Seeking Advice on Eyeglass Prescription and Canadian Armed Forces Medical Standards

[troubliesome96]

I am considering joining the Canadian Armed Forces and wanted to get some advice regarding my eyeglass prescription and whether it meets the minimum medical standards required for enlistment.

My current prescription is as follows:

• Right Eye:
  • SPH = -2.50
  • CYL = -0.50
  • AXL = 2
• Left Eye:
  • SPH = -3.25
  • CYL = -0.25
  • AXL = 175
• PD: 61

I have checked the official medical standards, but I am still uncertain if my prescription would be acceptable. I would greatly appreciate any insights or experiences from those who have been in a similar situation or have knowledge about the medical requirements for vision.

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[sarahsmom]

I am considering joining the Canadian Armed Forces and wanted to get some advice regarding my eyeglass prescription and whether it meets the minimum medical standards required for enlistment.

My current prescription is as follows:

• Right Eye:
  • SPH = -2.50
  • CYL = -0.50
  • AXL = 2
• Left Eye:
  • SPH = -3.25
  • CYL = -0.25
  • AXL = 175
• PD: 61

I have checked the official medical standards, but I am still uncertain if my prescription would be acceptable. I would greatly appreciate any insights or experiences from those who have been in a similar situation or have knowledge about the medical requirements for vision.

Thank you in advance for your help!

the CAF doesn't care what your prescription is. What you need to effectively compare your eyes to the vision standards is your visual acuity. What is your vision when you look at an eye chart. Are you 6/9? are you 6/60? You need to look at each eye's score individually and then compare tot the eye chart, for uncorrected vision. Also you need to confirm that you are correctable to 6/6 with glasses. Not everyone is.

The reason the CAF doesn't use your prescription is because your prescription includes things like astigmatism. So you could have a low prescription with some significant astigmatism and your vision category will be V4. Or a significant prescription with low astigmatism which could also put you at V4. This is why you cannot just extrapolate from the prescription to acuity.

Figure out what your visual acuity is ( there are lots of charts online with instructions so you can try for yourself.). It could be on your prescription from the eye doctor. Or it could be in your file at the eye doctor. But this is what you need to figure out your vision category. All I can say is your sphere is not greater than =/- 7 dioptres (cased on your info) so that is a good thing.

 

[troubliesome96]

the CAF doesn't care what your prescription is. What you need to effectively compare your eyes to the vision standards is your visual acuity. What is your vision when you look at an eye chart. Are you 6/9? are you 6/60? You need to look at each eye's score individually and then compare tot the eye chart, for uncorrected vision. Also you need to confirm that you are correctable to 6/6 with glasses. Not everyone is.

The reason the CAF doesn't use your prescription is because your prescription includes things like astigmatism. So you could have a low prescription with some significant astigmatism and your vision category will be V4. Or a significant prescription with low astigmatism which could also put you at V4. This is why you cannot just extrapolate from the prescription to acuity.

Figure out what your visual acuity is ( there are lots of charts online with instructions so you can try for yourself.). It could be on your prescription from the eye doctor. Or it could be in your file at the eye doctor. But this is what you need to figure out your vision category. All I can say is your sphere is not greater than =/- 7 dioptres (cased on your info) so that is a good thing.

Thank you for the detailed reply!