Shooting after traumatic eye injury

[MidRoad]

Last 24 hours have been terrible. My younger brother had a fishing accident yesterday. Was salmon fishing in pulaski NY had a fish on,fish jumped, line broke and the sinkers flung back and caught him right in the eye, had 3-4 pencil eraser size weights on. It was a 1/4 mile hike than a 40 min drive to Syracuse to get him treated. I was working about 35 min south of albany and got the call yesterday and rushed the 3 hour drive to get to syracuse. initially they thought he had to get surgery right away,but after the head eye doc got in he said it doesn't look puntcured and wanted to refer us to a specialist in the morning. This morning they took a look at it and did an ultra sound. The retina looks to be attached all the way,but Iris is split, but there is much blood trapped in the center of his eye for the camera to see the actual damage. Will be making trips to the doc everyday for the next week or so the keep track of it. But no idea how much vision will be lost yet. Doc called it deep and significant blunt trauma.no puncture apparent. Future surgery will be needed for Iris repair, amongst other things. The total damage is not yet certain. Really crappy thing to happen to a good guy.

Anyways it's his right eye, and he's a righty. He loves hunting and shooting. This season is most likely spent for him. I know hunting and shooting should be the last thing in mind with this situation. But it is important to him, and is a major moral dump and depressing thing for him to think about, as they were a big hobby for him.

So I was wondering has anyone here been through something like this? How was recovery? I know every injury is unique and time will tell what happens.

If all goes well and he heals up ok and can hunt i would think his 45-70 ,300 win mag and 300 RCM are out of the question for a long while due to concussion and recoil. He may have to learn to shoot left as well. I was thinking his best bet if he can shoot a rifle would be his Henry with .44 specials. I was also thinking if he does loose vision and has to avoid heavy recoil, picking up a scope and mount for his super Blackhawk , along with some 44 special Skeeter level loads would be rather mild yet effective out of a heafty scoped gun with a 7.5" barrel. We hunt in the thick stuff so shots are sub 50 yards majority of the time. Often bow distances.

Anyways recovery and finances from not working /medical bills will be top priority, but I'm just trying to think of ways to boost his moral. Thoughts?

Edit to add: we don't currently reload, so factory ammo is what we use.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I took a thrown horse chestnut (still in it's spiky rind) to the right eye when I was nine years old. The lens was scratched and perforated, apparently, although my parents declined to take me for medical care. I was functionally blind for about five months, partially for psychosomatic reasons I suspect. My vision then cleared in my left eye and slowly began improving in my right eye as the blood cleared and the fluid pressure returned.
The vision in my right eye has never returned completely but it is usable with strong prescription glasses.
I have no problem with firing powerful weapons but I tend to shoot left-handed because I have trouble changing focal depth rapidly with the right eye.

 

[Slamfire]

I got to talk to Joe Farmer, he was 86 when I took this picture.



Joe was senior Smallbore Champ and very competitive in his senior years. The year I took that picture, he had shot a 1599 one day, with an internal crossfire, which drops you a point. He would have shot a perfect score that day without that. Joe shot lefty, he told me he had a spot in his right eye that prevented him from using his right eye to aim.

Picture of him shooting lefty in this article:

https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2017/5/24/legends-joe-farmer-1928-2017/

 

[1KPerDay]

What's an internal crossfire?

 

[Slamfire]

This is not a Joe Farmer target:



But he was good enough to shoot like this.

This 50 yard target has 20 shots total on it, though, it can be pretty hard to tell that each one of those punched X rings has five shots in it. Incidentally, there is a paper "backer" behind the front target, the backer will show if a shot is a cross fire from a shooter on another firing pin, and, the backer will usually show that each one of these bulls has five shots. It can be tricky, but the backer is about 18 inches behind, and most of the time, you can make out all the shots. I have seen enough backers with all the paper blown out, that it can be tricky for the scorer. Scorer's have magnifying glasses, over lays, etc.

Now, lets say you have a real good shooter on the target, like this guy, or like Joe Farmer. And the wind changes, or his scope falls off its stand, there is some distraction. And when he gets back, ready to fire, he does not exactly remember which bull he was working on. You can't see the bullet holes clearly at 50 yards or 100 yards, at least never clearly enough to figure the problem of the moment, so sometimes a shooter thinks he has four shots on bull 2, for example, when actually, there are five. But you can't see clearly enough to see five holes. So another shot goes in bull 2. As long as the shooter has only 20 shots total on your target, that is good. However a shooter will be penalized for putting six shots on one bull, and four on another: you lose an X and a point.

 

[shoobe01]

Ask the doctor. It will very much be about preventing further damage. I absolutely have met people who do not ATV, or do things like ski with a high chance of falling, or shoot high caliber rifles, because /forever/ the retina and/or lenses are fragile. Shock is gonna be a problem.

Second eye injuries are often permanent. Do not **** up and damage it if not assured it's 100% repaired.

And for all injuries: take the time. Even if he gets back to 100%, it could be two years before all healed up. Generally, more as you get older.

 

[MidRoad]

Ask the doctor. It will very much be about preventing further damage. I absolutely have met people who do not ATV, or do things like ski with a high chance of falling, or shoot high caliber rifles, because /forever/ the retina and/or lenses are fragile. Shock is gonna be a problem.

Second eye injuries are often permanent. Do not **** up and damage it if not assured it's 100% repaired.

