Vb. Nakagawara et al., APHAKIA AND ARTIFICIAL LENS IMPLANTS IN THE CIVIL AIRMAN POPULATION, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine, 64(10), 1993, pp. 932-938
The Federal Aviation Administration allows civilian airmen with aphaki
a to fly with waivered certificates. This study analyzes, in the civil
airman population, the distribution of aphakia and intraocular lens (
I.O.L.) implant by type (unilateral, bilateral), class of airman medic
al certificate, and gender, for a 4-year period (1982-85). Medical rec
ords were individually evaluated for all certified airmen who were car
rying FAA-specific codes for the pathology categories during the study
period. The prevalence of both aphakic and I.O.L. increased most for
bilateral type and second-class certificate holders. During the study
period, the prevalence of aphakia increased most for males and I.O.L.
increased most for females. The incidence declined in both pathology c
ategories during the later years of the study period. Implications for
aeromedical certification of the increasing prevalence of aphakic and
I.O.L. in the civil airman population are discussed. The modification
of surgical procedures for cataract extraction and evolution of I.O.L
. devices strongly suggests continued specialized aeromedical certific
ation and clinical research review.