Shooting and LASIK...

[cedestech]

48 and in the last year I have noticed my prescription has changed drastically.... front sight almost impossible to keep in focus especially as the day wears on... will be going to the eye Dr shortly but am wondering about LASIK? I am far sighted and have astigmatism. Has anyone had LASIK and their iron sight shooting improve?

[Merlin]

Had both eyes done for "normal." Short term all was well and I could even read fine print with no problems. Pistol sights were clean and crisp. Eyesight short range/close up was back to readers in about a year and eyes are again needing glasses for everyday all around use after 11 years of getting slightly worse every year.

[atomicbrh]

Don't do it. My left eye was done once and my right eye done twice in the 1990's.
I am right eye dominant.
I have so many prescriptions to try to shoot I can hardly keep up with them all.
My ophthalmologist writes me 4 different prescriptions every spring to just try to find a prescription to get the reticle and the target in focus at the same time.
Right now if I put the AO where the targets will be in focus, there is not enough positive diopter in any eyepiece to make the reticle sharp.
When I put the targets in focus with the AO the AO's are not even close to the distance marks they should be on.
This is Weaver T series, Leupold EFR and Leupold FX series.
For a couple of years after my second LASIK my AO distance settings and eyepiece diopter settings were like everybody else but now I am putting up with a fuzzy reticle because I cannot get a eyeglass prescription that will work.
Iron sights are impossible without glasses and those glasses are different from the glasses I use for the scoped rifles.
This really hurts me because I made money zeroing hunting rifles for gun stores and individuals but that is over with the eye problems.

[Snake]

I had LASIK about 2001. The adjustment to my nearsightedness was done for my normal long distance vision....not the monovision for reading etc.
It does not correct for astigmatism in most instances and I have a slight amount of that in the right (shooting) eye. I had to use cheaters to read but in the last 18 months the front sight on the cowboy gun and the front aperture on the BPCR were fuzzying up and of recent just about impossible at long distances. The eye guy made me a pair of shooting glasses that adjusted the astigmatic fuzz just about out for now. But time changes things....

[OldRanger]

Be careful with lasers and eyes. And read the fine print in advance. They brag about 99% success rate, what they don't tell you is if they don't blind you its a success. My wife had hers done and one went well, the other made her vision worse. Much worse. The real statistics are more like 85-90% of people have better sight afterwards, and 1% are legally blind after. 14% are the same or worse, but not blinded. If you do decide to do it make sure your doc has tens of thousands of these under their belt with the exact machine they will be using. Good luck.

[Snake]

No surgery is without risk. Shooting is not without risk...driving , living etc. I had my lasiks done by a cornea specialist...not one of those guys that does 30 people a day. Several people he refused because of various conditions in their eyes went to a lasiks mill and had it done anyway...most turned out ok....most!!!! Always do your research into every doctor....and recognize that no procedure can fix everything...there are compromises

[Another Dang 9]

I have an eye doctor in the family. (Sisters father in law) has his own clinic. He says don't do it. That's all I need to know.

[GSL]

HI All ,

I believe that these laser procedures FOLLOW in the footsteps of RADIAL KERIOTOMY ... A procedure that most times would IMPROVE
yet MANY times would leave typical AND characteristic night vision blindness , as well as other side effects .
I rely on my eyes for MOST things that I love ; I would NEVER take the chance ! I will not allow myself to become a statistic
in an entirely UNCARING medical journal ... no matter what THEY promise !

GSL

[glen ring]

CD tech

Like some replies on steel chickens, there are always those that are negative and really don't know what they're talking about.

I have met you and I am reasonably sure you are an intelligent and objective person.

I know I don't need to say this but...Consult with at least one health care professional about your eyesight corrections. Two or three makes me feel better if the answers are all the same.

It's 2017 and healthcare ( like everything else ) has come a LONG way in the last 20 years.

I have many friends who have had their sight corrected, one of my wife's buds is an eye doc and I haven't had any of my friends say anything bad about the experience. On the contrary, they ALL have been very happy.

Get those peepers working right and enjoy life.

[cedestech]

It's not the procedure that bothers me. If it wasn't for iron sight shooting I'd probably have done it already. It's the constraint of having to see 30" and 300 yards with the same eye at the same time... I'm looking for reassurance that it will work because it IS permanent. Glasses that don't work can be discarded, having the lenses cut on is like a bad tattoo... it'll leave a mark...

[Snake]

Lasiks changes the shape of the lens....it does not solve presbyopia ....farsightedness from aging. So when you are younger lasiks will fix your nearsightedness ...it does not fix astigmatism and it won't cure presbyopia. As you age you can actually be nearsighted and develop presbyopia. I had lasiks because I was very nearsighted so much so that the glasses looked like coke bottles and contacts were a pain especially in dry dust windy environments. So as I aged my slight astigmatism and presbyopia required that I get special glasses just for aperture sights......obviously there are no issues with scopes. But if you're diabetic or have severe astigmatism....forget lasiks