Cataract surgery

[Dano4734]

Recently had cataract surgery and now my close up vision is shot. I can’t see the front sight of my pistol without reading glasses however, if I use my reading glasses I don’t see the target. Now with a rifle and a scope, I can shoot better than ever. This doesn’t help me with my glock 43 for protection. Any others have this problem? If so what is the work around. Bifocals are not a good solution. I am frustrated as I was a good shooter. I am regretting getting the surgery.

[Recycled bullet]

Have you tried looking at and testing peep/aperture sights, and holographic/reflex sights?

[JimCunn]

I had cataracts done, and also a posterior capsulotomy on both eyes.
Ability to see sight and target simultaneously without glasses is so-so.
Though it isn't always feasible, bright lighting helps because it constricts the pupils and increases the depth of field.

[Skippy]

Why are bifocals not a good solution? I'm several months into my cataract surgeries and have worn glasses since fourth grade, bifocals for the past ten years.

I added pistol optics on my carry guns about five years ago and couldn't be happier with the speed and accuracy improvements, although it took some serious practice to learn NOT to close one eye like I do with iron sights.

We have to adapt to our changing, aging bodies one way or another. Reflex sights work for me, bifocals a necessary evil.

_______________
*I'd give right arm to be ambidextrous*

[Jim Watson]

There are bigger brighter iron sights available, various combinations of tritium, fibre optic, and luminous inserts are available. My G43 has tritium + fibre optic combo sights.

The XS Big Dot is certainly easy to pick up but the wide V express rear was imprecise for me. Maybe a Big Dot front and a wide notch rear would suit.

I have seen my gunsmith bobbing his head to get the sights in the sweet spot of progressive bifocals while test firing a pistol.

Any road, I think you would be giving up accuracy with about any sort of iron sight; I have shooting glasses with the right eye focused on the sights, the target is adequately visible, but I sure don't wear them around town.

Red dot sights are showing up all over the place; a G43 MOS would put you in business.

[tangolima]

Target, front sight, and rear sight, no human can focus all 3 simultaneously, even with perfect vision. The front sight is what counts. It is problematic if you need reading glasses to see the front sight.

You need to find a way to shoot for self defense without corrective lens. Mini red dot or point shooting may be options. Not too bad as self defense is close range and you just need to hit the center mass. No tiny groups are needed.

Our bodies wear when we age. We just have to adopt and improvise. I wear bifocal. From time to time I train to shoot without eye glasses at 5 to 10 yards. Everything is blurry.

-TL

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[Pahoo]

Dano,
There is a historical thread that is not that old, about the results of cataract surgery. Many of us, share this post-surgery "situation". Folks that go into this, are given a choice of lenses, prior to this procedure. My insurance only covered the "default" lense and the other choices are out of pocket. All follow-up visits confirmed that I have 20/20 vision and it's a great new world for my "Vintage" eyes. However, I do need reading glasses. At one of your follow-up visits, you were given a choice of prescription bi-focal glasses. Mine turned out to be 2.50. I find that I can still see my rear sight, fairly well. My only regret is that I did not get this procedure done sooner. ......

Enjoy and;
Be Safe !!!

[Dano4734]

Thank you , very good information

[gwpercle]

Another option is Tri-Focals ... 1. regular reading/up close correction , 2. arms length ( I brought my handgun so the Doc could measure distance to sights while I held it in shooting position ) , 3. long distance correction .
It all works fairly well . Peep Sights are the best / easiest to hit with and the absolute best is scope / red dot sight .
I love the way companies are making handguns with the small red dot sights mounted out the box... a few years ago red dots were 1"tube and the devil to get mounted and add so much bulk to a handgun ... it wasn't funny .
My next handgun will come from the factory with the red dot installed and no iron sights , they just aren't a requirement I will need for this one .
My eyesight has been so damaged for so long ... right now I can only use the red dot .
Gary

[Jim Watson]

Folks that go into this, are given a choice of lenses, prior to this procedure. My insurance only covered the "default" lense and the other choices are out of pocket.

