Eye surgery, possible cataracts, and hunting/shooting

[Chris in TN]

I'm honestly looking forward to having the procedure done. Sis months ago my vision wasn't perfectly correctable with a contact but I could generally use the scope's diopter setting to get very close to 'correct'. At some point in the last few months I have moved out of that range and into the place where my eye tries really hard to focus but such focus only comes in fleeting moments, if at all, and can't be maintained for more than a second or two. Precision shooting literally has became a headache.

 

[heavyhorns]

I’m a cataract surgeon and most of what’s posted above is true. I will offer a few pointers to think about but this post is by no means a medical advice post. I don’t know the history or exam of any of the above patients. I would say that 20/15 and 20/10 have never come out of my mouth before when talking to a patient about anything.

Most patients that are outdoorsy want a distance priority for their vision. Also, It’s extremely important to understand that there is no perfect lens out there. There is always a compromise.

For example, with hunters, doing a multifocal or even an extended depth of focus lens will decrease contrast sensitivity. This could potentially impact low light glassing, etc. In return, you would get better intermediate and/or near depending on your lens choice.

Light adjustable lenses are pretty cool technology. The logistics and process of dialling things in seem to take forever but most of my patients have been very happy with them. I personally like to use them for patients that want distance in both eyes. It’s awesome to dial in 20/20 in both eyes (when patients have other ocular problems, 20/20 might not be attainable but LAL will get it as good as possible). You will get a little intermediate often doing them for distance but not always. I have done mono vision and mini mono vision with them but it’s not my favorite.

It’s important to note that there is no lens out there that will allow everyone to use open sights perfectly after cataract surgery. I’ve had some patients do great and some still struggle. If you’re wanting to do a lot with open sights, I would probably lean toward vivity or diboo but again no perfect option because we don’t have a good accommodating lens out there.

Thank you!

I’m a cataract surgeon and most of what’s posted above is true. I will offer a few pointers to think about but this post is by no means a medical advice post. I don’t know the history or exam of any of the above patients. I would say that 20/15 and 20/10 have never come out of my mouth before when talking to a patient about anything.

Most patients that are outdoorsy want a distance priority for their vision. Also, It’s extremely important to understand that there is no perfect lens out there. There is always a compromise.

For example, with hunters, doing a multifocal or even an extended depth of focus lens will decrease contrast sensitivity. This could potentially impact low light glassing, etc. In return, you would get better intermediate and/or near depending on your lens choice.

Light adjustable lenses are pretty cool technology. The logistics and process of dialling things in seem to take forever but most of my patients have been very happy with them. I personally like to use them for patients that want distance in both eyes. It’s awesome to dial in 20/20 in both eyes (when patients have other ocular problems, 20/20 might not be attainable but LAL will get it as good as possible). You will get a little intermediate often doing them for distance but not always. I have done mono vision and mini mono vision with them but it’s not my favorite.

It’s important to note that there is no lens out there that will allow everyone to use open sights perfectly after cataract surgery. I’ve had some patients do great and some still struggle. If you’re wanting to do a lot with open sights, I would probably lean toward vivity or diboo but again no perfect option because we don’t have a good accommodating lens out there.

Super helpful. Thank you.

 

[fwafwow]

I’m a cataract surgeon and most of what’s posted above is true. I will offer a few pointers to think about but this post is by no means a medical advice post. I don’t know the history or exam of any of the above patients. I would say that 20/15 and 20/10 have never come out of my mouth before when talking to a patient about anything.

Most patients that are outdoorsy want a distance priority for their vision. Also, It’s extremely important to understand that there is no perfect lens out there. There is always a compromise.

For example, with hunters, doing a multifocal or even an extended depth of focus lens will decrease contrast sensitivity. This could potentially impact low light glassing, etc. In return, you would get better intermediate and/or near depending on your lens choice.

Light adjustable lenses are pretty cool technology. The logistics and process of dialling things in seem to take forever but most of my patients have been very happy with them. I personally like to use them for patients that want distance in both eyes. It’s awesome to dial in 20/20 in both eyes (when patients have other ocular problems, 20/20 might not be attainable but LAL will get it as good as possible). You will get a little intermediate often doing them for distance but not always. I have done mono vision and mini mono vision with them but it’s not my favorite.

It’s important to note that there is no lens out there that will allow everyone to use open sights perfectly after cataract surgery. I’ve had some patients do great and some still struggle. If you’re wanting to do a lot with open sights, I would probably lean toward vivity or diboo but again no perfect option because we don’t have a good accommodating lens out there.

