Lasik and Shooting

M

myusername

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Has anyone had Lasik eye surgery? Did it affect your shooting? If so in what way?

I have an "astigmatism" which means pretty much everything past 4 inches gets progressively fuzzier until at a few hundred feet everything is a blurr. When I talked with the surgeon about Lasik he said I would probably STILL need glasses for reading and up close.

I'm concerned how this might affect my ability to focus for shooting.

I'd appreciate any insight anyone has on this.
 
I've used monovision (correct one eye for distance and read with the uncorrected eye) for several years with contact lenses, and in April I finally got my dominant eye corrected with Lasik. Couldn't be happier, but the only big thing for me is not messing with contacts anymore. I used to correct both eyes, but once I got a little past fifty I was starting to need reading glasses so my Dr suggested I try the mono option.

It was more comfortable for me to correct my left (non-dominant) eye, but that made it harder to shoot since I'm right handed and right eye dominant. I could see the sights but the target was blurry. I even had special shooting glasses made with the correction reversed so that I could see well enough to shoot at poorly lit indoor ranges.

A few months before I got the Lasik I started correcting the right eye instead and gave myself time to adjust to that, and to see what a difference it made for shooting. It takes 2-3 weeks for the brain to completely adjust and adapt to the mono correction, but once I got comfortable with it I decided to go ahead and have it done.
 
I had LASIK a few years ago. I had an astigmatism as well. It corrected my distance vision and my close vision was the same for a good while. My close vision is slowly deteriorating, which is normal as the Dr said I may need reading glasses at some point later.

To me it made the sights a bit sharper, and also made the target sharper as well. I would do it again.

Word of caution. I would advise taking the day of surgery and the day after off, and stay home to relax. I was light sensitive for a bit and also had an occasional round of itchy eye too, so make sure you use the eye drops they give you as they say to.
 
Lasik should take care of most astigmatisms. The second laser in the Lasik process takes all the "peaks and valleys" on the operated surface and smooths them out. I was born with terrible sight with a -8 diopter in both eyes. Radial kerotodemy 25 years ago was a bust and after getting 12 radial cuts per eye my prescription went way over board to a +3 diopter in each eye and radial kerotodemy was never intended to help with astigmatisms. Three years ago I had Lasik to correct the over corrected Radial Kerotodemy and to also take out all the astigmatisms. I now have 20/20 in both eyes and am a very happy camper. After 55 years of wearing very thick glasses I am amazed at the technology.
 
I had it done in probably the late 90's, I was about 50 which was towards the upper limit for it to be recommended. I was told it would most likely affect my up close vision, but naturally I thought I would be the exception. Wrong. It did help my distance vision but I now needed reading glasses which I didn't need before. So, it didn't end up eliminating my need for glasses. I can still pass the vision test for my drivers license but I need my readers to fill out the forms. Would I do it again knowing what I know now, yes, but I would be more realistic about it and not expect perfection. I now have a special set of glasses for shooting, right eye for focusing on the sights and left eye to see if I hit anything. They are also made of some sort of safety glass so they serve that purpose also. I think the younger you are the better your results will be but you still can't stop getting older.
 
People don't really understand this process. As you age, your eyes lose their ability to adjust to different distances. This is due to a change in the lens inside your eye. It becomes more "rigid" and will not bend to adjust to different distances. If you get Lasik at a later age, this doesn't change the lens inside your eye. The Lasik will give you either good vision at longer distance or good vision at closer distance....your choice. What it won't do is change the ability of the lens inside your eye to bend. Younger people who get Lasik will benefit the most since their eyes will still adjust to different distances. Older people, like myself, get the benefit of removing astigmatisms and imperfections and being able to see clearly at either close or far. Some choose to have one eye do one and the other eye to the other. As far as shooting after Lasik for an older person, you'll still have problems focusing on the front sight if you had your distance vision corrected (which most people choose to do). My corrected vision after Lasik was 20/15 which was what it was when I was young. The front sight is still not as clear as I'd like and I need reading glasses just like any normal older person. FYI: you can now get implantable flexible lenses put in your eyes, just like cataract lenses, and they "flex" and offer the ability to see clearly at all distances. The price is comparable to Lasik. I have mild cataracts and if they get worse, I'm going that route.
 
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