Lookig for counsel, help, &/or suggestions:

Had cataract surgery & the Glaucoma in my dominant eye (right) pretty much over shadows any benefit received from the right eye Cataract surgery. I just basically can't see the front sight clearly even at 21 ft. I'm considering going to optics such as scope or Burris Fast? optics. but cannot afford to continue dropping coin on something that I don't feel has a good chance of success for me. I really don't feel that shooting glasses will add that much improvement to my current dilemma. Ideas, anyone?

What about a dot with corrective lens

I had not got that far in my thinking/planning, James. Are you referring to a scope? I'm not sure that I understand.

Gary, I use a low power pistol scope sometimes. They all have an adjustable lens that allows you to focus the cross hairs. The downside is that they really show your wobble and you have to learn to ignore it and trust your shot. Low light is where they work best. The scope on the short barreled 41 is relatively in-expensive and I keep it on there for rainy morning matches. It is not for the bright sunny days (when pupils are contracted) but those dark days when my dots look like starbursts and/or my steel sights won't focus.

I sold a couple of these recently because I had too many but I saved a couple back also. They are Tasco Pro class 30mm with a less then 1 minute dot. I also have Leupolds but these are better for Bullseye (personal opinion)

There is even one on E-bay right now. Not mine. NFI
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Tasco-Trophy-Pro-class-2x22-pistol-scope-with-lens-caps-/222634545622?hash=item33d60d91d6:g:2OMAAOSwcC9ZraTo

Gary Wells wrote:Had cataract surgery & the Glaucoma in my dominant eye (right) pretty much over shadows any benefit received from the right eye Cataract surgery. I just basically can't see the front sight clearly even at 21 ft. I'm considering going to optics such as scope or Burris Fast? optics. but cannot afford to continue dropping coin on something that I don't feel has a good chance of success for me. I really don't feel that shooting glasses will add that much improvement to my current dilemma. Ideas, anyone?

If I may, I have a couple of questions.  Do you mean not being able to see the front sight at 21 ft. or 21 inches?  Have you had post-op exams to check for a distance and reading prescription?  What type of intraocular implant was chosen?  How advanced is the glaucoma?

A few years back when I was shooting service pistol, DR matches and 10-meter air pistol I had a pair of "computer" glasses made. The bi-focal covers about 80% of the lens and the focus distance matched exactly the front sight on my 1911. I assume single vision lens could be made this way also. Fortunately for me, at the time, the fellow, now retired, who did the eye exam and wrote the script was also a bullseye shooter.

Iris - I use an EyePal it works like a camera when you use a smaller iris your entire depth of field comes into focus.  Also keeps me from dipping my head.  No issues using it in sustained fire.
Cheap to at least try.

In the picture below you can see it's positioned for rifle shooting mine is low and more centered right to left. 
http://www.eyepalusa.com/
- Dave

BTW, many thanks for the pics & counsel. You guys are going to be a big help I am sure.

AllAces wrote:Fortunately for me, at the time, the fellow, now retired, who did the eye exam and wrote the script was also a bullseye shooter.

I, too, remember such halcyon times, when I had an excellent optometrist who also was a bullseye shooter. It was great.

Then he retired, and I will never forgive him for that. What a jerk!

*throws tomatoes at xmastershooter*

(Just kidding, Norman - you deserve your retirement. I'm glad to see you back on the firing line recently, too.)

Hi Gary, I think I can make do with what you have stated so far.  I’ll try to fill in the blanks, so it is possible I may be off somewhat.  The variable lenses you have now are the progressive lenses which are very difficult for you to see the iron sights.  Although afflicted with medical eye problems, you mentioned that the bullseye is somewhat fuzzy with indoor range lighting, but the rear sight is nothing but a blur.  So, there’s hope to improve the front sight clarity to be as good as the bullseye with the correct lens.

It is more challenging to see under indoor lighting as compared to outdoor lighting.  The pinhole type aides such as the above mentioned EyePal may have limited value if there is a medical eye problem but it may help if there is an uncorrected vision prescription.

You probably do not have 20/20 vision, but it may not be that bad if you still have a drivers license.  Since you wear progressive lenses, we know you do not have multifocal intraocular implants, so this should not be the source of your difficulty.

Solutions:

If you decline to get proper shooting lenses for the front sight focus, a red dot scope would work using your present eyeglasses if you look through the distance portion of the lens.  Before you buy a scope, look through a few of your fellow shooters’ red dot scopes and see if you can live with the dot lack of clarity since you may not have 20/20 eyesight with the right eye.  The dot and the bull need not be crystal clear for a good shot if your trigger pull is good.  There is a learning curve when you switch from irons to a red dot scope.

If you do not like the idea of a red dot scope, the “only” other viable choice would be to get the proper prescription to see the front sight.  Again, if your vision is not 20/20, the front sight would only be as clear as your present eye health would allow, which I believe would still be far better than you see with your progressive lenses.

Using the left eye to shoot would also work, but you would still need the best lens to see the front sight for that eye.  There is no magic formula to determine the best front sight focus lens.  I have received emails from shooters as far as India sending me their prescriptions and the distance from their eyes to the front sights and asking for help.  However, the best lens is quite unique for each individual and must be evaluated as such.

"The Jerk"

Sorry for the late night typo.  First paragraph, third row should have read "front" sight is nothing but a blur, and not rear sight.