And for all injuries: take the time. Even if he gets back to 100%, it could be two years before all healed up. Generally, more as you get older.

Definitely erring on the side of caution. Hes got time on his side, as he is 25

 

[MidRoad]

Well he saw another doc at Albany med today, they don't expect vision to return for a few months once healed they will do surgery to remove the catarach and repair the Iris. Won't be able to work untill then. Good news is they expect vision to return , but he's real bummed out at this point . Don't think we will need to worry about him shooting for quite some time now.

 

[ontarget]

I took my soon to be step grandson out to our back yard range for his first shootin session. He is 9yo. He wanted to shoot my AR carbine, and since it has a nice red dot sight and he could hold it up I figured why not. So I give him the safety briefing and show him how to operate the controls then let go of the gun. I notice he is holding the gun right handed but trying to use his left eye to aim. I say whoa, you gotta use your right eye. He says he can't. I say sure you can, just close your left eye. He says that then he can't see anything. I say come on what do you mean? He says he is completely blind in his right eye, has been since birth. I thought he may be cross eye dominant but I guess he's blind. I never knew he had this condition.
Long story short....I had him switch to left handed and he nailed 9 of 15 shots on the 12 inch gong from 50 yards offhand. Not bad for his first time out. I was pretty proud of him. Have your brother try shooting lefty. It's a bit awkward at first but he may find it to be a great way to stay in the game for now.

 

[1911 guy]

I get it, itching to go shooting. But until the eye is healed, I'd strictly follow doctors orders about anything and everything. Yes, we all know you can get by with one eye. But if they expect a full recovery given enough time, let the time pass. Don't let him screw himself over through impatience.

 

[MidRoad]

I took my soon to be step grandson out to our back yard range for his first shootin session. He is 9yo. He wanted to shoot my AR carbine, and since it has a nice red dot sight and he could hold it up I figured why not. So I give him the safety briefing and show him how to operate the controls then let go of the gun. I notice he is holding the gun right handed but trying to use his left eye to aim. I say whoa, you gotta use your right eye. He says he can't. I say sure you can, just close your left eye. He says that then he can't see anything. I say come on what do you mean? He says he is completely blind in his right eye, has been since birth. I thought he may be cross eye dominant but I guess he's blind. I never knew he had this condition.
Long story short....I had him switch to left handed and he nailed 9 of 15 shots on the 12 inch gong from 50 yards offhand. Not bad for his first time out. I was pretty proud of him. Have your brother try shooting lefty. It's a bit awkward at first but he may find it to be a great way to stay in the game for now.

It may come down to that. I'm bringing him to the doc tomorrow ,gotta go everyday for a week or so. Only time will tell . He picks up on Things pretty quick. But by the sounds of it ,it'll be atleast 3 months before he can work (he in construction but does stamped concrete and tree jobs on the side) let alone shoot.

Nice to hear you were able to take your grandkid out and teach him how to shoot!

 

[Armored farmer]

Be patient....
I had a serious eye injury in 1983.
Lacerated iris and herniated cornea from a fencing staple while building fence.
Emergency surgery. A week in the hospital. A long regimen of dropsm creams, antbiotics, and an eyepatch.
.....but i made a full recovery, 20/20 vision.

 

[MidRoad]

Be patient....
I had a serious eye injury in 1983.
Lacerated iris and herniated cornea from a fencing staple while building fence.
Emergency surgery. A week in the hospital. A long regimen of dropsm creams, antbiotics, and an eyepatch.
.....but i made a full recovery, 20/20 vision.

Thanks, that's great you made a full recovery with an injury like that. That really had to hurt! I had a very small metal splinter in my eye for two days and I thought that sucked lol......not even a comparision I suppose! Nic to hear a positive outcome.

 

[mcmurry]

Due to diabetes, I've gone 50% blind in my right eye. And I am right side dominant. I taught myself to shoot left side starting with a BB gun first, then moved to a .22 before moving up to my .30-.30, and then a 12 gauge. I also started with my .22 pistol, then a .32 acp, an up. It will take time, and I wish him well. But definitely take the time for it to heal as re-damaging the eye might be more likely to be permanent.

 

[MidRoad]

Well little update.

My brother had his surgery last week. They installed a new lens and said it would be a few days untill we know what his vision would be like. Fast forward to the afternoon at the doc. His nerves in his eye have been permanently damaged. He can see but the center of his vision is very blurry, even with the lens. However his peripheral nerves we're not damaged so he has that vision back. He was cleared tk drive a FINALLY enjoy a beer with he boys.

It looks like he will be having to learn to shoot lefty. I'm trying to convince my father to donate his SBH Hunter 41mag with the scope he has lying around. This would give my brother a viable option to hunt with in the meantime. I don't think he will be able to get in the woods this season. But hopefully by this time next year he will be comfy with the handguns and will be back in action. Looks like we will have to shoot alot this summer.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

The human body is capable of amazing things, especially when it's only 25. Don't lose hope, and remember that neuroplasticity does allow for eye dominance shifts. Even if the damage is permanent, he will learn to shoot cross eye dominant. Revolvers make this easier as there is no brass flying in your face.

 

[JONWILL]

I literally got shot in my right eye with a Red Ryder BB gun. We were having a BB gun war. I saw it coming. I must have blinked right when it hit and the eyelid protected the eyeball.

Now it is just slow to change the Pupil is much slower to open and close and focus.