I'm thinking of joining the (UK) Army but I'm afraid my eyesight will stop me. Went for an eye test today and got these numbers...

vision at 6/24 (right eye), 6/15 (left eye) and 6/12 (bino). She also told me it was 6/5 and 6/5 V.A


The army site says ""Eyesight Standards The standard personal weapon is the SA80 and this requires vision in the right eye to be correctable to no less than 6/9. Vision in the left eye must be correctable to no less than 6/36. Spectacle correction must be no greater than -7diopters or +8 in any meridian. Certain types of surgery or laser treatment to correct visual defects are unacceptable and clarification should be sought prior to application."

I don't understand these numbers so any help is much appreciated!

It looks like your dr. is using some form of the Snellen system to measure your visual acquity/v.a. for short. In the States we feet, and you guys use meters. I believe that in your case 6/12 bino means........You can see an object at 6 meters that with perfect visionyou should be able to see at 12 meters.

The dr.'s goal would be to write an eyeglass rx that would correct you to 6/6. That means that with glasses you would see at 6 meters what you should see at 6 meters ie perfect corrected vision.

The vast majority of my patients can be corrected to 6/6 unless there's an underlying pathology that prevents it.

It seems like you're in good shape.

I suggest this........

Print the army's visual requirements.
Bring them to your practitioner.
Ask that person if glasses can be made that will correct you their standard.
Good luck and keep your gunpowder dry.