Shooting and cataracts

A member of my rifle club is developing cataracts, and he couldn't see well enough to hit the black of a 6-bull target at 50 yards.

That got me to thinking: Can anyone with firsthand experience tell me what the target looks like through cataracts? Are there targets which are easier to see and shoot, so I could offer those targets during a shoot? Not to give him an advantage, but rather to keep him more competitive for a longer time.

Cataracts make it seem that you're looking through a dirty/cloudy glass window. The light is dissipated and colors are subdued. Clear bluish skies look dingy gray.

If your friend is 65 or older, Medicare will pay the full expense of cataract surgery and even pay for a pair of glasses. Surgery is simple, safe, quick and easy. Tell him to get a good recommended Opthamologist and he will never regret it. Tell him to have them done separately (not at the same time).

It will not help him focus on open sights any better but he will see the target clearly afterwards.

I had that problem about 10 years ago. Couldn't see front sights well. Finally had my lenses replaced. Doc. says "what kind of lenses do you want"? Well, I says----- all I want is to see the front sight on my rifle--- and my dry fly on the water. He fixed me up and I now see better than 20/20 in both eyes, and I see color I had forgotten about. Good luck

I'm interested in this also. Eyes sight getting worse with age but still not too bad. I still squeak by on the drivers test, but barely and last year the Doc said I am in the very early stages of cataracts.
A co-worker took her mom to the Dr to take care of that and they fixed her eyes so she could see better at the same time. She kind of regretted it because then she could see how dirty the house looked and put her to work. :rotf:

My pop had his fixed about age 75 and he never wore glasses again! Good luck to your buddy and thank YOU for caring enough to try n keep him going! He likely to come back shooting X's he will see so much better!

I can see the front sights on rifles and handguns well and any kind of targets (wild or paper) from 10 feet to infinity as well as I could (or better) than when I was a teenager. I can see well metal fence posts at 600 yards. Just pick a good doc. and tell him what you expect.

sidelock said:

I can see the front sights on rifles and handguns well and any kind of targets (wild or paper) from 10 feet to infinity as well as I could (or better) than when I was a teenager. I can see well metal fence posts at 600 yards. Just pick a good doc. and tell him what you expect.

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Do you mean for glasses or for cataract surgery? This whole thread has gotten a little fuzzy. :shake:

Do a search on it. Several different lenses available. I don't see well in the left eye and had cataract surgery on the right. They make a progressive lens (both near and far sighted) but I have astigmatism and had to choose fixed power. Opted for far, which meant I can't see sights. Opthomogist suggested low powered readers. I have 1.0 but 0.75 would be better (although requiring ordering them). Some have custom glasses made, too. With low powers, the target still remains reasonably clear.

How do you know you have a cataract forming? When night driving becomes more and more difficult due to glare. A cataract is like frosted glass.

Been said. Nothing can help except surgery. I have had both eyes done and results are amazing. I tell sceptical friends I have had more traumatic haircuts than the cataract surgeries proved to be. It is a great procedure that almost restores life. No reason to not have it done. At some point your friend will become unsafe on a range (or just driving to it) without the surgery.

My better 2/3's had both eyes done several years ago. She went from coke bottle lenses to excellent without glasses. Her only down side was halos with bright lights at night.

I can wear glasses OK, no problem so I opted for 20-20 normal vision in the left eye and 20-15 far-sighted vision in the right (master) eye. I wear glasses that correct my left eye to 20-15 with small bifocals. I can read without glasses using my left eye and see distances with my right. I can read street signs from over 100 yards and see individual leaf outlines at beyond that distance. I cannot see the front sight on a pistol clearly with the right eye so I use half-eye reading glasses at the range ($2/pair at the dollar store) or shoot a pistol using my left eye to sight.
My vision is so much better that my hunting has improved as my mobility has lessened. I killed 7 deer this past season.

When the doctor tells you that the cataracts have to "ripen", that is BS. Get it done sooner rather than later. Why be handicapped when you can see clearly with a 30 minute or less procedure?

Apparently she had radial keratotomy done. When they first started doing those procedures, they didn't take into consideration the dilation of the iris under low light conditions. The radial incisions were made too close to the iris and when the iris opened up in low light, the ends of the incisions were in the edges of the iris causing "stars" or halos around lights at night. They have taken this into consideration and now have a different procedure that doesn't cause this problem.

