Old eyes....

I had cataract surgery. Both eyes. Right ( sighting eye) first then left. Dr said “ do you want glasses for reading or distance afterwards. I said reading cuz I want to get better sight pictures. She put distance lenses in. Now I need glasses for reading. I’m 20/25 for distance. I shot iron sights only, and my accuracy improved post surgery. Just saying. Pre surgery I wore progressive bifocals.
 
Good info from Bruce and the Colonel. I had cataract surgery for both eyes several years ago, and asked for lenses optimized for distance vision (which is now as good as it ever was), and have since used simple reading glasses of low power to permit better focus on iron sights. I use 1.5 glasses for reading and 1.0 or 1.25 for shooting. Of course, you can have a helpful and knowledgeable optometrist make a prescription for shooting glasses (bifocals are not helpful), but Walmart readers work fine, and are much cheaper.

PRD1 - mhb - MIke
 
Cataract surgery is the best thing that has happened to improve my vision since age made me start wearing bifocals. I went with distance and am now 20/20 so the doc says. I was better than thatbefore age crept up on me because I could see things then that are still there and I can't now but they are a looong way off. I now need no help with iron sights, pistol or rifle. I use either 1.25 or 1.50 reading glasses depending on the size of the print but I can read my 10" Kindle unaided. Before surgery I wore Walmart readers for pistol shooting as progressive bifocals required me to hold my head up and back and having a bum neck from a long ago accident that quickly became uncomfortable and would eventually give me a headache. I found I had to step up in magnification every few years with readers as my eyes changed. Whoopee, no more messing with that.
 
I had bifocals for a while then went to mono vision (one eye close, one eye far). When I had the cataract surgery I got mono vision with the right eye about 1 foot focus and the left about 5 feet. works great indoors and around the yard. I have glasses for hiking and driving that makes the right eye far distance and then the left eye has a dummy lens and gets the dash board pretty good. Problem came in when I am shooting because with my glasses on, the gun sights are blurry (right eye is far distance with glasses). I probably should have had the right eye with the dummy lens and the left corrected for distance. Guess I can sight with my left eye.
 
Another, related condition of cataracts is a secondary effect, whereby the membrane behind the lens becomes clouded. This happened to me (the ophthalmologist had warned me it could), and the vision in my left eye became progressively blurred fairly quickly. Two days ago, I had a laser procedure which, in essence, burns a hole through the clouded membrane, allowing light to pass through unimpeded. It works! Vision in the left eye is restored and is as good as it had ever been. So far, no side effects, and I am very pleased with the improvement. Just FYI, fellow old-timers.

PRD1 - mhb - MIke
 
I wear glasses - trifocals - all the time. For hunting I bought stick-on bifocals from Amazon. They are flexible, can be trimmed to size and reusable. After determining the right diopter, I stuck a small piece of the stick-on in the upper left corner of the right lens so that when the rifle is shouldered and lined up with the sights I am looking through the stick-on and the front sight is sharp.
 
I wear progressive lenses. They seem to work as well as anything else I've tried. But in general my visual acuity has decreased with age. Wherever possible I have put ghost ring sights on my handguns, and some sort of electronic or scope sight on my long guns, including shotguns. Using all of those sights required a learning curve, but once mastered seemed to provide a good solution.
 
I had the same procedure on my “shooting eye”. Quick painless vision restored to 20/25. Dr did it during my annual eye exam.
PRD1 said:
Another, related condition of cataracts is a secondary effect, whereby the membrane behind the lens becomes clouded. This happened to me (the ophthalmologist had warned me it could), and the vision in my left eye became progressively blurred fairly quickly. Two days ago, I had a laser procedure which, in essence, burns a hole through the clouded membrane, allowing light to pass through unimpeded. It works! Vision in the left eye is restored and is as good as it had ever been. So far, no side effects, and I am very pleased with the improvement. Just FYI, fellow old-timers.

PRD1 - mhb - MIke
Click to expand...
 
How about protective glasses that have some magnification? I don't need cataract surgery (55 years old) but do wear reading glasses, usually the cheap drug store versions at +1.25 or so. Anyone make ballistic glasses that have a bit of magnification?
 
Before I retired, the Honeywell shop floor required safety glasses and I used to get sets that had a bifocal at 1.25, so they are made. Bifocal for pistol should be OK, Rifle may be more problematic.
 
