TargetTalk

I am thinking about cataract surgery and would like to know other old shooters experences with the procedure. I am a distinguished SB and Big bore shooter, 40 yrs ago, and at 67 with a 20+ year layoff can't shoot irons for crap but shoot good scope scores. I have tried glasses,rightsight and all other options but with no luck.I will shoot 2 or 3 X's and then a wide or high/low 9 with no idea where it came from. What has been your experience if you have had cataracts removed?

Ed Foley

OK I am an older shooter age 80---I had dual cataract surgery 6 years back. Before that I had huge lenses and had to use all kind of devices to shoot AP, FP, RF, SP with my enormous right and left eye strabismus. After the surgery I use only reading lenses and a distance correction for driving. I can now see well enough to use the distance correction script for most iron sights, I use an iris for FP & AP in addition to a minor corrective lens on my Knobloch's. Similar experiences using a dot sight. It has been a new experience for me as I had lousy eyes since age 4. It's upbeat for me. "Doc"

I'm 70; I'm waiting to have surgery on my shooting eye (my second eye; the left eye was done most of 10 years ago). It makes all the difference in the world. Can't say you'll have the eyes of a 16 year old or of a fighter pilot, but you'll see colors again and have a lot more sharpness.

You'll likely not shoot as many flyers after surgery. As it is you are probably trying to peek around the cataract blob (I know I am), and sometimes it works. Much of the time it doesn't. But when the blob is gone you'll have good vision across the field.

I ran into a very simular problem as you have . I was very concerned about results so I had my non shooting eye lens replaced first. The results were a spectacular improvement so I committed to having my shooting eye worked on. Again, really superbe results. I am now using a +25 as my shooting correction and am testing as 20-20 on my eye exams. I would sugest you ask around the range and try to find as good an optomoglist as I was lucky enough to find. Good Shooting Bill Horton

When you're picking your surgeon, and you should interview at least two unless one has such a local reputation that anything else wastes time, let him or her know that you will shoot. That the eye he'll work on is the shooting eye, and that while you'll probably want an implant that is sharp at infinity or 10-20 meters, you will want to be able to correct it perfectly at the distance of the front sight of your gun.

Great good luck!

To all,
What has been your experience with the results on your shooting, both irons and scope? And thanks for the info so far.

I'm 56 and had cataract surgery about 7 years ago, both eyes. I have only been shooting targets for 6 months or so, but used to shoot informally quite a bit. The cataracts started when I was relatively young and progressed very slowly. I didn't even know I had a cataract - I noticed that I was developing contralateral eye dominance, but didn't realize the problem until I looked through a telescope and saw a blotch in my right eye; the same thing happened through a rifle scope. Finally, my ophthalmologist told me I had cataracts in both eyes and once they had developed sufficiently, he removed them and implanted lenses that give me slightly better than 20-20 at infinity. For years until then I didn't shoot at all.

The difference in clarity is amazing - the cataracts caused me to see through a yellow haze that had developed so slowly that I didn't realize how bad it was until after the surgery. However, the progressive lenses that I use normally are useless for shooting open sights. The way they work is that there is only one spot through each lens that produces an in-focus image for any given distance under about 15 feet, so getting a front sight in focus meant finding the correct ridiculous angle to hold my head. When I started to get serious about AP, I bought shooting glasses and had an optician fit them with a lens that put the front sight in dead focus. My problems with hitting 10's have nothing to do with what I can see.

I recently bought a cheap red dot sight for my Model 41 to see what that was like. I can use my ordinary glasses and focusing at infinity puts the dot and target together perfectly. In fact, I can now outshoot my AP with that gun easily.

But don't put the surgery off. Everything will be brighter and clearer afterwards, and you will find a way to shoot.

Good luck

Roger

My wife was a GB national squad shooter 30 years ago, she shot air, smallbore and centre fire rifle with spectacles.
She retired from shooting nearly twenty years ago but 18 months ago had a double cataract operation, this tempted her to try to shoot again as she was now 60 and retired with the time to train.
Unburdened by glasses something which she never had when she was at her peak she is now shooting close to 380/400 air rifle and 580+ english match, and getting better every week!
Go for it, its life changing!
Best of luck,
Robin

I'm 61, have no cataracts and use only minor correction for reading. BUT shooting is out for me.

Both shoulders are shot, if I might say so, so I moved to open sighted rifles, .22 and air. The problem is, my eyes' muscles lost their flexibility with age, so I cannot focus on the sighting post AND still have a decent image of the rear. It gets so out of focus that is like having no rear sights.

With the pistols I managed to have a lens that would give me a decent front focus and so-so rear, but since the distance from the eye was bigger and smaller from front to rear, I did well, until the right shoulder quit. Moved to the other, results came back to the old level. Lasted for 3 months and the shoulder remembered the sailing days and afternoons of sheeting in big sails...

On the other hand, I had a great-uncle that had a booklet of eye exercices. He used 0.5 glasses. Another friend, who is a judge, reads and writes a lot, uses no glasses at all at 55. She exercices the eyes 10 minutes 3 times a day.

There is hope, then...

I don't personally have experience with the procedure but my dad had it and it changed his shooting experience for the better for sure. There was much less hassle with glasses etc and his accuracy improved. His only concern was the lasik cost but it turned out that it wasn't too bad.

I'm 67 and had both lenses replaced two and a half years ago. Definitely a significant improvement and a massive reduction in the cylinder needed for correction. Also improved but did not eliminate my astigmatism.
However, note that about 20% of eyes will eventually develop "secondary cataracts" which is actually the development of opacity in the rear layer of the lens capsule. Mine have gone this route rather rapidly in the past 6 months and I am in the middle of having holes burned through them with a YAG laser. First - left - eye done past tuesday and right to be done next tuesday. Significant improvement in vision and reduction of flare that made night driving nearly impossible. Looking forward to being able to see the iron sights again!

Dr Jim

I am a distinguished SB and Big bore shooter........i am very conserved about result..