My gunsmith is moving towards cataract surgery.
His ophthalmologist said to take the base model lens and wear glasses for reading, even to correct astigmatism. That way you won't get caught by changes in your eyeball that would get you out of the range of one of the premium design implants.

On the other hand, there is a guy on THR who is very happy with his Vivity deluxe lenses.
A friend got a toric in her first eye, fixed focus but correcting astigmatism, but went with an Vivity multifocal for the other. I haven't heard her to say how well that combination works.

[HiBC]

I wrote about my cataract surgery a while back. As I recall I explained I am not an eye Doctor and I'm not giving advice. I'm only reporting my experience.
Talk with your eye Doctor for advice.

In my experience,once I had cataracts,my vision slowly degraded. It was not going to heal up and get better. Shooting was not so good. Night driving was terrible. I could not read street signs. Headlight glare was crazy. I pretty much quit night driving.

I went to my eye Dr to get a prescription. He told me my right eye was so bad he could not write a prescription. But he could refer me for cataract surgery.

I did it. At distance I am now 20-20. I've worn glasses since I was 7 yrs old and I can see distance better than ever.

Yes,there was a tradeoff. I aways had pretty good vision at 6 or 8 inches. Thats gone. I can't read a cash register tape or my phone or computer.
I can't read with my bare eyes. But 2.5 X drugstore reading glasses fix me up. Kind of a pain in the butt but overall,its a great tradeoff

Shooting a handgun? In my case,I can see the sights pretty well.I can shoot.
My S+W Shield Plus sights I can see fine.. 1911 sights I can see.

Please understand
,OP, I'm not doubting your experience.

I only know mine. For me, its not perfect but compared to what I had (which was getting worse) I can live with the reading glasses.

Now,something I never got around to trying.... There is an outfit that will grind a small window,like a bifocal,high on the lens and offset a bit toward your nose. The idea is that window will focus on your front sight, The rest of the lens can be zero correction. Your other eye can be zero correction.
When you shoot both eyes open, it MIGHT be you can see the sights through the window with your right eye and downrange with your left.
BUT!! I have no experience with it and I can't give you a recommendation. I also don't remember who was doing it. |

[HiBC]

I did a little digging.

This outfit makes glasses with just a "window" of correction cut into the lens.
If you read the website,it tells you more than I can.

I lived nearly all of my life wearing glasses. Now,with surgery.I'm 20-20 at distance. I don't NEED to wear glasses. But my career as machinist convinced me eye protection is a good thing.

Even if our eyes are 20-20,shooting glasses are a good idea.

I have not tried them,but this outfit might be able to solve your problem.

If you don't like clicking links,search "Hansen's Eagle Eye"

Or https://eagleeyeshooting.com/

[FITASC]

I will be getting surgery in July; I opted for distance vision as I shoot more shotgun than anything else. Doc said I might need reading cheaters for close up - which currently is excellent. But, as others have stated night driving sucks, reading street signs is difficult. I do not have clouded vision, just out of focus past laptop distance

[Pahoo]

Even if our eyes are 20-20,shooting glasses are a good idea.

A post-surgery situation that I am working through, is that my vision became so clear, that "some" lighting is just too bright, so I routinely wear sun-glasses, even in low-light conditions. The sky use to be a hazey tan and now it's a beautiful blue. Last week we were blessed to see a Rainbow and what a treat that was as I could distinguish, "all" the colors. ......

Be Safe !!!

[Bottom Gun]

My eyes reached the point where using a rifle scope was difficult and I would see more than one red dot in other sights.
I had lenses in both eyes replaced. I opted for the multi-focal lenses. I think they are called Symphony or something like that. I’m really not 100% satisfied with them. I expected true multi-focal vision, which I don’t have.

