal contacts, but tend to wear my glasses more depending on what I'm doing.

 

[gprellwitz]

I've been wearing soft disposable contacts since early 90s, as soon as USAF approved contacts for aircrews. Had to be 20/20 with contacts, be able to take them out and be 20/20 with glasses immediately. Had to keep a pair of glasses in flight suit pocket when flying.

I could wear them 12-16 hrs a day, take them out every night, clean, throw them away every two weeks.

No that I need bifocals, I have bifocal contacts, but tend to wear my glasses more depending on what I'm doing.

Yeah, that's about where I'm heading. Now that I've found the need for near correction, I haven't been as happy with the contacts, despite the fact that I take them out (nearly) every night. I just haven't wanted to incur the expense and aggravation of bifocal glasses AND bifocal sunglasses (Sheydens). I have two non-prescription Sheydens as it is!

 

[Everskyward]

Yeah, that's about where I'm heading. Now that I've found the need for near correction, I haven't been as happy with the contacts, despite the fact that I take them out (nearly) every night. I just haven't wanted to incur the expense and aggravation of bifocal glasses AND bifocal sunglasses (Sheydens). I have two non-prescription Sheydens as it is!

I wear contacts most of the time and my eye doctor said to just buy a pair of readers at the drugstore and wear them over the contacts if I needed them. So far I mostly get by without them but it's getting a little harder when it's dark or when things are really small. When I'm wearing glasses I just take them off to see close up but I need to get REALLY close.

 

[gprellwitz]

I wear contacts most of the time and my eye doctor said to just buy a pair of readers at the drugstore and wear them over the contacts if I needed them. So far I mostly get by without them but it's getting a little harder when it's dark or when things are really small. When I'm wearing glasses I just take them off to see close up but I need to get REALLY close.

I think that's where I'm going to go with the next Rx. It still leaves me occasionally leaving them in overnight, but generally in situations where I might be better not taking them out at night anyway, like camping at AirVenture!

 

[BillTIZ]

Yeah, that's about where I'm heading. Now that I've found the need for near correction, I haven't been as happy with the contacts, despite the fact that I take them out (nearly) every night. I just haven't wanted to incur the expense and aggravation of bifocal glasses AND bifocal sunglasses (Sheydens). I have two non-prescription Sheydens as it is!

I never leave them in overnight. If you do use a lot of rewetting drops in the morning. When I have slept with them in my younger days, I found them cloudy in the morning for a while.

I used normal contacts with drug store "cheaters" for years. But always hard to use with contacts, non prescription sunglasses, then swapping for cheaters to read charts.

You'll notice more problems needing cheater help on night flights before you notice it in the daylight. Bright lights cure a lot of vision ills.

Bifocal contacts do well for day light flying, but I've noticed they are not so great for cockpit charts at night, so I plan to have my progressive glasses for night flying.

My problem, my glasses have magnetic attached sunglasses that are polarized. Not good for iPad and some cockpit electronic displays.