Does Lasik Fix the Problem with Red Dots and Astigmatism?

[Mot45acp]

I finally bit the bullet and am scheduled to have Lasik Monday. Only in one eye but it is in my dominate eye. With the procedure focusing on distance. (1 meter and beyond)

Last 5 years red dots have been getting worse for me, still usable if I turn the brightness down, just not optimal. Rifles are better, pistols where I hold the sight at arms length give me trouble.

I'm trying to learn red dots on pistols. I'm having a hard time with the bloom on the RMR. Recently ordered the Holosun with the ACSS reticle, the circle portion is a game changer. It has minimized "hunting" for the dot and speed has improved. (Still a ways to go) Problem is the chevron looks worse to me than a dot. A smeared checkmark. I verified with a camera that it is not the scope.

Those who have had lasik, what has been your experience with red dots and iron sights?

Shooting is my primary reason for doing this. I've discussed my needs with my eye Dr, and he is tailoring the procedure to shooting. That lasik will yield better results than PRK.

 

[bfoosh006]

For your rifles... a "prism RDS / Scope" will solve your blurry issues. I had Lasik done many years ago.

I don't know if there are ones for handguns.

FWIW... I have some of these... https://www.primaryarms.com/primary...th-red-illuminated-acss-cyclops-gen-2-reticle ... the difference on my rifles , compared to conventional RDS is truly night and day. Enough so, that if I could afford it, I would sell every RDS I have, and buy prism RDS as replacements.

Considerably more Compact and svelte, compared to some of the other brands out there

Also worth noting... the above linked "microprism's " ACSS reticle is larger in the field of view, I think it is twice as big as their previous version, and it has a focus piece... another huge benefit.

Watch some of the videos at the link.

And... they also have a 3x version... I have one arriving this week.

Oops... and Primary Arms, frequently has 12% off sales ( the only time I see their brand optics go on sale ) ... so if you want to say 30bucks, wait for the sale.

 

[Mot45acp]

I have a few 3X/3.5X prisms. I like the primary arms on my AKs. Have ACOGs on 16" AR and Bren 2.

But for PCCs and SBR, I like my Aimpoints. I also have 20" A2 that I like to shoot irons on.

Just wondering for those who have had it, how were the results in relation to red dots and irons.?

 

[The Glockodile]

Curious about this as well.

From the videos I've seen online, I speculate that you'll be seeing more blobs rather than "spikey starburst" patterns.

These procedures typically get you to "good enough," wherein one gets to wear "nornal" instead of "fisheye" glasses, to illustrate s point...

The improvement in vision is far less dramatic compared to say, having a cataract removed and an intraocular lens implanted (which in itself is also just aimed at getting vision "good enough").

 

[citizenconn]

For your rifles... a "prism RDS / Scope" will solve your blurry issues. I had Lasik done many years ago.

I don't know if there are ones for handguns.

FWIW... I have some of these... https://www.primaryarms.com/primary...th-red-illuminated-acss-cyclops-gen-2-reticle ... the difference on my rifles , compared to conventional RDS is truly night and day. Enough so, that if I could afford it, I would sell every RDS I have, and buy prism RDS as replacements.

Considerably more Compact and svelte, compared to some of the other brands out there

Also worth noting... the above linked "microprism's " ACSS reticle is larger in the field of view, I think it is twice as big as their previous version, and it has a focus piece... another huge benefit.

Watch some of the videos at the link.

And... they also have a 3x version... I have one arriving this week.

Oops... and Primary Arms, frequently has 12% off sales ( the only time I see their brand optics go on sale ) ... so if you want to say 30bucks, wait for the sale.

Be sure to give us a review of the 3X version when you get it, please. I agree 100% with all the things you said about the 1X and am hoping the 3X turns out to be just as outstanding, especially the eye relief.

Vortex came out with their new 3X and the consensus seems to be the eye relief stinks.

 

[Nature Boy]

If my experience is any indication the answer is no

 

[Varminterror]

None of the consultations I had for lasik made any promises about correcting my astigmatism. Too late now, my eyes have declined too far, so I’m not a candidate any longer.