While I had them, I would see blurred multiple images.

To help out with the blurring, I mounted peep sights on several of my regular shooting rifles and said to hell with shooting my pistols.

The peep sights gave me back much sharper views of the front sight and the target but there were still three targets with three front sights and lining up one of the sights on the target didn't line up the other sights on the other targets.

The upper right target and sight were the clearest so I sighted in the guns for that combination.

I only mention this because you asked but I'm betting that each persons cataracts effect their vision differently.
What I saw probably has little to do with what others see.

As others have written, I see a halo at night around bright lights and around my television screen.
Bright, intense light from the sides is much worse.
I use blinders on my eyeglasses on the range on sunny days.
Long barrels with globe and aperture sights work best for me.
Floaters inside the eye are a big problem for me.
The vision in my right eye is dimmer.
The surgery to fix this is a much bigger deal and involves replacing the vitreous with sterile saline.
I am looking forward to the cataract surgery.
Cheers,
Irish

Zonie said:

While I had them, I would see blurred multiple images.

To help out with the blurring, I mounted peep sights on several of my regular shooting rifles and said to hell with shooting my pistols.

The peep sights gave me back much sharper views of the front sight and the target but there were still three targets with three front sights and lining up one of the sights on the target didn't line up the other sights on the other targets.

The upper right target and sight were the clearest so I sighted in the guns for that combination.

I only mention this because you asked but I'm betting that each persons cataracts effect their vision differently.
What I saw probably has little to do with what others see.

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Zonie, the surgeon gives a patient a choice of 'near' or 'far' vision for the new lens. The 'far' is about 20 feet making it more than the distance of a front sight and near is reading distance. So some help is needed for a rifle shooter. The Merit disk (or similar) for eyeglasses helps a lot. I have one and it works but is a PITA to adjust and take care of. My club allows peeps for our shoots because most of our members are north of 70 years old.

I'm in the early stages of cataracts, and still shoot very well. I change sights, until I get the best sight picture. Use peep sights. Blaze orange, and hi-viz green are way better than black target. Set sights for 6 o'clock hold, sometimes works better. I made glasses for a living. Forget about the frames, ask about the lenses. Forget the flattop lenses, use progressive lenses. Polycarbonate, anti-reflective, high end, hard coated. Something like, Essilor, "Difinity" are the best lenses you can buy. They will allow you to have a wider channel, see close and far. I made glasses for a living, and worked at Johnson & Johnson when they developed the "Difinity" lenses, then Essilor bought them out.

use progressive lenses

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I have never met anyone with progressive lenses who liked them. Most, maybe all, changed back to conventional bi-focals.
In my lifetime I have had two optometrists and two ophthamologists. All reccomended to not getting progressive lenses.

I tried em and could not get used to em. Seems you have a small area to look out of then things get blurry making you have to turn your head, for me anyway it took away clear peripheral vision?

I also foolishly told em I was too young for bi-focals (this was like 6 years ago) and that season missed a sure kill chance at a spike at 30 yards as I couldn't see to put a cop on the nipple from the capper....went through a capper full wile watching the herd mill around Then bent down, grabbed a cap off the ground, took off the glasses and capped, put on the glasses and the spike by then was milled in the center and no shot. So I have bifocals now.

I had progressive lenses years ago in place of bifocals. They were fine if you were stationary and doing a task. When I walked with them on, I saw things that were badly distorted like Funhouse mirrors. Door edges were curved, etc.

I went back to narrow/lower bifocals on a large lens. It allows me to walk down stairs without the problems of larger/higher bifocals which were in my normal vision path.

I had early onset cataracts at age 52 (lucky me) and I first noticed foggy glare around lights at night (like oncoming headlights, etc) or light fixtures inside.

I had the surgery and I'm pretty much fixed. I use the cheap readers to make the computer screen easier to see but I can pass the drivers test without correction and still shoot. I can't shoot any better than I did though. :wink:

I was offered three choices: a simple fixed focus lens (paid for by medicare for those who use that option), something called a Crystalens which allows your eye to focus naturally within limits, and a Technis lens which has two points of focus. I had the latter and the fixed focal points are at infinity and pretty close - approximately 14 inches. That makes both front and rear gunsights a bit blurry but I can deal with it.

The ophthalmologist will want to know what kind of activities you do the most and will make his prescription accordingly.