PRESBYOPIC CORRECTION FOR AVIATORS

• Published in: Aviation, space, and environmental medicine space, and environmental medicine, 2012-03, Vol.83 (3), p.257-258
• Main Author: Pokroy, R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0095-6562

INTRODUCTION: Presbyopia is the natural loss of accommodation associated with age. This manifests as difficulty in near vision and becomes significant between 45 and 50 years of age. Aviation requires good near and distant vision. Therefore, the presbyopic aviator requires different optical correction for near and distant visual tasks. This study aims to assess aviator preferences and the advantages/disadvantages of multifocal, bifocal and reading glasses. METHODS: Presbyopic Israel Air Force aviators > 49 years of age, or younger if using near correction, were consecutively questioned regarding the visual demands for their specific aviation environment and the near-optical correction used. The choice of near-optical correction was analyzed according to refractive status and platform. RESULTS: One-hundred and twelve aviators were studied. Average age was 54.3 + 3.3 (range, 47-63). Nineteen, 43, 35 and 15 aviators used multifocals, bifocals, readers-in-pocket or none as their near vision correction of choice. Regarding multifocal use, 5/28 high- and 14/26 low-performance ametropic (0.50 diopters or more of hyperopia or myopia) aviators chose multifocals (P=0.01), but only 1/37 high- and 1/21 low-performance emmetropic aviators used multifocals. Bifocal-use analysis showed no difference between high- and low-performance platforms for ametropic aviators (17/28 vs 10/26, respectively, P=0.17), but for emmetropic aviators, bifocals were used more by high- than low -performance aviators (14/37 vs 0/21, respectively, P=0.001). Readers alone were rarely used by ametropes and commonly used by emmetropes (2/54 vs 33/58, respectively, P