Shooting glasses; tinted or not?

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JellyJar

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I am having cataract surgery next month. I am going to pay extra for the best lenses that will allow me to ditch my glasses and see near and far without any glasses at all.

I have been using my prescription glasses as shooting glasses but will not by non prescription shooting glasses to use instead. The only thing I am uncertain of is should I get tinted or clear glasses and if tinted what color. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

JJ
 
Good luck with the surgery!

I prefer to use a smoke or dark tint on sunny days and yellow when it is overcast or dusk.
 
Bright light = constricted pupil = greater depth of field.
Use the lightest (or no) tint that you can comfortably wear or that your ophthalmologist recommends.
You can get inexpensive safety glasses with a selection of lens colors for a lot less than you have ever paid for Rx.
 
I had that surgery and had the multi-focal lenses installed. Work great. Lighting conditions in the sunny Southwest permitting, I shoot best with clear lenses but also have darker tinted and yellow available for other lighting conditions.
 
For shooting glasses I like the yellow tint for general all around use. But shooting glasses are not that expensive so go ahead and get a pair of smoke for the days when the sun is in your face.
Gary
 
I go clear for indoor, black/grey for bright sunlight, and yellow/amber for overcast.

None cost over a couple of bucks per pair. Cruise the CDNN website.
 
JellyJar said:
I am having cataract surgery next month. I am going to pay extra for the best lenses that will allow me to ditch my glasses and see near and far without any glasses at all.

I have been using my prescription glasses as shooting glasses but will not by non prescription shooting glasses to use instead. The only thing I am uncertain of is should I get tinted or clear glasses and if tinted what color. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

JJ
Click to expand...

Both. Because lighting conditions vary. Clear is never a bad choice indoors, and you will probably want something at least somewhat 'dark' (say 10-25% visible light transmission, with 10 being about as dark as most companies offer) for outdoors.

Personally I have accumulated a selection of clear, dark (10% VLT), and middle ground (30% VLT). Dark pretty much anytime the sun is out and shining unimpeded, clear indoors or in pouring rain type of cloudiness, and the middle ground for partly cloudy or full clouds and even dusk/dawn.

Depending on what you get, if you pony up some money, Oakley (and probably others) offer kits of one set of frames with 2-3 different lenses (check out the oakley ballistic m-frame arrays) or you can just buy a pair of spare lenses to swap out. Look at the 'increased contrast' lenses. They really work. I wear 30-35% VLT increased contrast (marked for golf, or driving, or shooting) lenses driving in low light or rain and legitimately see better. Works when shooting in low-mid outdoor light too.

But I'm kind of like you in that I had corrective eye surgery recently. lasik. I'm partially enjoying that by buying multiple pairs of different sunglasses and shooting/safety glasses lol


I'm a big Oakley fan but to spend less money and get still pretty solid glasses consider Edge Eyewear. Amazon and optics planet are good places to get them. THeir polarized ANSI z87.1 rated sunglasses are like $20-$30. Compared to my oakley they don't seem as dark even when they claim the same VLT as comparable Oakley, the lenses scratch more easily, the lense itself doesn't cover quite as much area (esp vs an XL or m-frame oakley) and there is a little bit of a shift if you look through them at an extreme angle, but for the price they are excellent and totally usable.
 
I use clear inside. Light grey tint outside.

Best of luck on the coming surgery. My wife had cataract surgery 5 years ago and it was successful and has been a big blessing for her.
 
I'm a long-time sunglass junkie (yeah, it's a thing :D), but oddly, I prefer clear,untinted glasses when shooting. Go figure.
 
Be prepared to have varying shades of darkness, and clear and/or amber ones for poor light.

It you no longer need expensive prescription shooting glasses, why limit yourself. I usually use the darkest I can fine as I generally shoot out doors and a cloudy day is a relief. But indoors or rainy days I like clear or amber depending on the background.

I don't know if cataract surgery has the same effect, but after having Lasik I have a hard time being outdoors without sun glasses.


I am going to pay extra for the best lenses that will allow me to ditch my glasses and see near and far without any glasses at all.
Click to expand...
How does this work? are they bifocal? Double check that they won't force an uncomfortable head tilt when shooting.
 
...I am going to pay extra for the best lenses that will allow me to ditch my glasses and see near and far without any glasses at all...
Click to expand...


wally said:
... How does this work? are they bifocal? Double check that they won't force an uncomfortable head tilt when shooting.
Click to expand...

I'm curious about that, too. Seems the lens would have to be bifocal to give both ranges. I'm having cataract surgery in one eye later this year and planned to choose a lens for distant viewing like I already have now, and continue to use dime store reading glasses of various power for close up, computer screens and sights on firearms. I have heard some people choose one eye near sighted and the other far sighted.
 
Quentin and Wally

Talk to you Ophthalmologist! I talked to mine and he explained about these so called bifocal lenses. The way they work is that they have rings such that when you look out through the middle you can see far and then are graduated so that you can see close as you look more toward the edges. He said you brain adjusts automatically and that they work great. They will cost about 2000 dollars an eye more but I have the money and afterwards I will never need prescription glasses again.

Check out post #4.
 
I had cataract surgery done for both eyes last year. I looked into the multi-focal, but saw that the rate of complications was higher. Hopefully you won't have any problems. I chose to correct for distance, and wear cheap readers. I don't have any problem with my sights using cheap shooting glasses.
 
I chose to correct for distance, and wear cheap readers.

