Page 41 - LECTURETTE TOPICS eBOOK

COMMON MEDICAL QUERIES

1) IS LASIK SURGERY ALLOWED?

LASIK surgery is allowed in the Indian Armed Forces. There are, however,
some criteria to be fulfilled.

• The individual must be older than 20 years before undergoing LASIK.

• Uncomplicated stable LASIK/Excimer (PRK) laser procedure done for
Myopia or Hypermetropia, with stable refraction for a period of six
months after the procedure.

• Residual Corneal Thickness after the procedure cannot be less that 450
microns.

• Corrected vision should be 6/6 in better eye and 6/9 in worse eye, with
maximum residual refraction of + 1.50 in any meridian for myopia or
hypermetropia.
•

2) DO I HAVE KNOCK KNEES? IF YES, WHAT CAN I DO?

To check whether you have knock knees or not, stand with your feet together
in ‘saavdhaan’ position (feet joined at the heel forming a ‘v’ shape). Keep the
legs straight and do not overextend. In this position, if your knees touch,
then you may have knock knees. To ascertain the degree of severity, you can
lie down on a flat surface. Then bring your legs close together until your
knees touch. Now, have someone measure the intermalleolar distance. If it is
more than 5 cm (for men) / 7 cm (for women), then you are not fit to join the
Indian Armed Forces.

Conventionally, the only cure for knock knees for adults is by surgery. This is
not a viable option for defence aspirants as surgery itself will entail rejection
during medical examination. There are, however, several unconventional
“cures” that have been rumoured to have worked for many. Keeping a pillow
between one’s knees and tying a rope around the legs to force a desirable
curvature is the most popular remedy. According to medical experts, this
may work only in the case of those who have very mild knock knees.
Therefore, it is unadvisable to those with severe knock knees (intermalleolar
distance more than 5 cm).

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