This is a long read, but I hope educational. I will be 72 later this month. I've corrective surgery for cataracts and SLT laser for glaucoma in both eyes. I can read The Wall Street Journal without corrective lenses, and the sights on my carry gun and M1 Garand are sharp without corrective lenses. My prescription glasses provide some close-up correction for precision shop work and a bit of distance correction, but the corrective lens restriction on my driver's license was removed after my latest surgery. I no longer maintain a Commercial Driver's license since I retired. I keep a spare pair of glasses in each vehicle, in my GHB and I have industrial-grade safety glasses with side guards for use in the shop and for shooting.
The back story is helpful:
In 2008 I had a retinal detachment in my dominant right eye, caused by a workplace injury. This was repaired on the same day as the injury by using vitrectomy and internal drainage in which a gas bubble was injected into my eye to hold the retina in place, while its edges were tacked in place with a laser. The prompt retinal repair was completely successful. The eye developed a cataract, removed a year later.
During cataract surgery an interoccular implant of intermediate focus inserted into my right eye. The specific lens implanted was an AcrySof acrylic foldable IOL with UV filter by Alcon Laboratories, Model SN60AT of power 21.5D having a ThetaT length of 13mm and a ThetaB optic of 6mm, implanted in 2009. Objects from 20-40 inches away are today still in sharp focus. I use a slight correction for distance and for precision close work, sharpening machine tools, tracing circuit boards, etc.
Before suffering the detached retina I competed in highpower rifle and indoor bullseye pistol shooting using shooting glasses approximately -0.75 diopter less than my reading prescription. My shooting glasses were optimized for a focal length based upon the measured distance my cheek bone below the eye to the front sight, being approximately 1 metre or about 39 inches. This gave a sharp sight picture, but the target was fussy if I used only my right eye. The target would sharpen considerably if I also used a Merit adjustable iris with the corrective lenses, but this isn't always practical in dimly lit indoor ranges. It works great outdoors for conventional NRA pistol shooting in full sun.
Prior to the 2009 cataract surgery in the right eye when shooting service rifle outdoors I could read the number boards OK with my left eye, but when down in position looking through the sights it was necessary to count target frames to be sure I was on the right one, so that I wouldn't crossfire. I could hold 6:00 on the bull for standing, 200 and 300 rapid, and would frame the target at 600 yards. In the 1980s I shot High Master, but these days I'm very happy with Expert.
I could use a scope if the eye lens was backed off to put the reticle in sharp focus without corrective lenses, and hunt deer and upland game with no issues. Firing a shotgun or iron sighted rifle I shoot with both eyes open, because I have good distance vision in the left eye. The brain has no trouble merging the target image in the left with the sight image in the right.
I was told by my retinal specialist when the vitrectomy was done to repair the detached retina, that the surgery eye would eventually develop a cataract because while the laser used for the retinal repair was focussed at the back of the eye, putting all that energy through the lens tissue causes a localized opacity. This was not a matter of "if" I would get a cataract in that eye, but rather of how soon it would grow become objectionable. Within 6 months after the retinal repair the focal distance in my right eye shortened to about half of normal and distance vision in that eye had eventually deteriorated such that I required a corrective lens restriction on my driver's license.
When I could no longer adjust scopes so that the reticle was sharp, and when using iron sights on a revolver became impossible, all I could do was superimpose a fuzzy gun over a fuzzy silhouette and instinctively point-shoot Applegate style. At that time I received extensive coaching from a retired FBI academy instructor who made me a true believer in point shooting, but that is another story... For those who want more on this read Applegate's book Bullseye's Don't Shoot back and follow it. It works.
While I could have gotten new corrective lenses and lived with my condition for a while longer, my eye doctor advised that the younger I was when I had the surgery, the better the chance for a successful outcome, because the eye is more flexible and resilient that it would be if I waited several years longer after age 70. I would enjoy more years of good vision by having the surgery sooner, rather than later.
Then being active and still working full-time outdoors, I decided not to wait on cataract surgery. I had it done when needed in the right eye and the outcome was wonderful. Years later I still function fine without glasses at all in well-lit, indoor office environments. But due to the nature of my outdoor work before I retired, and after retirement spending as much time as possible enjoying the outdoors, I wear progressive Transitions lenses all the time. My vision so equipped is like being 20-years old again.
Six years post-surgery, as explained by my surgeon, it is normal to develop some scar tissue behind the implanted IOL. This was the expected outcome and no surprise. To avoid a corrective lens restriction on my driver’s license, once my vision in the surgery eye was no longer correctable to any better than 20-40, I had the scar tissue corrected using quick a laser procedure. The day after the laser procedure my vision in that eye returned to 20-20 uncorrected. Six months post-laser my prescription in the surgery eye required a very slight distance correction and another slight one for very close work, but my glasses obtained 4 years ago, about a year after the lens was implanted, still corrected everything to 20-20 and the sights on my Garand and carry gun are sharp so I did not need all of my glasses replaced, but did just one pair of Transtions Progressives, maintaining the others still useable, if not optimum, as spares.
Fast forward to July 2019, the cataract which was slowly developing in my left eye finally got to the point where "it was time." My eye doctor removed the cataract in that left eye using the Catalys laser-assisted procedure. An AcrySof monofocal toric IOL was implanted, which also corrected the slight astigmatism in that eye. At the same time a goniotomy was performed to improve the fluid drainage to correct my glaucoma in that eye, as I had some previous nerve damage and loss of visual field, so it was necessary to stop further deterioration and quit fooling around! The laser assisted procedure was quick and painless. It required a $1600 co-pay to cover the difference between that and the traditional procedure, which was not covered by Medicare, but my supplemental insurance carried as a former gov't employee covered everything else.
Vision in my left eye was 20-20 the day after surgery and today, 2-months post-op it still is and I see like a 20-year-old again.
If you suspect a possible detached retina, DO NOT DELAY seeing an eye doctor if you see shadows, dark spots, multiple floaters or bubbles in your field of vision. PROMPT diagnosis and treatment is essential to a good outcome of a detached retina. Failure to do so you may lose the sight in that eye!
If your eye doctor happens to also be a retinal and cataract specialist, skilled in all the modern laser techniques, you are indeed lucky. If anyone needs a referral to an excellent eye doc in the Washington, DC and Northern VA area PM me and I'll give you my doc's name, CV and office particulars.