Apologies if these questions have been covered. Your disclaimer about not giving medical advice is acknowledged.

I had a detached retina 35 years ago and as a result am pretty paranoid about my vision. Currently I’m using Toric lenses and have corrected for mono vision (left for near, right/dominant for distance). It was a bit to get used to, but life changing.

The other day the optometrist said he sees the beginning of a cataract in my right eye, but nothing to worry about given my age. When I eventually get the surgery, I’d like to replicate the mono vision (if I need both eyes done). Can that be done, and any thoughts on pros/cons?

 

[Aeroflot81]

Apologies if these questions have been covered. Your disclaimer about not giving medical advice is acknowledged.

I had a detached retina 35 years ago and as a result am pretty paranoid about my vision. Currently I’m using Toric lenses and have corrected for mono vision (left for near, right/dominant for distance). It was a bit to get used to, but life changing.

The other day the optometrist said he sees the beginning of a cataract in my right eye, but nothing to worry about given my age. When I eventually get the surgery, I’d like to replicate the mono vision (if I need both eyes done). Can that be done, and any thoughts on pros/cons?

Yes it can be done. This is about the only situation where I do much mono vision—when someone has had success with it wearing contact lenses in the past.

Pros—best case scenario you wear no glasses which is great.

Cons—if something bad happens to the distance eye, you’re in glasses life long. Sometimes dementia or other issues like this can affect someone’s tolerance for mono vision but theoretically that could be the same for multifocal lenses as well. Depth perception isn’t as good but if you’ve tolerated it well with contacts lenses, that shouldn’t be an issue after cataract surgery.

Hope that helps.

 

[fwafwow]

Yes it can be done. This is about the only situation where I do much mono vision—when someone has had success with it wearing contact lenses in the past.

Pros—best case scenario you wear no glasses which is great.

Cons—if something bad happens to the distance eye, you’re in glasses life long. Sometimes dementia or other issues like this can affect someone’s tolerance for mono vision but theoretically that could be the same for multifocal lenses as well. Depth perception isn’t as good but if you’ve tolerated it well with contacts lenses, that shouldn’t be an issue after cataract surgery.

Hope that helps.

Thanks!

 

[kcm2]

Thank you!

Super helpful. Thank you.

Nobody promised me 20/15. But I'll gladly take it. It's a hell of a lot better than looking through crushed ice.

 

[88man]

In 2021 @ 51 years of age I was on a hunt and looking through the spotter I had a bad spot at the 7 oclock position. Blamed my friend for messing up the spotter lens. However, I was using readers for about a year and had a hallo with bright lights while driving at nite.
Fast forward I had rt eye cataract surgery that spring in 2022 on the rt eye. Then summer of 2023 cataract surgery on my left eye.
Today no readers required and a few weeks ago shot 94/100 on a sporting clays course with some friends.

 

[Roadmaster02]

Hope everything works out for you OP. Dr. said my cataracts should be ready for surgery next year. Got lots of research to do.

 

[HighUintas]

Hope everything works out for you OP. Dr. said my cataracts should be ready for surgery next year. Got lots of research to do.

It's looking good so far (as of mid -Feb check up), but they said the surgery could cause early cataracts anywhere from 6 months from now, to two years, to 15, or just the same as the other eye. There's no telling. He said my age of 39 would put me on the side of likely not developing them early, so that's good.

However, I'm wondering if the surgery could have caused some other unforeseen issues. I'm nearly 2 months out and still not able to focus at distance. That eye's pupil is also still more dilated than the other and there's a definite color difference between the two. Right (surgery) eye perceives everything in a more blue hue and left is more yellow. I tried my wife's Rx glasses, which are for nearsightedness and an astigmatism, and holy moly they make everything crystal clear with my right eye from close to far. I looked it up and it is possible that a vitrectomy can cause an astigmatism and other things. So, we'll see if it eventually gets better but I'm losing hope as I'm nearly 2 months into recovery. But if it doesn't fully recover, at least those glass seem to fix it. I can live with wearing glasses no problem.

Still, having the surgery was the correct decision. I was functionally blind in that eye prior to it with no improvement over 2 months.

 

[Chris in TN]

Something I noticed the other day: The other night, just before dark, some deer came out in my pasture, maybe 200 yards from the house, and I had a few minutes to watch them, swapping between several riflescopes.

