Astigmatism?

[ToolAA]

Since this thread is getting into various eye problems It should be a good place for this link I found written by an eye doctor who is a shooter.

http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongarts.html

It includes several articles on Red Dots and more important a piece written by a shooter eye professional for other eye professionals to help them understand a shooters visual problems and needs. You should share this with your eye care professional.

BULLSEYE SHOOTERS' GUIDE FOR THE EYECARE PROFESSIONAL
http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongmain/eyeguide.html
and
Updates to the Bullseye Shooters' Guide For The Eyecare Professional
http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongmain/guideupdates.html

Wow that is some great information. I just read a few pages but will go back.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Pinecone]

I have astigmatism, but also have to wear glasses for distance vision. Without glasses I have big problems with red dots. With them, no issues at all.

I have primarily astigmatism. Very little spherical correction.

But now need the reading portion also.

But no problem with red dots with my glasses or shooting glasses

 

[Pinecone]

My astigmatism was not fully corrected with glasses.

How is that?

I have never heard of it not being correctable.

But you learn every day.

 

[pilot25]

My astigmatism was not fully corrected with glasses.

#Metoo

I was told my type of astigmatism isn't correctable with lenses only LASIK. This from my optometrist who would probably not want any of his customers getting LASIK.

 

[ToolAA]

How is that?

I have never heard of it not being correctable.

But you learn every day.

Maybe I should have said partially corrected. With contact lenses it was not corrected, but with lenses it was pretty good.

However when it came to viewing a red dot sight, even with the glasses the dot looked deformed and very blurry. I had never even heard of the issue until I got my first Vortex Spark2. I thought it was broken and called Vortex tech support. The first question the guy asked me was if I had astigmatism. I said yea, but why would that matter. I was skeptical at first, So he asked me to take a picture of the dot, through the optic with my phone and look at the photo. He explained that if the photo image was correctly displayed as a dot then the optic was functioning correctly.

 

[jumpsfromplanes]

My husband just told me he had astigmatism. He didn't know why he shot worse than others with red dots when he shot better than others with iron sites.

 

[woodline]

How is that?

I have never heard of it not being correctable.

But you learn every day.

Astigmatism is sometimes fully compensated for by corrective lenses, but often they are just able to get it mostly compensated for. Keep in mind that astigmatism isn't necessarily static. Astigmatic eyes can have major (this can be a sign of serious complications, go to the eye doctor right now) and minor (normal, generally not cause for alarm) shifts throughout the years. Typically toric contact lenses do a better job of correcting the issue than glasses. Unfortunately they are expensive and I find them to be uncomfortable to wear every day. Unfortunately even if my corrected vision is 20/20, my astigmatism means that unmagnified distant objects can get blurry. In my case I'm good to about 350ish yards before I start really having trouble with targets (even large silhouette targets or steel). That range has extended over the years as I've done more shooting at distance and gotten used to working around it, but no one would accuse me of having the eyes of a hawk. I see movement at range quite well, though. Having really clear glass helps, and removing the kill flash if it is present makes the biggest difference for me.

I may get corrective surgery someday, but unfortunately my prescription hasn't historically stabilized well enough for me to be considered a really great candidate. Which is why I didn't have it done when I was in the military.

 

[Pinecone]

Maybe I should have said partially corrected. With contact lenses it was not corrected, but with lenses it was pretty good.

Contacts are not good at correcting astigmatism, due to the issue of ensuring alignment with the axis of astigmatism.

 

[Pinecone]

I am familiar with astigmatic shifts over time. My axis shifts a few degrees every time it is checked.

But a human size target at 350 yards, unmagnified, is not clear to most anyone.

 

[woodline]

I am familiar with astigmatic shifts over time. My axis shifts a few degrees every time it is checked.

But a human size target at 350 yards, unmagnified, is not clear to most anyone.

Sorry for launching into a long winded explanation of something you already understand well, then. My eyesight has always been pretty bad, so I've clearly put way too much thought into trying to understand why it is the way it is.

As to targets being clear or not at 350, I only have my eyes to see through, so I don't know what is normal beyond my own eyesight. In the military I knew a number of folk who were not particularly intimidated by 500+ yard known distance shots with irons (battlefield accuracy, not high power competition or anything), and what they described seeing when they were shooting does not exactly mimic what I see. They were probably a lot more exceptional than I realized. They had certainly been at it a lot longer than me. Whether it is due to my eyesight limitations, my overall shooting limitations, or both, I enjoy the challenge, and am passionate about finding equipment that works for me.

 

[Pinecone]

NP.

Like you, I only know what I see at 350 yards. But it is not clear and sharp. But I can see it well enough to put the sights on the center of mass of a human size target.

 

[JohnPatterson]

I have had astigmatism for many years now. To me, the red dot loots like a Hyphen. My ophthalmologist explained it has to do with the shape of my eyeball. Because the red dot is sort of long, I had to decided which is the real projected dot and which was the extension. My doctor explained it to me and now I use the upper right part of the dot as that is the real dot reflection. By learning how my eyes see, I was able to train my self to use the red dot effectively.

Not all red dot projections are the same and it isn't price related. Some give a rounder dot at lower power including the Bushnell TRS25. I have four of these because they work so well for me. I have had the top of the line Aimpoints and sold them because they just didn't work.

