Got the Cataract surgery on second eye, amazing

[cfullgraf]

You have to see the gun sights to hit the target. Maybe that's the reason it has stayed open.

 

[bfox]

OK Jim Here is how I found out I had cataracts at 48 . I was doing a test that may have come from here somewhere on the net anyway about finding your dominant SHOOTING eye . My left was real fuzzy , made appt , at Ophthalmologist and I had cataracts . Ten years down the road now and left lens implant is starting to cloud . I have to wait again till it affects my vision more , seems really stupid . But to fix they laser tiny holes in the lens they put in .

 

[.308 Norma]

You have to see the gun sights to hit the target. Maybe that's the reason it has stayed open.

For me, it was rifle scopes that were the biggest pains to use before the surgery. I couldn’t see through scopes with my bifocals on, and I couldn’t see the targets with my bifocals off. So what I’d do was get the rifle basically pointed at the target while wearing my bifocals and looking over the top of the scope, then I’d take my bifocals off and lay them on the bench before looking through the rifle scope.

Learning to hunt with a scoped rifle while wearing bifocals was another challenge. I attached a pair of those “gators” or “crocodiles” to my bifocals so that after spotting a deer or elk, I could quickly drop my bifocals down onto my chest before pulling the rifle up to my shoulder.

It worked, but oh how I longed for the days before I got my first pair of glasses. I was about 40 then. I don’t think the cataracts showed up until I was almost 65, but when they did, they came on really fast. I had the surgery two years ago, when I was 67. Now, it IS almost like the days before I got my first pair of glasses – no correction at all in the upper lenses, and only a little for reading in the lower lenses. And my glasses work just fine with rifle scopes, binoculars, and even open sights.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

You have to see the gun sights to hit the target. Maybe that's the reason it has stayed open.

I know. Just a little uh "upset" over some closed threads.

 

[homatok]

They found cataracts in both eyes about 5 or 6 years ago. Mine are slow growing and finally the one in my right eye started to give me a problem. I opted to get corrective lens glasses. I am 78 and if the cataracts grow as slow as they have been doing I figure I may never need to have surgery and if I do look at all the extra practice the Doc will have had. Wifey gets the first of hers done April 1/17.

 

[.308 Norma]

I am 78 and if the cataracts grow as slow as they have been doing I figure I may never need to have surgery and if I do look at all the extra practice the Doc will have had.

Ha! That's a good way to look at it, homatok!

Wifey gets the first of hers done April 1/17.

If your wife is anything like I was, she's going to drive you crazy for about a month after the surgeries by telling you about all the things she can see. That's what I did. My wife got really good at rolling her eyes and sighing before I got used to being able to see again.

 

[Jim NE]

I beg to differ with an earlier comment saying this thread doesn't have to do with guns...it most certainly does. How is eyesight not related to marksmanship? I'm speaking from experience here, because I had the same surgery about three years ago, in both eyes. Before the surgery, I was trying to figure out what kind of optics I would need to even be able to use my Mini 14. Because of my cataracts, I could see the rear sight, but hardly the front sight, let alone the target...and that was with glasses! After the surgery...open iron sights...no glasses!

But the miracle of this surgery goes far beyond shooting, I admit. My uncorrected eyesight went from about 20/200 (legally blind) to 20/30! This is the first time I haven't had to wear glasses in 40 years! I cherish the gift of sight like never before. Because my astigmatism was so bad, the Toric lenses weren't able to get my eyesight to 20/20, so I do have a pair of glasses that give me, 20/20 just in case. But I see this as a medical miracle, and it truly makes me joyful that others on the forum are experiencing the same thing.

Did any of you guys get the Toric lenses? They were expensive for me, but worth every penny. The only issue I had was in post surgery, when I had a bad reaction to the steroids they gave me. Be mindful of this...my eye pressure went up real high so they had to give me glaucoma drops temporarily. No issues now, though.

 

[cfullgraf]

For me, it was rifle scopes that were the biggest pains to use before the surgery. I couldn’t see through scopes with my bifocals on, and I couldn’t see the targets with my bifocals off.

Before my cataracts got so bad that I needed lens replacements, I could see through scopes and see iron sights OK even with my progressive bifocals on.

But, about 6 months before the surgery, I was on a prairie dog hunt and flat could not see the prairie dogs through the scope with my dominant right eye. I shot the three days left handed as my left eye was not as bad as my right eye and did ok. Got one PD at 550-600 yards.

After cataract surgery, I can see through the rifle scope without any correction. I now shoot scoped rifles with safety glasses that have bifocal readers at the bottom of the lenses. The bifocals allow me to function on the shooting bench but do not get in the way during sighting through the scope. My prairie dog hunt after surgery was lots of fun and productive.

For handguns, I have some safety glasses with full lens reader correction a bit weaker than I use for reading. I can see the sights well but the target is a little fuzzy. I can peak over the glasses to see distance if necessary.

I have not shot much rifle with iron sights or shotgun sports since my surgery, so I really do not know what will work well for me.

I've seen some shooting glasses offered where the reader correction lens is at the top of the lens. One of these days, I'll get a pair and give them a try. If I remember correctly, Dillon was one of the places that offered them.

 

[george burns]

I thought my night sites were dead. I was ready to get a new pair put on my PM9, after the surgery, picked it up and it looked like 3 candles through the sites. I did the same thing last night with the garage door accross the way. I asked my wife when the guy painted the door white, she just looked at me and I realized it. The door has never been touched it's always been that color as is mine, I thought the whole world, has had a yellow cast and was a very dark place. I never wore sun glasses, in the past 20 years because they were too blurry, well they ar suddenly clear, now. I stay up late watching TV, because now I remember what the HD is supposed to look like, and all my guns have night sites on at least the front sites, "if they get carried". So I have a safe full of glow worms now, it's funny how we forget stuff.
Now I can go back to the sport I all but gave up on after 60+ years of shooting. I have 2 ammo boxes full of good stuff, that I can really make use of now. It's funny because The range owner told me "it was just us" that I dhoot real well. That was after I had run off about 75 rounds of 9mm and was bitching because to me it sucked. Now I won't even tell him about the catacract, because at 50 feet there will only be a cloverleaf. The sthength is still there because I still go to the Gym 4 times a week, and do my 45 minutes of cardio and 15-20 minutes of weight training, so my upper and lower body is fine, just needed a set of eyes to top it off.

 

[bluzman]

I did the same thing last night with the garage door accross the way. I asked my wife when the guy painted the door white, she just looked at me and I realized it. The door has never been touched it's always been that color as is mine, I thought the whole world, has had a yellow cast and was a very dark place.

Laughed when I read this. After my surgery, I realized my hair was much grayer than I thought and that I didn't have a great tan after all. LMAO!

 

[HOWARD J]

Had mine done 7 years ago
I still need reading glasses unless I am in a brightly lit area.
I wore glasses for 40 years---how wonderful to get rid of them

 

[george burns]

The world is a much cleaner, brighter place, when you can actually see the color of things.