I made the mistake of looking at them with one scope with my right eye then, on a whim, swapping to my left. Wow. I didn't realize how poorly my right eye (the one with the significant cataract) was handling low-light until I swapped.

Surgery is still scheduled for the end of this month. Paid in advance. Looking forward to it with a great deal of optimism.

 

[Aussie Dan]

I've got some eye issues. Long story short, my dominant eye had a huge hemorrhage and it's essentially useless. I can't drive on the interstate to work during rush hour since I have limited peripheral in my left eye and currently have an accommodation to work from home except 1 day a week. I have two options:

- wait for it to clear. It could me a few months or it could be years. No telling
- have a vitrectomy plus a couple other things. This surgery causes a high risk of cataracts.

So if I have the surgery i may have cataracts and have to have cataract surgery, but only in my dominant eye.

I want to be able to shoot iron sights, my bow, and not have issues with using binoculars etc.

How many of you guys have had cataract surgery, or cataract surgery in one eye? How has it affected your iron sight shooting, archery, binocular usage (particularly if only surgery in one eye)?

Should I just wait it out and buy a lefty rifle and lefty bow? That certainly wouldn't be convenient for my family with me not being able to drive for a couple years.

Not shooting related, but both my future in laws had cataract surgery a few months apart and they said that the surgery has been life changing.
Couldn't possibly recommend it more etc etc.

Obviously the process sucks, but the results are worth it according to them both

 

[HighUintas]

My next appointment post surgery is April 8. Hopefully they tell me that my distance vision will continue to improve. If not, no big deal. My wife's Rx glasses that are for astigmatism and nearsightedness make my surgery eye crystal clear. Pretty sure I could shoot the eye of a gnat at 100 with those glasses on.

Last appt, late Feb, he said no sign of cataract and with my age being 39 I'm at much lower risk for developing it early after the vitrectomy.

I'm sort of wanting to get my left eye done too. The difference in clarity (with the glasses) is nuts. I never realized how much the floaters impact my vision until now. I guess it's been quite a few years since I've been floater free

 

[Chris in TN]

Had surgery early this AM.

After surgery I had stars (think like two thousand flecks of glitter) floating around then as the day went on that disappeared and now I have a halo around anything bright, but my vision (I printed a standard 10' eye chart and hung it on the wall) is already somewhere in the 20/60 to 20/100 range and I am just beginning to recover.

Pain is minimal. I'd call it 'irritation' more than 'pain'.

 

[Chris in TN]

It's Thursday morning. I'm ~51 hours post-op.

I'm impressed (read: a bit scared) by how well the drugs they put in my eye, have kept my pupil ultra-constricted. I suppose it's a safety thing, but it's wearing off, finally. Pupil is beginning to open more, but not normal yet. I eagerly await pupils returning to normal so I can gauge my ability to see in low light.

I have spent the last 24 hours dry-firing every rifle I own as a means of gauging recovery. I can 100% fully focus all of my scope reticles now - meaning that whatever my vision ends up at, it is already well within the corrective ability of the scope's diopter adjustment, for every scope I've tried thus far, and seems to be in the middle of them all. Targets of every sort from 0-225 yards are clear, as clear as can be expected given the narrow pupil, and I finally decided a 10lb .22lr shooting subsonic ammo couldn't possibly hurt me and I may or may not have ripped off a box of CCI SV at every target I could see. I just went 5/5 on a 225-yard steel plate with peep sights (R513T w/ 32.5" radius). It's been a day or three since I could do that and it is INCREDIBLY satisfying.

To add to the above - for many years I have been the guy that would err on the side of higher magnification when shooting scoped rifles. This morning I can clearly see (ha!) that 3x to 6x is more than sufficient for typical hunting shots.

I can see open handgun sights clearly now but haven't fired any of them as my centerfires all have at least some amount of recoil and my .22lrs often spit a bit of gas and debris. I can read, within reason, with my right eye, without reading glasses, though it's obvious that I read better using them, and I will continue to do so. I can use Red Dot type sights (rifle, anyway, haven't tried pistol yet) with no appreciable amount of astigmatism 'bloom'. I did note a bit of 'bloom' with an oncoming car's headlights this morning, but that's OK.

Depth perception is frankly terrible but I expected that, especially with the constricted pupil. It does seem to be improving. I'm following doc's post-op instructions as closely as I can, minus shooting the .22lr.

I just checked a 10-foot eye chart and I can read the 20/25 line well and get more than half of the 20/20 line, with the assistance of a flashlight shined on it. I think I'd be pushing actual 20/20 if the pupil would open up more.



