Army regulation for cosmetic surgery

Vane16

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Registered Member
I'm active duty army I would like to get done a cosmetic surgery procedure. I would like to know what are the steps to get the army to approve it since it will be done by a civilian and I will be paying out of pocket. And obviously it will be on my leave time.
 
I doubt if the Army will pay for cosmetic surgery. The Army doesn't care what you look like. They only care if you can do your job. So if the condition doesn't affect your duty performance, I would say you have little to no hope of getting the Army to pay for it. Wouldn't hurt to ask, but I wouldn't count on it.

BTW, this is on track with civilian health insurance. You have to pay to play . . .
 
Vane16,
Once its on your dime you will be fine, the Army will not care once you have enough leave time to cover your recovery time.
 
The Army cares. I realize this is a little bit old, but thought I'd comment anyway.

I'd definitely ensure your command knows what they are signing the leave form for. Your unit can recall you from leave at anytime, so your true inability to respond will need to be known.

Your ability to remain a Soldier could be effected by the surgery, if things go sideways. I'd get approval in writing in case you need an LOD. Complications are rare of course, so I don't know for sure how all this would work out. However I would think if you volunteered to get sliced up and ended up with a disability, if the command approves it, it'd be covered just like a car accident (can't guarantee that's true), but if it was done on the sly you'd get shown the door (I'd guess UCMJ is uncommon, but in the realm of possibility).
 
Attached is the policy letter on Cosmetic Surgery in the Army.
 

Attachments

  • 12-076 Policy for Cosmetic Surgery Procedures in the Military Health System (MHS).pdf
    389 KB · Views: 124
Vane16

The military does perform cosmetic surgery has part of its medical training program. You may be able to get your surgery done for free.
 
Elective cosmetics surgeries are no longer free. Active duty are required to submit a copay and I am speaking from recent experience. When I say they don't care means that once you are on an approved con leave you will be fine. I have never heard of a Soldier in 20 yrs recalled from a con leave. Try to make an appt with your PCM and advise them of your intentions as the NCOIC of a surgery clinic and working in numerous primary care clinics I have seen where the PCM will accept and submit the request for con leave from the civilian surgeon.
 
Not weighing in the merits of the previous post....just stating that it is unwise to rely on a sample of one to draw inferences from.

The original post asked about elective surgery paid out of pocket. The reference I posted really did not touch on this....the Message dealt with cosmetic surgery in MTF's.... the devil is always in the details.

My point extends to basically every issue with the IDES/DES/Military....don't take a sample of one as a representative outcome for any issue (and, additionally, the corollary is also true....don't take a large sample of outcomes as indicative as to how an individual case will turn out....there are often varying circumstances or facts in a case that may change the outcome).
 
Elective cosmetics surgeries are no longer free. Active duty are required to submit a copay and I am speaking from recent experience.

I was wrong, the rules have changed.
 
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