Lasik and shooting

[P7M13]

Right handed, left eye dominant for anything closer than 5', right eye dominant for anything farther. Near sighted in the left eye, far sighted in the right eye.
The exercise I would do was to look down the sights and by moving my eyes individually, make the images misaligned and then realign them. Takes a lot of practice.
I'm such a klutz though, it would have taken even more to learn to shoot left handed.

 

[No_Regerts]

It's all about priorities I suppose. If you have an FSA at work you could set it up to have $100 saved out of every paycheck and get it done at the end of the year with nothing directly out of pocket. Not how I did it, but an idea.

A true FSA should allow you to use the entire agreed withholding on Jan 1 of the year.

 

[Stomper]

Glad to know there is/was another guy as blind as me. sOB I need glasses to find my glasses. 20/400.

With correction I'm 20/15 and with stabilized I'm wanting to have this done as well. Without glasses I have to have something 8" in front of my face to see it. I do better at 5" or closer.

I'm excited. Maybe next year 2017 I can stuff it into our HSA and get my eyes fixed.

Sure aucks when I was a kid I had 20/15.. At 16 stress caused my eyesight to go perfect to 20/200 in 6 months.


Thank you @Modeler for bringing up this topic.

That's two people with 20/400. Makes me think it's something I should do.
I have 20/400 but with contacts or glasses I'm corrected to 20/15.
You guys are a great help.

I had to wear glasses at about 12-13 but frequently shunned them (20/30 at the time). I started wearing contacts @ 16-17 when I had a regular job (back in the 80's) and could afford it. I wore "extended monthly wear" contacts for years through my Army tour, and could easily go a month (sometimes almost two) w/o taking them out for cleaning (unless of course, I took dirt to the eyes)... w/o any damage to my eyes.

Now that I'm firmly ensconced in middle-aged "goodness", it's taking me a bit of effort to "adjust" to the whole "reading glass" sight-range conflict... it beats assuming room temperature, however.

Getting back to "still shooting"... when I say, "if you threaten/endanger me or one of mine, I'll shoot you in the face"... I REALLY mean it.

 

[Modeler]

A true FSA should allow you to use the entire agreed withholding on Jan 1 of the year.

True. Personally I wouldn't be comfortable with that as it's basically debt and I would be afraid of getting laid off before the end of the year, but that's just me.

 

[rick benjamin]

I was 20-400
Got Radial Keritotomy. Corrected to 20-15.
35 years later, I'm suffering from old guy stuff.
Need a pair of glasses to read, have developed some astigmatism.
Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!

 

[No_Regerts]

True. Personally I wouldn't be comfortable with that as it's basically debt and I would be afraid of getting laid off before the end of the year, but that's just me.

Good call.

 

[Flounder]

Even with all of the challenges I have had with my surgery, I would do it in a heartbeat again. I used to shoot competitive archery with glasses and after the surgery I had to relearn all of my distances all over again. A lot of people say it is really a mental thing to get used to your physical limitations. Recovery for my first surgery 20 yrs ago was only a few days before everything was perfect. This time around (again, pulling my old man card) took a few weeks for everything to balance out and to see clearly. Good to make sure what your insurance will actually cover. If you can get your eye doc to say it is medically necessary you will have better luck than what the consider "cosmetic".

 

[Ura-Ki]

Getting older sucks! Hair stops growing where it should, and starts growing where it shouldn't

 

[Mikej]

Getting older sucks! Hair stops growing where it should, and starts growing where it shouldn't

Hair grow on your eyeballs? DAMN! Dad always said "EAT IT/DRINK IT! IT'LL PUT HAIR ON YOUR EYEBALLS!" I didn't think he really meant it.

 

[Pandaz3]

I had cataract surgery in the right eye, at OHSU, and paid extra for a "Custom" lens. Shooting much better.

 

[MikeSettles]

I had Lazik done in 2005, preparatory to my first deployment to Afghanistan. I went from very near-sighted to far-sighted, thus requiring (non-prescription) readers since. Before: 20-200/20-400. After: 20-20/20-30.

As far as shooting goes, two points:
1. For the first few months (until my eyes fully healed), muzzle blast was very painful. Firing an M249 SAW from the bipod/prone on a concrete pad was torture about a month after surgery.
2. Far-sightedness has made it difficult to get a clear/crisp front sight focus with iron sights (especially with the shorter M4 carbine). i do better with the cross-hairs of a scope now.

 

[Modeler]

As far as shooting goes, two points:
1. For the first few months (until my eyes fully healed), muzzle blast was very painful. Firing an M249 SAW from the bipod/prone on a concrete pad was torture about a month after surgery.

Interesting. You said muzzle "blast", so I assume you mean the shock/pressure wave was physically painful to endure? I hadn't thought about that sort of thing as a possibility. Did the flash cause any problems for you, in day or night time?

 

[MikeSettles]

Muzzle flash was not a problem. With the M249, the primary issue was the shockwave bouncing off the concrete pad. I was wearing goggles yet it still hurt. I fired the Mk19 Grenade Machine Gun the same day, with less problem because the muzzle was farther from the concrete and my eyes were also farther from the muzzle.
Later, no issues except for focusing on the front sight post.

 

[browncoat762]

I had to re zero all of my long guns, but not by much and I was able to see farther. Night vision was not so fun and even now at night I get halos, but it was worth every penny

 

[Flounder]

My points of aim with all long guns stayed exactly the same, but it sure messed up my hand guns. Guess something with the focal plain. It took some getting used to (eye/brain training), but the red dot sure helped me get back to hitting what I aimed at. Good luck with your surgery and Happy New Year to you all!