What is their policy on eyesight?

MasterLeia

I am currently 16 years old and have - 3.00 vision in both eyes, i am considering joining the defence forces in the future but i will not get in with the vision I've got, i was wondering if i should do laser eye surgery and do the defence forces exclude you automatically if you have had this done?

Ducky00

MasterLeia wrote: »

I am currently 16 years old and have - 3.00 vision in both eyes, i am considering joining the defence forces in the future but i will not get in with the vision I've got, i was wondering if i should do laser eye surgery and do the defence forces exclude you automatically if you have had this done?

As far as I know, if you have laser surgery they won't let you in. But if anyone else knows please correct me if I'm wrong. No harm in emailing the medical department

ronanc21

Unaided vision of not less than 6/6 in one eye 6/9 in the other.Unaided vision less than 1) above, but which is not less than either 6/12 in each eye OR 6/6 in the right eye and 6/36 in the left eye.Unaided vision of not less than 6/36 in each eye, and can be corrected to not less than 6/6 in one eye and 6/9 in the other. Basically what it means is you can wear glasses but laser eye surgery is a no go. I passed the medical with corrected vision (glasses).

MasterLeia

I have emailed both info@military.ie but they havent replied after 4 days , what do i do now?

MasterLeia

So with my eyesight , i am able to join yeah?

ronanc21

If your vision is corrected by glasses yes. As for them not replying your best bet is to message Irish Defence Forces Recruitment on Facebook. Defence Forces emails are not monitored all the time whereas the recruitment page on Facebook is monitored 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM Monday - Friday

MasterLeia

ronanc21 wrote: »

If your vision is corrected by glasses yes. As for them not replying your best bet is to message Irish Defence Forces Recruitment on Facebook. Defence Forces emails are not monitored all the time whereas the recruitment page on Facebook is monitored 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM Monday - Friday

I see , thanks very much man! I really appreciate it!

BadBannana

Your prescription (-3.00 or whatever) isn't the actual metric they use.

6/6, 6/9, etc refers to being able to see an object from 6 feet away and how you compare to the average eye.

Someone who has 6/6 vision in their left eye can see from a distance of 6 feet what a "normal" eye can see at 6 feet.

Someone who has 6/9 vision in their left eye can see from a distance of 6 feet what a "normal" eye can see at 9 feet.

And so on. Specifically ask your optician about this measurement. Laser eye surgery is still banned (for some reason)

Ducky00

BadBannana wrote: »

Your prescription (-3.00 or whatever) isn't the actual metric they use.

6/6, 6/9, etc refers to being able to see an object from 6 feet away and how you compare to the average eye.

Someone who has 6/6 vision in their left eye can see from a distance of 6 feet what a "normal" eye can see at 6 feet.

Someone who has 6/9 vision in their left eye can see from a distance of 6 feet what a "normal" eye can see at 9 feet.

And so on. Specifically ask your optician about this measurement. Laser eye surgery is still banned (for some reason)

Thanks for this! I reckon laser eye surgery is banned because it's not actually as permenant as people think in some people and they won't want to pay for anyone to get it redone in 10 odd years or however long it lasts

P0dr1ck

So if you have vision worse than 6/36 but then have glasses that correct it to 6/6 does that mean you pass the eye test?

Ducky00

BadBannana wrote: »

Your prescription (-3.00 or whatever) isn't the actual metric they use.

6/6, 6/9, etc refers to being able to see an object from 6 feet away and how you compare to the average eye.

Someone who has 6/6 vision in their left eye can see from a distance of 6 feet what a "normal" eye can see at 6 feet.

Someone who has 6/9 vision in their left eye can see from a distance of 6 feet what a "normal" eye can see at 9 feet.

And so on. Specifically ask your optician about this measurement. Laser eye surgery is still banned (for some reason)

Does anyone know if there is a conversion chart or anything along those lines that explain what the army eyesight scores are roughly the equivalent to standard prescriptions? Apologies if that's a ridiculous question to ask! Like it'd be some absolute pain in the ass if you were someone that wore glasses/contacts to find out after getting as far as the medical that you failed on the eye test! (apart of course, if you were ridiculously blind without your glasses/contacts!)

BadBannana

Ducky00 wrote: »

Does anyone know if there is a conversion chart or anything along those lines that explain what the army eyesight scores are roughly the equivalent to standard prescriptions? Apologies if that's a ridiculous question to ask! Like it'd be some absolute pain in the ass if you were someone that wore glasses/contacts to find out after getting as far as the medical that you failed on the eye test! (apart of course, if you were ridiculously blind without your glasses/contacts!)

No that's probably not possible. You're best off going into an opticians and asking for this particular test to be done

onthefloat123

Can you wear contacts and just say you haven’t got them in?

do they actually check in your eyes before the eye test to see if you have contacts in?

onthefloat123

Yes laser eye surgery is banned