Sights after cataract surgery

BJSHOOTZ1

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So how do all you old guys ( like me ) deal with your sights after cataract surgery? They corrected for distance but still fuzzy because they didnt get rid of all the astigmatism with the lazer. Surgery. So p. O’d right now. Cant even see my front or rear sights much less focus in 3 planes.
 
I have been where you are now. Get used to the fact that you now have fixed-focus eyeballs. You may still have to wear glasses for the astigmatism, if its bad enough, but this is not all bad: you can have a correction put in one lens to allow you to focus adequately on your front sight. What I have done is get some stick-on bifocal lenses (one example of many) and put one on my shooting glasses but not at the bottom where you'd normally expect a bifocal lens, but at the top of the lens, where you're looking through it when focusing on your sight. You'll never have the adjustable focus you had in your youth, but you can adapt and manage.

You can always go to a scope, but if you are like me, you mostly prefer iron sights. Another solution I've found is the MISO lens. This was originally developed for the M1A and is legal for service rifle competition, and gives just enough correction to focus on the sight. In the photo below I've placed one in what was the adjustable peep on a No.4 Mk1 Enfield. It works! I can see the sight and the target adequately at 100 yd.

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I later installed one in the battle sight (replacing the elevation-adjustable sight which I always kept at the bottom anyway) for a simpler installation. You may be able to adapt something like this to your rifle(s).
IMG_5328 copy.jpg
I still shoot irons and pistols with the upside-down bifocal glasses described above, but the MISO lens is an elegant solution where you can use it. Like you, I went through a period of being unhappy that my shooting would be affected (some might say "not so you'd notice"), but at least now I can be out in the woods without glasses, or with my choice of sunglasses, and I've adapted to the rest. Is it perfect? No; never gonna be. Can I live with it? Heck yeah.
 
Thanks for the thoughts. Seems there’s at least hope after some time. Yesterday was my left eye ( second one he did ). Also having a bright white line top to bottom at about a 30 degree to left side of vertical in my right eye done Dec 13th. So cant drive at bight. Doc mentioned he might have to replace it with a different type lense. Guess it shows im not a real happy camper right. But trying to stay optimistic that things will get better with time.
 
How long since surgery???? When my first was done I was reading license tags on the side of the road when riding home. After a week they did the other one and I was BLIND for 5 days...BLIND!!!! Scared the crap outta me. One month after surgery I was 16 again....No glasses..Nothing!
 
Right one been 3 weeks, left one just yesterday . Doc told me up front i would still need reading glasses because of my age and previous near sightedness. Guess in just trying to figure out how to deal with that in between distance and sights and stuff. Did i mention im impatient?
 
My wife had wore glasses since she was 5 . first thing she did in the morning was reach for her glasses
After she had her surgery her eyes are better than mine.
I think it took a week or so for her vision to settle in.
So give it a chance before you go completely off the rails
 
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I grew up with exceptional eyesight, but at about age forty I had to start wearing readers. Then the cataracts started in my mid fifties. They both got bad pretty fast and had them both repaired at 57. It was a dramatic improvement. That was ten years ago. Have had one detached retina and one torn retina, both repaired since then. I still wear 1.75 readers, but I can see pistol irons in daylight as good as I need to. A bit fuzzy.

I only have slight astigmatism.
 
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I guess the other part i left out was i paid $1500 out of pocket for the lazer surgery to correct the astigmatism for the right eye which so far hasnt worked
 
I had both done 7 years ago. Also got the Laser for astigmatism. I went from 20/500 to 20/15. Mine lenses were made for Distance.
Daylight I can see the sights ok. Dark or cloudy, nope. I either wear my bifocals that are clear glass on top and +2.5 diopter on the bottom half, so I can see the numbers on my rifle scope parallax and the bubble level, or I adjust the parallax by how clear the scope looks and ignore the level. Pistols, I use a red dot, even for ccw. On a sunny day, pistol open sights I can do okay, but I won't shoot any master-class scores. No biggie, I shoot better with the red dot anyway.
Don't waste my time with indoor ranges if using irons. Not enough light makes it to the retina for a good clear picture.
Good luck with the new sight challenges. I normally don't wear glasses unless reading a book or computer. Being able to see license plates and street signs better than my wife can, pisses her off. She says I have bionic eyes. If the lenses could adjust like the human eye, I would agree. I don't miss wearing Coke Bottle-brand eyeglasses:cool:
 
I'm getting ready to queue up for this. We discussed mono-vision where one eye is set for distance and the other eye for close. I have a set of contacts configured this way to try. Haven't picked them up yet.
 
I'm getting ready to queue up for this. We discussed mono-vision where one eye is set for distance and the other eye for close. I have a set of contacts configured this way to try. Haven't picked them up yet.
Good luck with that. I could never tolerate progressive lenses. Just got back from Walgreens and purchased a pair of 2.5 readers and 1.25 readers. 2.5 corrects for reading, 1.25 fir computer and things atdistance like tv. Feeling lots better right now , as i can seethese things clearly again😊. So i’ll cool off and see what a little time does
 
Getting the right progressives is nearly an artform. I had a pair I wore for a long time that I really liked till I needed cataract surgery.

I still used them as readers later till they blew out of my pocket somewhere on highway 64 at 70mph on a motorcycle.
 
Good news, the 1.25 ‘s allow me to see my irons on a 1911 ( white dots ). Only had about 15 ft beyond front sight to see but so far i could be trouble for a bad guy!😈
 
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Well 2 week checkup on left eye ( second one ) still has some inflamation so gotta go back in 3 weeks before they will write prescription for permanent lenses. So looking at probably 5 weeks before having my permanent glasses🤬. Good news is my right actually has improved some since the checkup 3 weeks ago so at least something positive. Nighttime driving still painful from all the bright white lines, diagonal in right eye and horizontal in the left. Rrrrrrrr
 
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I had mine done two years ago. I see rifle iron sights great now !! Pistol sights, no bueno.
Get a cheap RDS and start retraining; remember to hold your head up when using one. Derek8404 was a great help in educating me on RDS. I point-shoot for 10 and under, use RDS for anything over. I should probably sell all my Dawsons and tritiums, can’t see them anyway.
 
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