That seems to be the most common option.
But...
I was naturally nearsighted and wore distance vision glasses from grammar school up into my 40s. Then I went presbyoptic and had to get bifocals (progressive) for correction at all distances.
So I just wonder, when the day comes, would I like to go back to my youth and see close up without aid and need glasses for anything at distance?

Naw, probably not.
 
The way they work is that they have rings such that when you look out through the middle you can see far and then are graduated so that you can see close as you look more toward the edges
Click to expand...

That is kind of what I'd guessed, which is why I suggested you investigate your required head position for the near vision, you might be better off with "far only" replacement and auxiliary near vision correction for shooting/reading. IMHO its definitely something to do more research on before spending all that extra money. I'm having a little trouble understanding how you switch from near to far as this implant moves with eyes, unlike with bifocal glasses. OTOH the bulk of the refraction is in the cornea and this replacement lens is behind it, so there may be some clever optics I don't understand going in this situation.

You might find these worth a read and further discussion with your doctor:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0065269/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0011863/


I have had great results with Lasik "mono-vision" where one eye sees near, the other far. Not all brains can adapt to this, good Lasik places make you wear extended wear disposable contacts for mono-vision before doing the correction to be sure you can adapt. God forbid I ever need cataract surgery but if I did I'l look into the mono-vision approach for this as well.

The Lasik worked great for me and I still have great "walking around" vision without glasses. But for shooting I've pretty much given up and gone to red dots. I may inquire about a Lasik "tweak" to get my near vision back to where I can clearly focus on the front sight again, but it may now be as much about astigmatism as anything that is making the front sight impossible to see clearly.
 
I have heard some people choose one eye near sighted and the other far sighted.
Click to expand...
I currently have this condition due to an aberration caused by an incorrect cataract surgery result. I cannot see why anyone would consciously and/or intentionally want this. It means that you will have to wear corrective lenses all the time and your depth perception without corrective lenses is severely lacking and I get headaches from it. Because my issue has not been permanently resolved, I use drug store cheaters sometimes for reading - until the headache requires I stop, then I go without glasses until the headache worsens to the point I can't continue.

My last consultation with the eye surgeon resulted in yet another eye surgery to be scheduled. Now, after cataract surgery, the lens implant did not correct my vision as requested or intended. (It is reversed: corrected for near vision instead of distance) There was also the issue that required laser surgery to pierce a cloudy membrane/tissue between the lens implant and the retina. Now the doctor recommends PRK laser surgery to change the shape of the cornea. All of this has been ongoing since January and is still not resolved.

YMMV
 
My wife is facing cataract surgery in a few weeks, so I've read the comments with interest.

As to tint, for target shooting you want your pupil constricted. As explained previously, a smaller pupil aperture puts more things in sharper focus. Try holding a small pinhole over an eye, and note that you can focus on things up close and far away at the same time. Tinted glasses reduce the amount of light and cause your pupils to dilate, making it harder to focus. A little yellow tint isn't going to do any harm, but I would stay away from strong light reduction.

The Merit Optical Device is a handy gizmo. It is a little variable aperture with a suction cup that you stick on your glasses. I'm 72, and with that, the front and rear sights and the target are sharp.

Best place to buy glasses is Zenni.com. No kidding, prescription glasses from about $7 a pair up to about $100 per pair.
 
A friend has Poper's problem.
He has mono vision when he requested both distant.
Did the ophthalmologist who recommended mono vision decide he knew better or did he miss the calibration? Who knows, he isn't saying.
 
I currently have this condition due to an aberration caused by an incorrect cataract surgery result. I cannot see why anyone would consciously and/or intentionally want this.
Click to expand...

I'm really sorry and sad that you had this condition forced upon you by a poor surgical outcome.

You are proof as to why reputable places require a "dry run" for 3-4 weeks with extended wear soft contact lenses before doing mono-vision. When your brain can adapt it works really well, when it can't, as you are testifying to, its bad. Although in the case of cataracts this trial may not be possible, but I'd hope that reputable places wouldn't do mono-vision lens implants without evidence that you could adapt to it.

I whole-heartily agree that no one should choose this option without a trial before having the surgery.

My wife's corneas were way too thin relative to her pupil diameter in the dark so she was immediately ruled out for Lasik by my doctor. She was legally blind in both eyes without correction and was about at the limit of what could be fixed with contacts. Although this didn't stop her long time eye doctor from pushing her toward Lasik once he got a shinny new machine :( I'm really glad I insisted she get a second opinion from a doctor I knew.

PRK gave her a near miraculous result, although the recovery was long and painful and she thought she'd made a terrible mistake after the first couple of months, but when the healing was finished she is seeing 20/25 and 20/30 and seeing details in things that she'd never seen before.

You have my prayers that you can get a good result from the PRK, but it'll be 3-6 months post-op before you'll know for sure. Keep The Faith!
 
LASIK is great for how insanely fast you recover vs PRK but if you have to do PRK tale solace in the fact that it is much, much safer than lasik. I think my place said it's literally something like 1,000 times safer than lasik. Just more recovery
 
the recovery was long and painful
Click to expand...
Yes, the eye surgeon said there was an extended and painful recovery period. He said the other option was to do a "piggy-back" implant over the previous one from the cataract surgery.

IF I go the PRK route, and I probably will, I think it may be beneficial to lay in a good supply of Jamison's Irish whisky and Bailey's Irish Cream. I have heard it said that either one or both can enhance the effect of pain relieving drugs.... :) :scrutiny:
 
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