The concern I have is that if in a self defense situation one's glasses get knocked off, they will have to shoot with their uncorrected vision. Perhaps we should be practicing at the range this way, just in case.
 
tdbmd said:
How about protective glasses that have some magnification? I don't need cataract surgery (55 years old) but do wear reading glasses, usually the cheap drug store versions at +1.25 or so. Anyone make ballistic glasses that have a bit of magnification?
Click to expand...
Yes - https://www.amazon.com/bifocal-safety-glasses/s?k=bifocal+safety+glasses

And stick on bifocals - https://www.amazon.com/stick-bifocals/s?k=stick+on+bifocals

aaaaa said:
The concern I have is that if in a self defense situation one's glasses get knocked off, they will have to shoot with their uncorrected vision. Perhaps we should be practicing at the range this way, just in case.
Click to expand...
That's why I incorporated sighted and unsighted (eyes closed) point shooting into my defensive shooting drills. I am to a point where I can point shoot human sized target anywhere inside the house eyes open or closed - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...or-her-first-time-today.908729/#post-12369077

Also FYI, "Real world practical Fast Defensive Point Shooting for those with vision issues" - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...shooting-for-those-with-vision-issues.891558/

weaponhead said:
Looking for a "glasses" type solution for using iron sights....bifocals seem to offer some advantage when trying to focus on the front sight (rifle).

Any tricks or advice beyond red dots?
Click to expand...
Progressive lens over bifocals


And for those considering cataract surgery and need low light/night vision for hunting, there's new IOL implant option - Vivity with 100% light transmission for both near/far vision - https://www.myalcon.com/professional/cataract-surgery/iols/clareon-vivity/

Before I had my cataract surgery done, I considered Symfony and Synergy which are Extended Depth of Focus (EDOF) multi-focal implant lens that provides extended focal range for more clearer vision over regular multi-focal IOL implants - https://bestcataractsurgeons.com/lens-options-with-cataract-surgery/

But since she knew I did a lot of night driving, she recommended Vivity as it is the only IOL implant that provides 100% light transmission (Most others only transmit around 75%) with no halo/starburst effect on oncoming headlights that are prone to other IOL implants. (There was a bit of halo/starburst effect immediately after surgery but it diminished and now there is no halo/starburst)

Since surgery in both eyes, I have maintained 20/20 far vision with excellent night vision that I had and for most hands reach close up reading of laptop and small print on packages are doable without using readers. And of course, I can clearly see the sights on pistols and front sights of rifles (sharp target/sharp sights).

For really small font medicine bottle reading, I have progressed down from 2.5x to now 1.75x reading glasses but for most part, daily life and driving with full visualization of dash is crystal clear and sharp. And low light/night vision is excellent.
 
Last edited:
For pistols shooting, I went to the drugstore and tried on different reading glasses to see what strength worked best when I stood at arm's length back from their little chart. Then I went online and ordered safety glasses in that strength.

Rifle is trickier because of the greater distance between front and rear sights and the closeness of the rear sight to your eye. That's why most of my rifles have scopes ... ;)
 
My regular glasses are progressive lenses and the one problem with them is that anything that falls within the "progression" is very, very positional as far as focus. Meaning, your head/eyes have to be in absolutely the perfect position. For example, a laptop on my lap is good, desktop monitor is right in the progression and I am constantly adjusting my head for clear focus.
 
The OP specified rifle, not pistol/revolver. I doubt he conceal carries a rifle so "defensive" shooting does not seem to be implied in the question. There is not a glasses solution that is ideal or really even close to ideal. Red dots may not be a solution either due to astigmatism causing the red dot to be a red star.
 
I get a pair of cheap 1.5 reading glasses from Menards and they work fine with my 4" S&W, target is a bit blurry at 25 yards but they are a big improvement.
 
3Crows said:
The OP specified rifle, not pistol/revolver. I doubt he conceal carries a rifle so "defensive" shooting does not seem to be implied in the question. There is not a glasses solution that is ideal or really even close to ideal. Red dots may not be a solution either due to astigmatism causing the red dot to be a red star.
Click to expand...
Defensive shooting in the home is a possibility. I think the "red star" would still give sufficient accuracy for that. I agree that it's not for target shooting, though, nor for hunting, really. That brings us back to scopes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wiiawiwb
  • Locked
Irons sights/target-one of them is blurry
Replies
17
Views
4K
BCRider
BCRider
N
  • Locked
Old Eyes + Red Dot Sight = No Good!
Replies
19
Views
6K
kidcoltoutlaw
K
T
  • Locked
Aging eyes, fuzzy sights
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
Bwana John
Bwana John
S
  • Locked
WOW!! I Just Got New Eyes.
Replies
18
Views
1K
Old Ranger
O
M
  • Locked
NG Scope Mount for Ishy 2A1
Replies
0
Views
362
mainmech48
M
Back
Top