Hope things work out for you.

could it be worth doing a laser correction?

 

[Jaybeez]

Astigmatism is sometimes fully compensated for by corrective lenses, but often they are just able to get it mostly compensated for. Keep in mind that astigmatism isn't necessarily static. Astigmatic eyes can have major (this can be a sign of serious complications, go to the eye doctor right now) and minor (normal, generally not cause for alarm) shifts throughout the years. Typically toric contact lenses do a better job of correcting the issue than glasses. Unfortunately they are expensive and I find them to be uncomfortable to wear every day. Unfortunately even if my corrected vision is 20/20, my astigmatism means that unmagnified distant objects can get blurry. In my case I'm good to about 350ish yards before I start really having trouble with targets (even large silhouette targets or steel). That range has extended over the years as I've done more shooting at distance and gotten used to working around it, but no one would accuse me of having the eyes of a hawk. I see movement at range quite well, though. Having really clear glass helps, and removing the kill flash if it is present makes the biggest difference for me.

I may get corrective surgery someday, but unfortunately my prescription hasn't historically stabilized well enough for me to be considered a really great candidate. Which is why I didn't have it done when I was in the military.

I had the major shift. Went to the doctor. Bad news.

If you're astigmatism isnt stable, depending on the cause, there may be recently fda approved treatments to stabilize it.

Contacts are not good at correcting astigmatism, due to the issue of ensuring alignment with the axis of astigmatism.

You're not looking at the right types of contacts.

 

[Pinecone]

I can't wear any contacts.

But anyway, how do you hold the aspect of the contact to within 1 degree of rotation?

 

[Jaybeez]

I can't wear any contacts.

But anyway, how do you hold the aspect of the contact to within 1 degree of rotation?

You don't. You either "machine" a contact that fits the cornea perfectly and doesn't rotate, or you fit a contact that's large enough to bridge the entire effected area or cornea and allow it to fill with fluid, thereby creating a temporary artificial cornea. There are also contacts that you wear at night that can reshape the cornea.

I probably have the worst astigmatism here. My only options are contacts.

 

[pilot25]

You don't. You either "machine" a contact that fits the cornea perfectly and doesn't rotate, or you fit a contact that's large enough to bridge the entire effected area or cornea and allow it to fill with fluid, thereby creating a temporary artificial cornea. There are also contacts that you wear at night that can reshape the cornea.

I probably have the worst astigmatism here. My only options are contacts.

Is that orthokerotalogy you are speaking of?

 

[Vile Shadow]

I can't wear any contacts.

But anyway, how do you hold the aspect of the contact to within 1 degree of rotation?

Contacts are an absolute bitch when ya gots astigmatism. Sum’bitches wanna rotate all the time and git everythang all blurry.

 

[platoonDaddy]

Three years ago, I had cataract surgery to correct cataracts and treat
preexisting astigmatism. Following the surgery, I was able to remove my scope and reattach the red-dot. Worked great for about two years and the friggin astigmatism is back along with the scope.

I paid an extra $1900 for the fix in one eye, bitch getting OLD!

Cut & pasted from the options:
Correct cataracts and treat preexisting astigmatism in one step. If you have higher amount of astigmatism an astigmatic lens improves your uncorrected near or distance vision and decreases dependency on glasses compared to traditional lenses-

Utilizes LenSx Laser with the astigmatic IOL.
$l90o/eye above insurance coverage.

 

[rascal]

Since this thread is getting into various eye problems It should be a good place for this link I found written by an eye doctor who is a shooter.

http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongarts.html

It includes several articles on Red Dots and more important a piece written by a shooter eye professional for other eye professionals to help them understand a shooters visual problems and needs. You should share this with your eye care professional.

BULLSEYE SHOOTERS' GUIDE FOR THE EYECARE PROFESSIONAL
http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongmain/eyeguide.html
and
Updates to the Bullseye Shooters' Guide For The Eyecare Professional
http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/nwongmain/guideupdates.html

good info. What I did not see there was one common solution for casual shooters with myopia (near nearsightedness) and presbyopia (age related farsightedness).

I have no astigmatism but I have moderate near nearsightedness (-4.50 in both eyes) and at about 45 started having presbyopia. Right now if I was still wearing normal contacts to correct both eyes I would need +1.75 for my reading glasses.

What my eye doctor did, and he is a casual shooter as well is correct my left non dominant eye fully and dominant partially. So myu current contact prescription is 4.5 and my right dominant eye "half way" with a 2.75

What this means is that 24/7 except for one night a week, I can grab a pistol and easily sight the sights, see them perfectly and any target that is <25 yards.

Now with a rifle it is different since the rear sight is 2' from my eye at arms lenth but a couple of inches and a blur. AND any target at rifle range of >30 yards and certain 100 yards cannot be seen with my dominant right eye.

For some reason though a fastfire is fine so I can shoot a red dot or fastfire rifle left handed, and a 3x1 scope especially a quick acquiring one like an MTAC more than makes up for the lack of full correction on a semi auto out to 100 yards.

 

[KYtoMD]

Vortex spitfire works great for me even with my significant astigmatism. I've tried Eotechs, Aimpoints, and other red dots but none of them give as sharp of a dot as the Vortex spitfire.