Shooting with cataracts - an update, plus Variolens

[Mike M.]

For the last three years, I've been coping with cataracts in both eyes. Had surgery on the left eye in March of 2018, redid it in November of 2018 due to shifting of the lens. I'm getting the right eye done tomorrow, after a catastrophic performance at the MLAIC Can-Am match in late July.

For the last three months, I've been shooting with the left eye, with a Variolens to get proper focus. For those of you not familiar with it, the Variolens is a flexible oil-filled lens that can be adjusted for the amount of correction.

Comments: I had not realized just how much the cataracts were affecting my shooting. Four years ago, I was a consistent 535 AP shooter...I've lost 10 points per year every year since then. I shot an AP match today, 508...unsatisfactory, but part of this is that I hadn't shot AP in months. And that Steyr is not that friendly to short-fingered shooters.

The Variolens: It works, but there is a distinct asymmetry in the amount of magnification. I find myself having to hunt for the proper location on the lens to sight through, which is about 60% of the way up. It's not a substitute for a proper shooting lens, in my opinion. But it's worth keeping around for emergencies.

Shooting cross-eyed. Do-able, much more so than I had thought it would be. An annoyance, but not prohibitively so.

General comment: I find that the modern guns are not nearly as friendly to short-fingered shooters as the percussion revolvers. I've been practicing FP recently, and find myself shooting no better with that than with a percussion revolver....which should not be the case.

[batty]

Might be worth noting/adding that hydration can play a huge role in vision for shooting, afterall the eye is full of fluid (albeit gooey stuff), are you finding that your vision is affected by hydration more or less after your cataract surgery?

[Mike M.]

About the same. Probably the bigger issue is to keep the outside of the eye hydrated. I've been on eyedrops for ocular hypertension for the last dozen years. They work, but they also tend to dry the tear film. So wetting drops come in handy.