Soldiers at Fort Cavazos, Texas, may have difficulty getting corrective vision surgeries such as LASIK until at least January because of a doctor shortage.
After a week of inquiries from Military.com, a spokesperson for the base's medical center said that refractive eye surgeries — which can alleviate or fix farsightedness, nearsightedness and astigmatism — are being “reduced and prioritized to ensure we meet the soldier readiness mission.” The issue affects LASIK surgeries, the most popular type of refractive surgery, as well as another procedure known as PRK.
While a sign at one of the base's clinics — a picture of which was sent to Military.com by a source last week — said the surgeries were suspended, the spokesperson pushed back on that characterization and said the sign has since been removed.
Read Next: Soldiers Unpaid: National Guard Hasn't Paid Out Thousands of Enlistment Bonuses
“Like many health care systems, both military and civilian, Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center is experiencing provider shortages in certain areas such as optometry and ophthalmology,” Rodney Jackson, the spokesperson for the medical center, said in emailed answers to Military.com.
“As LASIK and PRK surgeries are considered elective surgeries, this capability does not take priority over annual vision readiness requirements for soldiers,” Jackson added. “We expect this capability gap to last for approximately 90 days.”
While…
