OT: Lasik Warning and Vision Solution

[NonPCnraRN]

If you have Lasik done and over 40 y/o you will need reading glasses as your eye muscles won't be able to adjust the lense in your eyes to focus like when you were young. There is a technique called monovision where one eye is done and the other is left alone. Within a week your brain will learn to use one eye for distance and the other for up close. I didn't think things through so learn from my mistake. If you have your master eye done, iron sights will be out of focus. Have the non master eye done. Now when I shoot a pistol I have to aim with my left eye even though I am right handed. A peep sight and 26" barrel helps with rifles but with shorter barrels I use a peep sight and a BJones insert. It is sort of a contact lense that fits inside the aperture of the peep sight. They come in different strengths like reading glasses and now the 2 front sights on my 1895 M are 1 front sight. But I thought I'd give you a heads up about Lasik for us old pharts and iron sights. BJones sight inserts are a solution that you might be able to avoid in the first place.

[gamekeeper]

Thanks for posting, I've not seen the BJones insert sounds very interesting to this old phart!

[Grizz]

NonPCnraRN

that's news I can use, thanks for posting it...

Grizz

[NonPCnraRN]

Here is the BJones website: http://www.bjonessights.com/ I had ordered his aperture and it looks just like the aperture that comes with a receiver sight. The lense is held in place with a small O-ring. You can't tell it is any different till you look through it. He also makes AR-15 sight and Garand type sight replacements for Camp Perry type competition. If you are cheap like me you buy one and just move it from one receiver sight to another. They can be adapted for tang and ladder sights. It just replaces the stock aperture. IIRC he is an ophthalmologist and competitive shooter.

[deerwhacker444]

Oh man, that's the Blues..! Thanks for letting us know about that.

[Old Ironsights]

Any good Lasik Doc will let you know all of that well before hand.

I had to get my Dominant Eye done because it was the only one that "needed" it, being well over 20/400.

My non-dominant eye is ambliopic so it wouldn't help anyway.

The simple fact is, most people will need readers whether they get Lasik or not. Lasik just gives you the option of Monovision if you want it.

[El Chivo]

and you'll be without depth perception

[Old Ironsights]

and you'll be without depth perception

Never had it...

[Hobie]

You ought to write up an article on shooters' vision concerns. I'd not a thought of that at all. Bifocals are bad enough though!

[wileyj]

excuse me, sobenk
What is meant by no depth perception?
I have as good depth perception as before lasik. Of course, I had over 8 diopters of correction and maybe my glass ruined my depth perception before.
The monovision make night time driving less than optimal. I have night time glasses that correct both eyes to 20/15.
I can see to drive at night but my being able to read signs at the distances I would like is affected
I did not discuss my dominant eye with the doctor and unfortunately, my right eye is my distance eye. And I am right hand / left eye dominant. Pistol does not bother me but iron sights on a rifle can be a challenge.
thanks
..wiley

[Andrew]

You guys are reminding me that I need to be more grateful for the vision that I have. Thanks.

[Sharptop]

I had radial keratotomy (RK) done in about 1993 and had them do monovision where the right eye is corrected for distance and the left for more up close stuff. It took me a lot longer than a week to feel right and I had some problems with some issues such as standing on a bridge looking down at moving water in a river made me dizzy and lose my balance. But it seems to have gone away. At 53 I don't need reading glasses and shooting with iron sights is not a problem although it is not quite as good as when I had glasses or contacts. Better with pistols than the long gun, though. But I am right eye dominant and my vision in my right eye wasn't nearly as bad as my left. I do use glasses for night driving especially if it is raining, etc. but sometimes I don't need them at all. Vision seems to fade during the day from 20-20 to 20-40 or so.

[mescalero1]

Wow, thank you!
And he is in Phoenix, I never knew.

[NonPCnraRN]

You ought to write up an article on shooters' vision concerns. I'd not a thought of that at all. Bifocals are bad enough though!

