I’m 52 and have worn glasses since the second grade. My eyesight was very poor, but was corrected to 20/20 with glasses. I also had some astigmatism in my left eye. I tried contacts in my 30’s, but they were uncomfortable. I didn’t naturally tear enough to wear contacts for more than a few hours.
Shooting with strong prescription glasses, and eventually bifocals, was fine for handguns, as long as I paid attention to looking through the “sweet spot” of my glasses. Same with rifles with iron sights. Using red dots, holographic sights, and scopes was always a problem. Not only did I have to concentrate on looking through the “sweet spot” of my glasses (tough to do and have proper cheek weld), often the combination of astigmatism, strong prescription glasses and optics caused the target to bloom and halo.
A few weeks ago I had LASIK surgery. The operation and recovery went fine, and I now see 20/20. The right eye took 38 seconds, and the left 42 seconds. I was in the operating room at most 20 minutes start to finish. And the next morning my vision was 20/20, tested. I looked up at the stars the next night and saw them as pinpoints of light for the first time in my life. And Mars was actually a disk. Just amazing.
But, there is a big downside. The vision correction for my distance sight was so great that my near vision now is absolutely shot. For most instances, that just means I need to wear reading glasses for reading, looking at the computer monitor, reloading, stuff like that. You can buy reading glasses very cheap, and in a variety of powers. I've bought several pair and have pre-positioned them in key locations. For most stuff I use 2.00 power, but I keep a pair of 3.00 at my reloading bench.
The worst impact is that I can no longer clearly see the sights on a handgun. I used to be able to shoot fairly accurately (just slow), but that may be significantly degraded. Or, at least, it requires some adjustment in shooting style. Last weekend I took my 22/45 out and tested my new eyes. As I suspected, overall my groups have opened up. I was still able to put 210 of 220 rounds in a 5 ½” bullseye at 50 feet, but it took a new level of concentration and different sighting technique. Where before I really tried to concentrate on the front sight, now I have to depend more on watching for the white space around the front sight. I find myself looking more at the target. Opposite of the “sight alignment then add the target for sight picture” process I was taught.
Shooting a rifle with any kind of optics; red dot, holographic or scope, seems to be no problem. Even better, as there is no more blooming of the target. Cool! Iron sights are tough. I haven't shot iron sights since the operation, so don't know how well I'll be able to do with either the 16" or 20" AR's with A2 sights. I suspicion that the 20" AR and longer rifles will be easier to shoot.
So, for those of you considering LASIK surgery and have moderate to bad nearsightedness, you may be interested in my experience. I am glad I had the surgery, but there are drawbacks related to shooting.
Shooting with strong prescription glasses, and eventually bifocals, was fine for handguns, as long as I paid attention to looking through the “sweet spot” of my glasses. Same with rifles with iron sights. Using red dots, holographic sights, and scopes was always a problem. Not only did I have to concentrate on looking through the “sweet spot” of my glasses (tough to do and have proper cheek weld), often the combination of astigmatism, strong prescription glasses and optics caused the target to bloom and halo.
A few weeks ago I had LASIK surgery. The operation and recovery went fine, and I now see 20/20. The right eye took 38 seconds, and the left 42 seconds. I was in the operating room at most 20 minutes start to finish. And the next morning my vision was 20/20, tested. I looked up at the stars the next night and saw them as pinpoints of light for the first time in my life. And Mars was actually a disk. Just amazing.
But, there is a big downside. The vision correction for my distance sight was so great that my near vision now is absolutely shot. For most instances, that just means I need to wear reading glasses for reading, looking at the computer monitor, reloading, stuff like that. You can buy reading glasses very cheap, and in a variety of powers. I've bought several pair and have pre-positioned them in key locations. For most stuff I use 2.00 power, but I keep a pair of 3.00 at my reloading bench.
The worst impact is that I can no longer clearly see the sights on a handgun. I used to be able to shoot fairly accurately (just slow), but that may be significantly degraded. Or, at least, it requires some adjustment in shooting style. Last weekend I took my 22/45 out and tested my new eyes. As I suspected, overall my groups have opened up. I was still able to put 210 of 220 rounds in a 5 ½” bullseye at 50 feet, but it took a new level of concentration and different sighting technique. Where before I really tried to concentrate on the front sight, now I have to depend more on watching for the white space around the front sight. I find myself looking more at the target. Opposite of the “sight alignment then add the target for sight picture” process I was taught.
Shooting a rifle with any kind of optics; red dot, holographic or scope, seems to be no problem. Even better, as there is no more blooming of the target. Cool! Iron sights are tough. I haven't shot iron sights since the operation, so don't know how well I'll be able to do with either the 16" or 20" AR's with A2 sights. I suspicion that the 20" AR and longer rifles will be easier to shoot.
So, for those of you considering LASIK surgery and have moderate to bad nearsightedness, you may be interested in my experience. I am glad I had the surgery, but there are drawbacks related to shooting.