Lasik and shotgun shooting

[ceh383]

While wearing glasses hasn't bothered me much, this last year has changed my mind on the subject. Having to wear these useless masks have made glasses to much of a PITA. I'm considering LASIK surgery.
If any of you have had LASIK, how has it affected your shotgun shooting?
Was it worth it to you?
What, if any, are the pitfalls?

Thanks in advance.

[sanjoseskater]

I had lasik one of the best things I have ever done-priceless. If your 20-40 go for it as you get older your eyes get worse so you could get it after 40 and your eyes get worse 5 years later. If you have any dry eye problems don’t do it the first year I had dry eye and sensitivity to light after a year it went away. I shoot fine with it and being able to swim and see is great. Go to the best most expensive well reviewed doctor. I went to Dr bindi is San Jose and recommend him

[Vinnie Boombatz]

So you'll just shoot without any eye protection?!

[sanjoseskater]

So you'll just shoot without any eye protection?!

[JagerDog]

The typical is adjusting one eye for distance and one eye for close. I don't see how that really lends itself to binocular shotgunning.

One of my hunting buddies did lasik a few years ago. After a couple re-dos, he still needs to wear glasses in many situations. I quit "researching" after that. I just wear Wiley X Sabers with a bifocal insert. Had the bifocal set real low and it's just if I need to fix my gun or something.

There's anti-fog treatments and towlettes. Don't hunt with masks, but glasses will fog like crazy if they're cold and you put 'em on a warm face. The treatements help.

He was nearsighted. I'm farsighted.

[blueblueblueblue]

If you are in your 20's or 30's and your prescription is stable for a few years, then it can be a great thing if you are nearsighted. If you are farsighted it gets tricky, still doable but lets just call it tricky to keep my answer short and not too long of an answer. If you are 40ish then consider monovision LASIK, meaning one eye will be corrected for distance while the other is slightly under corrected so it allows you so see up close. Only do Monovision if you trial it with contact lenses first since its not for everyone. With monovision you will be glasses free about 90% of the time which most people are very happy about. Being in this field a decade working with LASIK/PRK, cataract surgery, and all other eye surgeries, I can go on and on about the subject but since I dont know much about your eyes, age, and prescription, this is somewhat of a vague answer.

Also, not everyone is a good candidate for LASIK, you still need a consultation wherever you go to see if your eyes are healthy enough and if your corneas have tissue healthy enough to tolerate the LASIK and have enough "meat" to work with. Most places will do a free consultation for this.

If there is any MD that I recommend for LASIK, it is Dr. Lars Hertzog in Long Beach on Palo verde and Spring st. He is honest, ethical, and is upfront. He is also a cornea specialist and deals a lot with pilots and military for their perfect vision needs.
One way to avoid all this is kind of annoying but simply using some paper tape on the top of the mask on your nose/cheeks, this way when you breath there is no air pockets making your glasses foggy. Annoying but cheap.

[Bakerloo]

I had mine done about 18 years ago. I was 20/200. He got me to 20/10 if I recall. It was expensive at the time, but we had a whole bunch of money left over in a flex spending medical account at the end of the year. It was a use it or lose it situation. If I had to do it again, I would mow yards to earn the money if I had to. Worth every penny.

[docent]

I also, had lasik 25 years ago. The pitfalls are - - when they talk you into having this surgery, they DON'T tell you, that it doesn't last forever. 5 years after having it, I had to go back in for a "touch-up". I've a couple since then.
Now, I wear contacts, one for close-up, and the other for distance. Life's a bitch !

[ysr_racer]

I had cataract surgery in both eyes. I had both set for distance, and just use cheap readers for reading.

My vision is great now.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Masks and Gun Safety with respect to eye surgery

Typically Lasik corrects for one distance.

Either you get long distance or short distance but you don't' get both.

You are better off IMHO to get progressive lenses which after you get used to them are best of both worlds with simple movements of your head.

I AM NOT BIG ON ANY EYE SURGERY !!!! They are too easy to screw up and they are very difficult to fix after they are screwed up. I'd sooner let someone work on my Pee Pee than my eyes.

My mother lost both her eyes to an Inept Eye Surgeon and ended up dying in Pain and in the Dark in a home. Not for me at all.

There are wonderous things that can be done with glasses for much Less $ and much, much less risk.

As far as steaming them up when you wear a mask just pull the mask down below your nose, and keep it there until someone tells you to pull it up, and then as soon as they turn around, pull it back down. This whole Mask BS that is sweeping the nation ahs got to stop and just not complying is the quickest way to stop it.

