Eye Glasses

[Joe4d]

Scrolled back a bit didnt see this topic
Just recently started wearing glasses, Stuff getting blury. Had no idea what to tell eye doc.. Keep asking me what I wanted..
Umm I want to see ! Kinda expect them to tell me, Any way, I did like the glasses for driving,, I always thought road sign makers just used crappy painters.
Shooting though it seems like I have 2 choices. prescription Glasses, target clear sights fuzzy. Regular shooting non prescription I get a clearer sight but blurred target.. I seem to be less bad with regular shooting glasses.
I have heard on onther forums, mainly focused to action shooting, To go with a full right lense focused on my front sight distance and the left lense my distance prescription.
Bifocals I have now I really dont like, the reader portion is focused too close and I dont read like that, i read on a screen or a kindle. held farther away.

 

[29aholic]

It is impossible for the human eyes to focus at two different distances. The rule of thumb is to align the sites on the target, then focus on the sights.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

When I was in my early 50's the eye doc told me it was time for bifocals. I told her that I wanted a second opinion. She smiled, then said "OK, your hair is turning gray."

 

[Old cop]

I’ve been wearing the no line transition lenses for about 20 + years and find them great for shooting. Also, an old pair of reading glasses work well for getting that front sight in perfect focus.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Charlie Askins recommended getting glasses ground just for shooting.

 

[kraynky]

I'm 59, and I started wearing "readers" when I was in my mid 40's. I hate keeping up with them, so I wear them around my neck. Now I hate that they are always in the way. Then about 6 months or so ago, I noticed I can't drive worth a hoot in the dark. Headlights glare at me, tail lights are doubled, and worst of all, my Red Dot sights are now 3 DOTS!

I went to an eye doctor finally (a month ago), she tells me I need to have cataracts removed. Phooey, I thought that was for old people! Hmmm, maybe I'm getting old, and don't like it.

I stopped wearing the readers after that visit, and I'll be darned if my eyesight isn't getting better. I can read small stuff I couldn't read just a month ago. But the night vision and 3 dot thing is real. I go back in tomorrow for measurements for my new rear lenses, in my eye. I'm going through with it. She said I'll still need readers, I'm hoping she's wrong. Glasses suck.

 

[NYlakesider]

I'm 59, and I started wearing "readers" when I was in my mid 40's. I hate keeping up with them, so I wear them around my neck. Now I hate that they are always in the way. Then about 6 months or so ago, I noticed I can't drive worth a hoot in the dark. Headlights glare at me, tail lights are doubled, and worst of all, my Red Dot sights are now 3 DOTS!

I went to an eye doctor finally (a month ago), she tells me I need to have cataracts removed. Phooey, I thought that was for old people! Hmmm, maybe I'm getting old, and don't like it.

I stopped wearing the readers after that visit, and I'll be darned if my eyesight isn't getting better. I can read small stuff I couldn't read just a month ago. But the night vision and 3 dot thing is real. I go back in tomorrow for measurements for my new rear lenses, in my eye. I'm going through with it. She said I'll still need readers, I'm hoping she's wrong. Glasses suck.

There not that bad, I have been wearing glasses since 1951!

I had cataracts removed a few years ago and for the first time I did not need glasses for normal things. Took a DMV license test and passed with no glasses, but still needed readers for close up.

Decided to go back to full time glasses as I still needed readers and I felt naked out there with nothing in front of my precious eyes.

I was a construction worker/welder and I had lots of things bounce off or adhere to my glasses and also stick in my face.

Put glasses back on in self defense and do not regret that decision a bit. Their lined bifocals because of doing a lot of shooting and also welding and torch cutting and I want to know exactly what lens I'm looking through. (It does many times change your perspective!)

 

[WR Moore]

The folks who make industrial safety glasses have a real neat lens grind they refer to as a "mechanics grind" (some makers may have a different label). If you're in the bifocal brigade, you get a bifocal segment top and bottom with distance vision in the middle. If you're in the trifocal tribe, the top segment is your in between Rx with distance in the middle and reading Rx at the bottom.

That way, all you have to do is rock your head slightly forward to get the sights in focus. You can move your head as required to see targets. I've been using them for .......a long time.