 

[allisd17]

None of the consultations I had for lasik made any promises about correcting my astigmatism. Too late now, my eyes have declined too far, so I’m not a candidate any longer.

I hear ya. I have astigmatism and cataracts and wear trifocals. I can adjust the brightness of red dots to where they focus ok but I have severe problems with iron sights, especially the rear notch variety.

 

[bfoosh006]

Be sure to give us a review of the 3X version when you get it, please. I agree 100% with all the things you said about the 1X and am hoping the 3X turns out to be just as outstanding, especially the eye relief.

Vortex came out with their new 3X and the consensus seems to be the eye relief stinks.

FWIW... some of the videos I watched about the PA SLx 3x said eye relief wasn't bad. We will see... ( pun intended ? )

 

[The Glockodile]

"LASIK treats the cornea, and therefore can only address corneal astigmatism. Lenticular astigmatism won't be affected."

Ohh!

There's such a thing as the cornea, which is separate from the lens!

Oh, my!

Depends what's messed up with your eyes, I guess.

 

[gyp_c2]

With cataracts surgery and lenses, the effects were life changing. No astigmatism, vision overall from 20/60 to 20/20.
Aimpoint perfect, iron sights clean and focused. Use 1.25 readers for up close.
I don't know about Lasik alone, but if cataract surgery & lenses are an option, it can be very beneficial.

 

[greyling22]

My lasik massively improved my vision, but now, 20 years later, I'm back in glasses again. However, I was at a -7.25 prescription before, and now I'm at a -0.75

However, red dots have been problematic the whole time. Even projected reticles like EOTech do not work for me.

Prism scopes, etched reticles, illuminated scopes, etc all work better.

 

[Mot45acp]

Update 6 hours after getting dominate eye done.

Red dots are bot perfect but went from a 3 out of 10 to an 8 out of 10. On Aimpoint comp4 and Sig Romeo5 I see a crisp red dot suspended between a slight shadowed "=" sign. Dot is centered in the "=" sign and it is only noticeable in low light environment. The holosun with ACSS, is now an actual chevron versus blurry checkmark. Outside is perfect. Indoor in low light, still fuzzy.

Everything still foggy and little blurry. Too early to tell for sure about correcting distance vision. But there is a huge improvement with above mentioned RDS.

 

[jdh]

Update 6 hours after getting dominate eye done.

Red dots are bot perfect but went from a 3 out of 10 to an 8 out of 10. On Aimpoint comp4 and Sig Romeo5 I see a crisp red dot suspended between a slight shadowed "=" sign. Dot is centered in the "=" sign and it is only noticeable in low light environment. The holosun with ACSS, is now an actual chevron versus blurry checkmark. Outside is perfect. Indoor in low light, still fuzzy.

Everything still foggy and little blurry. Too early to tell for sure about correcting distance vision. But there is a huge improvement with above mentioned RDS.

It took about two weeks for that to clear up for me. In my case the final result showed about a 96% improvement with red dot sights. Not perfect but went from unusable to more than acceptable.

 

[wally]

It took about two weeks for that to clear up for me. In my case the final result showed about a 96% improvement with red dot sights. Not perfect but went from unusable to more than acceptable.

What I'd have predicted based on my experience with lasik in 2008, had I seen this thread earlier. Correcting my astigmatism was the main motivation as I was only ~1.5 diopter for reading but the astigmatism made it hard to read or use a computer because I'd see two lines of text superimposed, and with some red dot optics I's see two dots.

 

[Riomouse911]

Im glad to see that it looks like you have improved your vision!

I had lasik 17 years ago. It helped me a lot on distance but only a little bit on close in. It did cause bad halos around lights at night for a while (bad for a graveyard patrol sergeant) but even worse it totally ruined my depth perception and my downward peripheral vision. I trip on stuff I don’t see a lot more now, and I went from a sought-after third baseman/right fielder on the local softball fields to someone who couldn’t catch a lazy fly ball 50% of the time.

By now the lasik has faded and Ive been using glasses for distance and readers for up close for the past decade+.

I truly hope your experience is better than mine was.

Stay safe.