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Read your comment about deteriorating eyesight; my eyesight has been slowly deteriorating because of cataracts and worsening astigmatism.
The situation has forced me into a corner, as the venue where I go for my eyes, the Stein institute, is losing the surgeon who did the surgery on my rt eye soon, and if I'd declined to get the surgery done by him, I'd have to wait for his replacement, which I didn't want to do.
It was getting way tougher to continue the photography at a previous level/use my iron sights-gun mounted optics, and I was advised that in 1-2 years I was probably going to start losing my night vision.
The Eotech and Aimpoint and magnifier mounted on my shotguns were getting tougher to look through.
So I'll inject these comments about my experience w/the surgery so far, the good and the bad, and what scared me.
Don't take my advice of course, if you don't feel it's right for you, but be assured it's something that I carefully though through/over. Checking this out you may come to different conclusions, and that's fine.
I was fortunate to have surgery on right eye, by a top tier eye surgeon at the U.C.L.A./Stein Institute whose averaged 10-20 surgeries per day for quite a number of years.
The surgeon himself warned me about going to somebody "green", and he referred me to some videos of the procedure, and discussion venues where folks discussed their surgeries gone wrong. I appreciated him cluing me in on the good and the bad/the risks.
Watched these videos, due diligence and more due diligence, and listened to the comments of folks who drained their life savings to have this surgery done, only to find out that it had gone badly where they were going to need additional surgery to correct the problem made worse by the 1st surgery.
On the discussion venues, there was one gentleman who had extreme blurry vision after the surgery that was worse than before the surgery, the implant was off axis/not positioned to where it was supposed to be. No driving until he gets this corrected and no prospect whatsoever to put the money together anytime soon to get the corrective surgery.
There's a gentleman who cannot see the distinct edges of anything, and he expressed that he was profoundly disappointed and distressed, out of money, and still in need of corrective surgery.
Yes, I was advised that things can go wrong no matter how good the skill of the surgeon.
Said plainly, for me personally, this surgery was/is only an acceptable risk when it's done by someone w/experience along the lines of the surgeon who did my surgery, whose done the surgery for over 15yrs. averaging 10-20 surgeries per day in some stretches over his career.
There are several implants out there that try to give you the maximum distance from what you can render clearly at distance to up close, but they exhibit quite a bit of loss of contrast at night so you'll have problems like w/halos around light sources.
The class of implant I chose was the implant that gives the sharpest rendering/best contrast at distance but at the cost of being able to see close-up.
I chose these implants w/an expectation and the agreement of the surgeon that I'd have fairly sharp vision at distance, needing glasses for close up inside of 3'.
I stressed to the surgeon, in no "ifs, ands, or buts" that I didn't care if I had to wear glasses up close, that at distance I wanted the implants w/the maximum contrast, and my astigmatism fully corrected.
He advised me that there were lenses that have been out for about ten years that would "fill the bill" and I said go, although I'll add that the price for these lenses is breathtaking.
When I asked the price, I knew I was in trouble because the surgeon smiled and asked me to sit down for an answer.
What am I going to do? "Nickel and dime" my own sight?
Christmas came early because I went back to the Stein center the day after the surgery, the surgeon examined my right eye, and it's back to 20/20 vision at least, w/some existing swelling/temp blurriness from the surgery.
Even better, I'm typing this w/my left eye closed, my right eye open, and I can clearly see the screen from 18 inches away. Close my rt. eye, open my left eye, screen is blurry from 18" away.
I can hold my hand 8-9 inches away from my right eye, and can clearly see each pore and hair; so the result is I have better "close up" vision than the 3' threshold I was expecting.
I can see clearly including type from 8-9" and so I haven't been wearing my glasses because they're now giving me a headache.
Obviously shooting anything w/a recoil, subjecting my body to anything that's going to be like a punch, let alone shotguns, is absolutely out of the question, and for a very long while.
I'm sharing what I know, and my experience going through this w/anybody considering this surgery so they can maybe "glean" something that would give them a chance at a happy outcome, and maybe avoid some of the dangers out there involving this type of surgery.