 

[Coldshooter]

I remember a feature on glasses for shooters in one of the NRA publications if it is on line there could be some useful information. I wear progressive bifocals and by the time I tilt my head back enough to read the items on top shelves I nearly fall over backward.

 

[vonn]

Had mine done about a year ago,don't need glasses except to read small. I can go with out the glasses for most things but still use them a lot. Night driving is good . You will be glad you did it.I think I would have done it long ago if I would have known how much difference it makes. I need sunglasses and a hat when it is very bright sun outside. Good luck!

 

[29aholic]

I should have added. I had to get glasses a few years ago to read up close. They are transition lenses with basically no prescription on the top. I have finally gotten used to wearing them while I walk, etc. but can't drive with them on. I shoot about as good with them on as off, but my arms are long enough I can focus on the sights without them.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Had no idea what to tell eye doc.. Keep asking me what I wanted..
Umm I want to see ! Kinda expect them to tell me, Any way, I did like the glasses for driving,, I always thought road sign makers just used crappy painters.
Shooting though it seems like I have 2 choices. prescription Glasses, target clear sights fuzzy. Regular shooting non prescription I get a clearer sight but blurred target.. I seem to be less bad with regular shooting glasses.
I have heard on onther forums, mainly focused to action shooting, To go with a full right lens focused on my front sight distance and the left lens my distance prescription.
Bifocals I have now I really dont like, the reader portion is focused too close and I dont read like that, I read on a screen or a kindle. held farther away.

You need an optometrist who listens, and a slightly different prescription for your reading glasses.

Your advice from the action shooting forum is probably correct, but I doubt that your present optometrist would even understand what you are asking for. And I am not 100% sure that you would like it, but you probably would.

Because you are getting older, it is more difficult for your eyes to change focus. Even when you are young, at any given instant your eyes are going to focus on only one distance, like maybe close reading distance, desktop-computer-viewing distance, which is perhaps fairly close to front-sight-viewing distance using two hands, which is a little less than front-sight-viewing distance using one hand. The latter is maybe +1.25 diopters added to your basic distant prescription, the former maybe +1.75 diopters, but it could certainly be a little different, and bears measuring by a competent optometrist. The average optometrist tends to prescribe bifocals tested on you at what HE considers a normal reading distance. This is probably some standard distance that most optometrists use, and I do not know what it is, nor do I care. You shouldn't, either.

A competent optometrist will prescribe for you a prescription which fits the way YOU use spectacles. Most people want good distant vision for driving and most normal use, and want the appropriate prescription for that in the top of the lens, if they want to use bifocals. Some people will find what WR Moore calls the "mechanic's grind" more convenient. A few people don't like bifocals, and don't mind switching spectacles. Your choice. If you don't know yet which is best, I would recommend conventional bifocals (distant on top).

The main question is what prescription is best for near vision. Just depends on what is best for YOU. For years I told my optometrist that for near vision, shooting came first, and my recollection is that I was using +1.25 back then. My vision has changed a little with age, computers became more important, book-reading less important (partly because I can read just fine by removing my glasses) but still to be considered. In practical terms I have found +1.75 fine for decades (I am now 73), for virtually all purposes, and no longer have great interest in his close-vision exams, as long as the net prescription for close work remains the same, since it works for me.

I am sorry that my answer is not simple. Unfortunately, I believe that my not-so-simple answer is quite accurate.

Again, it is also quite possible that your action-shooting friends have prescribed an excellent solution.

Good luck!

 

[4011]

Went to the eye doctor years ago. Told I just couldn't read small print. He says which small print. I says like on the bottom of a shell casing. He says how big is that print? I said roll back a bit. Un holstered
my 1903 colt and dropped the magazine. Popped out a round and said like this! His eyes could get very large! He helped me find a correction that would work. He also laughed about it and told other of his patients. He was a real good guy!!!!

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Went from wearing bi focals to just readers. Apparently my lense are starting to turn yellow which has actually improved my distance vision. Bad news is that this will continue until the cateracks are good and cloudy and I have to have surgery in about 10 years. Meanwhile the Dr. says to enjoy it

 

[Joe4d]

I think for everyday use the Bifocals would work assuming they are the correct prescription. They are just focused too close.
I want them focused so I can read gauges at arms length.
I guess spending a year or so in bad glasses with prescription that doesnt work can help me answer the what I want question.