NOW they want us to wear 2 masks? FU stupid Democrats, and FU to Joe Biden too. Not MY President! Just a corrupt POS!

Ask me how I really feel ???.

In November2020 I went to a Tactical Shotgun Class and Defensive Pistol Class at Front Sight. There were 900 people there and we ate lunch in the Big Lunch Room with 500 others with no Masks ON! Nobody got sick, because nobody had the Disease! We were there for 9 days total. How come I'm not dead? we were NOT allowed to wear Masks while handling guns. DUH!

Got my first shot last Friday at CVS Drug Store in Ventura. Second Shot March 19 at the same place. I guess Trump did a pretty good job getting those vaccines out? Why'd it take Newsome 3 months to figure out they could use drug stores to give the shots out? DUH? I could have had this program set up in two days and up and running in five days and I told Newsome that in a letter to him in early January. No response.

Glasses work fine, and we won't have to wear masks forever. Our clubs up here say they require you wear masks, but don't enforce it, because nobody from the govt is there to watch. It is a safety hazard to have fogged up glasses while handling loaded guns? Just sayin'.

Nothing scares people more than something they can't see! And if you get your eyes worked on there is a better than even chance you won't be seeing anything at all!


Randy

[Corbin Dallas]

While wearing glasses hasn't bothered me much, this last year has changed my mind on the subject. Having to wear these useless masks have made glasses to much of a PITA. I'm considering LASIK surgery.
If any of you have had LASIK, how has it affected your shotgun shooting?
Was it worth it to you?
What, if any, are the pitfalls?

Thanks in advance.

Things to consider are your age and overall health. I had ASA done (PRK) just before my 50th and I did it for distance. I'd rather have readers some of the time than glasses most of the time. I opted out of dual vision (one eye for reading, the other for distance). EFFF-THAT...


Why I did ASA over LASIK.

There is no FLAP to dislodge or move on you. Ever. The part of your eye they dissolve will grow back. The flap will never fully heal.

If you do any kind of impact or sports where wind may get in your eyes such as motorcycle riding, skydiving, riding roller coasters, go ASA.

If I need cataract surgery in the future, LASIK is a consideration for your cataract surgeon. Not that it will stop it, but they need to know going in.


ASA observations:

It takes a LONG time for your eyes to heal. Take a month off work if you stare at a computer screen. Seriously. I only took a week and that wasn't enough for me to be productive when I returned to work.

Get LOTS of single use drops, you'll need them.

Follow the directions to the letter from your doctor.

Be super patient. Beyond normal patience, like superhuman Gandhi/Zen like patience.


I don't regret anything about doing the ASA. I was able to put money away through my HSA and used that for about 75% of the procedure cost at $4k.

[ceh383]

I had mine done about 18 years ago. I was 20/200. He got me to 20/10 if I recall. It was expensive at the time, but we had a whole bunch of money left over in a flex spending medical account at the end of the year. It was a use it or lose it situation. If I had to do it again, I would mow yards to earn the money if I had to. Worth every penny.

To answer some of the questions.
I'm 60. Still wear the Rx shooting glasses I got 6 years ago and they're fine.
If I do it, I will have both eyes done for distance, it would be best for my situation.
I'm scheduled for an exam/consultation next week, I will make up my mind from there.

Thanks for all the input.

PS: Yes, I always wear glasses when shooting, that won't change. I hope they won't have to be Rx...

[ceh383]

Another question:

If you had the surgery done, how long before you could go back to shooting?

I mainly shoot clay sports.

[Revoman]

I too had it done about 22 years ago at age 49 after wearing glasses for 25 years. HATED glasses.
Took the leap and went with the mono vision. I am just now degrading and recognize that a tune up is necessary after 20+ years.
I shotgun a lot and since I'm right eye dominant and right handed, I had my right eye done for far vision while my left eye for close.
Never an issue shooting and surprisingly no issues with binocular vision at all. The only time that there is an issue is if I am sitting behind someone in a theater setting that blocks my right eye vision, I have to adjust my sitting to miss the blocking person/object from my right eye. Simple.
It took all of 5 minutes to make any adjustment to the difference in vision after a 20 minute nap post procedure. Eyes watered a lot and felt like sand was in there at first, the nap took care of that. They give you calming drugs pre-op, I never took them. Nor did I take anything post-op, didn't need it.
The actual procedure took MAYBE 3 minutes.
One happy camper vision-wise.

[squeeze]

The typical is adjusting one eye for distance and one eye for close. I don't see how that really lends itself to binocular shotgunning.

Shooting is more of a monocular activity. Not much of a need to determine distances.