The situation has forced me into a corner, as the venue where I go for my eyes, the Stein institute, is losing the surgeon who did the surgery on my rt eye soon, and if I'd declined to get the surgery done by him, I'd have to wait for his replacement, which I didn't want to do.
It was getting way tougher to continue the photography at a previous level/use my iron sights-gun mounted optics, and I was advised that in 1-2 years I was probably going to start losing my night vision.
The Eotech and Aimpoint and magnifier mounted on my shotguns were getting tougher to look through.
So I'll inject these comments about my experience w/the surgery so far, the good and the bad, and what scared me.
Don't take my advice of course, if you don't feel it's right for you, but be assured it's something that I carefully though through/over. Checking this out you may come to different conclusions, and that's fine.
I was fortunate to have surgery on right eye, by a top tier eye surgeon at the U.C.L.A./Stein Institute whose averaged 10-20 surgeries per day for quite a number of years.
The surgeon himself warned me about going to somebody "green", and he referred me to some videos of the procedure, and discussion venues where folks discussed their surgeries gone wrong. I appreciated him cluing me in on the good and the bad/the risks.
Watched these videos, due diligence and more due diligence, and listened to the comments of folks who drained their life savings to have this surgery done, only to find out that it had gone badly where they were going to need additional surgery to correct the problem made worse by the 1st surgery.
On the discussion venues, there was one gentleman who had extreme blurry vision after the surgery that was worse than before the surgery, the implant was off axis/not positioned to where it was supposed to be. No driving until he gets this corrected and no prospect whatsoever to put the money together anytime soon to get the corrective surgery.
There's a gentleman who cannot see the distinct edges of anything, and he expressed that he was profoundly disappointed and distressed, out of money, and still in need of corrective surgery.
Yes, I was advised that things can go wrong no matter how good the skill of the surgeon.
Said plainly, for me personally, this surgery was/is only an acceptable risk when it's done by someone w/experience along the lines of the surgeon who did my surgery, whose done the surgery for over 15yrs. averaging 10-20 surgeries per day in some stretches over his career.
There are several implants out there that try to give you the maximum distance from what you can render clearly at distance to up close, but they exhibit quite a bit of loss of contrast at night so you'll have problems like w/halos around light sources.
The class of implant I chose was the implant that gives the sharpest rendering/best contrast at distance but at the cost of being able to see close-up.
I chose these implants w/an expectation and the agreement of the surgeon that I'd have fairly sharp vision at distance, needing glasses for close up inside of 3'.
I stressed to the surgeon, in no "ifs, ands, or buts" that I didn't care if I had to wear glasses up close, that at distance I wanted the implants w/the maximum contrast, and my astigmatism fully corrected.
He advised me that there were lenses that have been out for about ten years that would "fill the bill" and I said go, although I'll add that the price for these lenses is breathtaking.
When I asked the price, I knew I was in trouble because the surgeon smiled and asked me to sit down for an answer.
What am I going to do? "Nickel and dime" my own sight?
Christmas came early because I went back to the Stein center the day after the surgery, the surgeon examined my right eye, and it's back to 20/20 vision at least, w/some existing swelling/temp blurriness from the surgery.
Even better, I'm typing this w/my left eye closed, my right eye open, and I can clearly see the screen from 18 inches away. Close my rt. eye, open my left eye, screen is blurry from 18" away.
I can hold my hand 8-9 inches away from my right eye, and can clearly see each pore and hair; so the result is I have better "close up" vision than the 3' threshold I was expecting.
I can see clearly including type from 8-9" and so I haven't been wearing my glasses because they're now giving me a headache.
Obviously shooting anything w/a recoil, subjecting my body to anything that's going to be like a punch, let alone shotguns, is absolutely out of the question, and for a very long while.
I'm sharing what I know, and my experience going through this w/anybody considering this surgery so they can maybe "glean" something that would give them a chance at a happy outcome, and maybe avoid some of the dangers out there involving this type of surgery.
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