I could only relate what mistake I made and the solution I found for using iron sights. I can use my untreated eye to focus on handgun sights but with a rifle I would have to learn to shoot left handed if it wasn't for the BJones aperture/lense system. I won't scope a levergun unless it would be a modern version of the William Malcom scope, a long 3/4" tube with external mounts. I am really thinking hard on that one for my Marlin Cowboy with 26" barrel. I may need another so I have one with and one without the scope. Here is a pic of the scope. There is a 17" version also.
http://www.circlekb.com/page/CKCG/CTGY/Optics

[Bluehawk]

I did research on this problem a few years ago and did post some things here back then .
I am over 55 and have had to wear glasses for Myopia ( near sightedness) since I was 14. I started needing either bifocals or reading glasses at about age 45 I wear contact lenses to cure the Myopia but have to carry reading glasses when I wear the contacts . I prefer to hunt and shoot with the contact lenses in instead of glasses Some things are eaiser that way like lookng through binoculars and easier scope aquisition if shooting a scope
The problem occurs when you do not have a scope and iron sights of ANY knid are used A peep or aperature sight is much preferred with older eyes . ONE solution is to use longer barrels . Just like holding the news paper further away, you can focus on the front sight well with longer barrels. ( I traded my 1895 Winchester carbine 30/40 even up a few years ago for a '95 RIFLE with 26 inch barrel just for that reason ) Last year I shot a deer with my H&R target 38/55 and had no trouble with seeing the sights on that 28 inch barrel .
After discussing it with my eye doctor I had come up with a theory and had him get me contacts of the next strength down I place one in my dominant eye and use the correct strength in my non dominant eye Looking through binoculars when carrying a non scoped rifle lets me see fine as I can tune either lens(of the binocular) to the vision of that eye also the dominant eye sitllsess ALMOST as well was with the correct RX lens and i can walk around and se game jsut as well ( My eyes adjsut pretty quick )
MOST people with older eyes who wear glasses for Myopia will see fine to read , by takng off their glasses and just using the normal vision of the eyes . This is what happens when you reduce the strength in the dominant eye YOU will SEE the front sight much clearer and still be able to fucus on most every thing almost as well as with your regular RX .
It will NOT be perfect but will be much better. I use this method now when im going out to walk around with a short barreled rifle or carbine LIKE one of my 94's ( that can do about any thing )
EG my regular RX for contact lens is +200 I use and +1.75 for the dominant eye and it works fine I tried a RX lower than that 1.50 it made the front sihgt more distinct and esaier to see BUT it made it hard to focus with regular vision and gave me a headache after a day in the field also too much difference betwen the eyes so it was harder to focus the binoculars also .
COntacts are not for people with A LOT of astigmatism glasse correct vision much better for that . tis is the main reason i have NOT had lasik surgery on my eyes to correct the myopia i have a better chance to solve my problems this way
Hope this is helpful to any one with older eyes out there

[Ben_Rumson]

I've worn glasses since I was a teenager..near sighted..shooting was never a problem..Then a few years ago my eyes changed to what you guys call mono vision..took place over a couple of years..unfortunately my distance eye turned out to be my left eye..and I'm right eye dominant...But what really bugs me is that the astigmatism in my right eye has worstened..My front sight now looks like it's bent to the left..Cross hairs have a wave in the vertical line... If I had Lasik done it would be to cure the astigmatism...

[NonPCnraRN]

That is the purpose of the BJones sight aperture.... the "contact lense" is in the aperture. That way you wouldn't need to wear 2 different contacts, and no headache. As soon as you shoulder the rifle and look through the aperture the front sight is in focus. Think of it as a pair of glasses with plain glass in the nondominate side and the lense correction to see the front sight on the dominant side. Instead of putting on the glasses before you shoot, you just look through the aperture. Again,the lense is in the aperture held in place with a tiny O-ring. The lenses come in + and - powers depending on what you need. The other weird thing is that I thought the target would become more out of focus when the front sight became more clear (you can't focus on 2 things at once), but that is not the case.