Many thanks for all of the comments & suggestions. You guys are the greatest. Just so everybody gets a good laugh from my shooting ability I went shooting witha buddy yesterday. I did better with the Ed Brown ET than the LB PII, but I was actually shooting about 6" groups or larger of 5 shots each using a 3" shoot-N-see black bull AT 9 FT distance. It's neither my handloads nor my guns but my eyes.

I bought a red dot for each of my guns and I got my cataracts replaced by tiny plastic lenses. Sightmark.com has some great medium-cost red dot "Reflex" sights. for much less than the $250. models most shooters use.

I recently went through the prescription eyeglass battle.  The only way I can shoot open sights is with a mechanical iris attached to my shooting lens.  I can get away with just prescriptions glasses with a dot, but the iris helps alot.

Many thanks for the suggestions. Due to my finances I am going to try and re-learn to shoot with the left eye. If this doesn't work then I will probably go to some optic such as the Burris Fast Fire III. I want to try different scopes before making up my mind as to which will be more beneficial.

Suggestion, low cost solution.

First, make something like what's shown in the image in this thread:
https://www.bullseyeforum.net/t8291-getting-the-correct-prescription-for-shooting-glasses-for-a-cataract-patient

Put the business card at the appropriate distance for your front sight, as you hold the device out in front of you.

Go to any reasonably priced place to get a pair of glasses (some of them advertise on TV) and tell they you only want a prescription for this one distance.  Tell them it's for your iPad or something.  Hold it out in front of you and let them do the refraction (determine the proper prescription).  Do it for both eyes.

Get any frame you like, preferably with large lenses, and pay a little more to get lenses made from polycarbonate.



If you can see anything in front of you now, at any distance, with that thing being sharp, that is how sharp you can expect your front sight to be.  Depending on your glaucoma, hopefully it will be reasonably sharp.


Two other comments - hopefully you didn't get the "premium" (multifocal) IOL lenses during your cataract surgery; if you got standard (monodical) lenses, your eyes will focus on some specific distance, which you can adjust with your new glasses so the front sight is sharp and clear.


Also, I had a pair of glasses made this way several months ago, using a measuring tape for distance, but they didn't measure the prescription correctly, which is why I'm doing it again in a few weeks with the device in the photo.  

Also, I did get a very good pair of progressive lenses, where the top of the lens is for distance, the bottom is for reading, and I can look through the glasses with my head aimed slightly up or down, to bring any single thing into focus.  If I move my head slightly up, the front sight comes into perfect focus. That's how I shoot my 1911 now.  With the new shooting glasses, they will automatically make the front sight perfect while looking straight ahead - which I can verify at their office with the device in the photo.

Many thanks, Mike, I will give those a try.

Update: I went shooting today & did the best that I have done for the last year or so. Shooting 5 shot groups @ 9 ft. The 1st group was 5 shots under 1.5" with 4 under 0.9". The 2nd group went 5 shots under 1.2" & 4 under 0.9" & the 3rd wasn't so great 5 shots about  2.5 or so. At 21 ft I did 5 shots under 2.5". This was using my left eye only & closing the right completely. I know that you guys shooting 1.5" @ 50 yds are theoretically shooting 5 or 10 shot groups at 21 ft. are shooting 0.21" which is something that I will never even dream of doing. 3" Shoot-N-See bull for the 9 ft & 6" bull @ 21. I need to practice closing my right eye & shooting with my left more.

I think some of the guys here in this forum have had eye transplants from an Eagle.  I'm not one of them.   Anyway, the biggest thing is to go out and enjoy shooting.  

Only your eye doctor can tell you how well you might eventually be able to see the front sight clearly, but when you're moving around, if *anything* that you see is crystal clear, at any distance, that implies that they'll be able to find a good prescription for your right eye.


Back to what you wrote.  If you're shooting say, a two inch group at 9 feet (3 yards), had the target been moved back to 15 yards, your group size would have been 2" x 5, or ten inches.  (I have no idea what group size I would get now using my left eye...)  If you get an NRA B-8 target, and start scoring yourself, using your left eye, the more you shoot the better this will get.  As I see it, when a person shoots better on any given day, than what they did the previous time, they feel good.  Works for me.  The only person you need to compete with, is yourself.   :-)

Many thanks, Mike. However I have Glaucoma  in my right eye that the docs have told me that it will not get any better. With the Glaucoma in my left eye not as advanced as the right eye my Cataract surgery in the left eye was pretty successful, but no so in my right eye. I lost 3 toes & a major portion of my left foot last year so I also have balance issues. As they say, Mike, old age does not come by itself.

Gary, I know more about cataract surgery than glaucoma.  I just read this page to catch up a little:
http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/glaucoma.htm

They describe how glaucoma can cause irreparable damage to the eye, so as you said, the eye won't get any better.  Not sure how they do this for you, but the goal is to prevent it from getting worse.

At Aravind Eye Hospital, they do surgery on the eye, creating a passage for the fluid inside the eye to exit from the eye, keeping the internal eye pressure lower.  If they haven't yet done this, you might want to write to the doctors at Aravind, and see if they can help.  The article I read describes gradually losing peripheral vision as the disease progresses.  If your eye has been stabilized, and you still have good central vision, they might be able to give you a prescription for glasses suitable for seeing the front sight.

Yeah, getting old sucks -- but it's better than the alternative!  I hope they have things under control, so nothing gets worse.

If I can find a good video that shows the procedure I described, I will post it here.

Cataract surgery for glaucoma patients:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ppzv2mnbAY 

Creating the "flap" with an opening so the eye can allow fluid to come out as needed to keep the pressure down:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOiIVXKE0-4 


I've helped create better videos at Aravind, but apparently they're not available on YouTube.