I went from being mildly near sighted to being extremely far sighted. If I were doing it again, I would choose the Toric distance lenses instead. I really see no advantage to these so-called multi-focal lenses based upon my experience with them.
I can’t read without glasses. I can’t see to read a menu in a restaurant unless the light is very bright and then it’s a toss up. Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s on my plate clearly depending upon the lighting. I expected better after listening to the sales pitch.
To be fair, my distance vision is good and I can see much better through scopes and red dot sights but pistol sights are still fuzzy. Fiber optic sights really help my pistol shooting.

Also, the multi-focal lenses will likely produce glare and halos at night making night driving difficult. Some doctors won’t implant multi-focal lenses for truckers or people who have to drive at night.

I paid an extra $7,000 out of pocket over what the insurance would cover. The multi-focal lenses cost nearly twice as much as the distance lenses even though the implant procedure is exactly that same.

I hope this helps someone make the right choice.

[ammo.crafter]

Had it done in my dominate right eye.
As a result, my left eye became my dominate eye.
No more shotgun shooting for me.

But, red dot sights on competition pistols was a life saver and keeps me in competitive shooting.

[HiBC]

Ammocrafter: The way I used my eyes to see touch offs as a machinist,my eyes became rather ambidextrous. The eye that could see best took over.

This was rather disastrous to my shotgun shooting. Placing the shotgun to my cheek would cause my left eye to become Master.

My older brother is a shotgunner. He said there is a British shotgun technique,

Assuming right handed, the left hand index finger goes at 6 O'clock under the forend or barrels.Its pointed toward the target. The left thumb is extended upward on the left side of the forend/ barrels . That is key. That thumb sticking up occludes the left eye enough the right eye remains Master,
I found that simple adjustment worked wonders.
There are all sorts of "remedies" where the "helpful" coach puts a spot of marker or scotch tape or smears a fried chicken drumstick on the left lens of the victim's glasses.

That,IMO,can be OK for a short term lesson, an illustration to the student....
But, IMO, its just not OK for a day of pheasant hunting.
Don't screw with my glasses!! Its distracting,annoying,and I'd rather stay home.
The thumb serves exactly the same function equally well.

You might give it a try.

[Dano4734]

I love the suggestions. I am trying the new what’s it called multi focal glasses when they come in. Doctor thinks it will work. I love my vision with a rifle but my near vision is a blurry disaster without reading glasses. I will give you an update . Thank you. The only thing golden about the golden years is the color of our urine

[jonnyc]

I have the EXACT same problem as many of you posters. I didn't really have any choice as to getting the surgery, but I don't recall ever being offered any distance choices. I am also 20/20 from about 4 feet on, but shooting both pistols and rifles has become more difficult. My usual choice is to see the sights or the targets, but not both. I'm using my scoped and red-dot rifles much more lately, but accurate placement with my 43X is still a struggle. I'll be watching here to see what other suggestions appear.

[FITASC]

Had it done in my dominate right eye.
As a result, my left eye became my dominate eye.
No more shotgun shooting for me

Either occlude or close your off eye or switch shoulders; many whose eye dominance has changed have done so

[Paul B.]

I had cataract surgery about 6 years ago. My vision long ranger is still a strong 20/20 Was even better at first. Problem is about four years ago I developed double vision that was corrected with glasses. Now I can't use a scope. The reticle does not seem to be where it belongs in the sight picture. I can take the glasses off and keep one I closed but then I lose my depth perception. I need to have a consultation with my eye doctor to see if this can be corrected by other means. Maybe surgery or some such.
Paul B.

[tangolima]

I suppose it is rifle scope. It is single tube, unlike binoculars, so there is no sense of depth anyway.

-TL

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[Paul B.]

"I suppose it is rifle scope. It is single tube, unlike binoculars, so there is no sense of depth anyway."

The problem stems from the special lens for whichever eye distorting how you see the reticle. You see it OK but it's like you're sighted in to hit here but when you shoot with the glasses it hit there. It's hard to explain and confusing when I try. You'd have to experience it to really understand.
Paul B.

[tangolima]

I understand. Does your scope have adjustable parallax? Adjusting that may help.

-TL

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[Paul B.]

No, it does not. I don't think any of the scoppes i have on are asjustable for parallax.
Paul B.