title: Refractive surgery in Israel Defense Forces recruits.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of refractive surgery history in recruits for military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) between 1998 to 2005 and to evaluate the effect of surgery on the recruits' fitness to serve in combat units.
  
  
  METHODS
  Surgeon General's HQ, Medical Corps, Israel Defense Forces.
  
  
  METHODS
  The computerized medical records of all ametropic Israeli army inductees were reviewed. They included spectacle-wearing, contact lens-wearing, and post refractive-surgery individuals who were examined in the recruitment office before their compulsory military service. The extracted data from the personal files consisted of the assignment to combat units of those who had refractive surgery and those who wore corrective eyewear and the first and last military position of all ametropic recruits who were assigned to combat units.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five hundred ninety-seven inductees (513 men, 84 women) had refractive surgery before their military service during the study period. The prevalence of recruits who had refractive surgery increased from 0.8/1000 ametropes in 1998 to 4.9/1000 ametropes in 2005. Significantly more recruits who had surgery (73.5%) than recruits who wore corrective eyewear were assigned to combat units (P<.001). The dropout rate from combat units of the former was significantly lower than that of the latter (13.1% versus 29.2%) (P<.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More corrective eyewear users had refractive surgery before their IDF military service, and relatively more of them applied for combat duty. The high percentage of recruits who had refractive surgery who serve uninterruptedly in combat units indicates that the procedure has no deleterious effect on the recruits' fitness.
authors.affiliation: Surgeon General's HQ, Medical Corps, Israel Defense Forces, Haifa, Israel. drgo@netvision.net.il
authors.forename: Josepha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horowitz
authors.forename: Eedy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mezer
authors.forename: Tzippora
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shochat
authors.forename: Yossi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mandel
authors.forename: Gila
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Buckman
authors.forename: Adi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sasson
authors.forename: Orna
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Geyer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001251:Astigmatism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006956:Hyperopia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009216:Myopia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery; D015995:Prevalence; D054140:Refractive Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*