ETA: only negative, that I was told to expect for a few days, is a higher than usual number of 'floaters'. Not terrible, and my brain seems to be learning to ignore them, but they're there.

 

[HighUintas]

It's Thursday morning. I'm ~51 hours post-op.

I'm impressed (read: a bit scared) by how well the drugs they put in my eye, have kept my pupil ultra-constricted. I suppose it's a safety thing, but it's wearing off, finally. Pupil is beginning to open more, but not normal yet. I eagerly await pupils returning to normal so I can gauge my ability to see in low light.

I have spent the last 24 hours dry-firing every rifle I own as a means of gauging recovery. I can 100% fully focus all of my scope reticles now - meaning that whatever my vision ends up at, it is already well within the corrective ability of the scope's diopter adjustment, for every scope I've tried thus far, and seems to be in the middle of them all. Targets of every sort from 0-225 yards are clear, as clear as can be expected given the narrow pupil, and I finally decided a 10lb .22lr shooting subsonic ammo couldn't possibly hurt me and I may or may not have ripped off a box of CCI SV at every target I could see. I just went 5/5 on a 225-yard steel plate with peep sights (R513T w/ 32.5" radius). It's been a day or three since I could do that and it is INCREDIBLY satisfying.

To add to the above - for many years I have been the guy that would err on the side of higher magnification when shooting scoped rifles. This morning I can clearly see (ha!) that 3x to 6x is more than sufficient for typical hunting shots.

I can see open handgun sights clearly now but haven't fired any of them as my centerfires all have at least some amount of recoil and my .22lrs often spit a bit of gas and debris. I can read, within reason, with my right eye, without reading glasses, though it's obvious that I read better using them, and I will continue to do so. I can use Red Dot type sights (rifle, anyway, haven't tried pistol yet) with no appreciable amount of astigmatism 'bloom'. I did note a bit of 'bloom' with an oncoming car's headlights this morning, but that's OK.

Depth perception is frankly terrible but I expected that, especially with the constricted pupil. It does seem to be improving. I'm following doc's post-op instructions as closely as I can, minus shooting the .22lr.

I just checked a 10-foot eye chart and I can read the 20/25 line well and get more than half of the 20/20 line, with the assistance of a flashlight shined on it. I think I'd be pushing actual 20/20 if the pupil would open up more.



ETA: only negative, that I was told to expect for a few days, is a higher than usual number of 'floaters'. Not terrible, and my brain seems to be learning to ignore them, but they're there.

That's awesome. Glad to hear recovery is going well. This was for a cataracts surgery, right?

 

[Chris in TN]

That's awesome. Glad to hear recovery is going well. This was for a cataracts surgery, right?

Cataract removal *and* an intraocular lens replacement.

I'm not an eye doctor so I am still a bit fuzzy about how those two things go together.

Pupil seems to be a bit more relaxed this morning.

 

[5MilesBack]

Cataract removal *and* an intraocular lens replacement.

I'm not an eye doctor so I am still a bit fuzzy about how those two things go together.

Cataracts form in our natural lenses as we age. The surgery removes those cloudy lenses, and a replacement lens is inserted.

 

[BluMtn]

I am 69 and found out about 2 months ago I could not see out of my left I when I went to my eye Dr., Doc told me my right eye was right behind it because of cataracts. Set up the appointments and this past Monday morning went in to have my left eye done. Had the topical deadening done and when I left the clinic I was using my left eye. Did not realize how bad my left eye was. Went to my eye doctor on Tuesday less than 24hours after surgery and they tested my eye and I was at 20/20 then. I go back next Tuesday to the eye Dr. and will be checked again. My right eye will be done in two weeks. I walk around outside now and am amazed at how well I can see. My right eye now feels funny where in the past it was my left eye that had a pull to it. The last couple days I have not even been wearing my glasses, I can read small print on items using my left eye.

 

[Chris in TN]

One week followup:

Eye is healing fine, doc cleared me to shoot centerfires again, vision is 20/20 to 20/25 at home in poor light but at the doc's office in a dim room with a nicely illuminated chart, I got 5/6 letters on the 20/15 chart.

 

[Aeroflot81]

One week followup:

Eye is healing fine, doc cleared me to shoot centerfires again, vision is 20/20 to 20/25 at home in poor light but at the doc's office in a dim room with a nicely illuminated chart, I got 5/6 letters on the 20/15 chart.

Nice. Sounds like an excellent result