Cant see anymore, Need Advice Please!!!!!!!!

[bozo699]

Hey Fellas,
My eye sight has been getting worse and worse and I am sick of it!!
I am 47 and @ 40 just like a light switch being switched I went from 20/10 in my left eye and 20/15 in my right eye to practically needing a white cane over night,and it has steadily got worse with each passing year. @ first it was just close up but know it is both and thats the problem ??? I can focus the cross hairs to see them clearly or I can focus the target so I can see it clearly with prescription glasses on but not both. One or the other is in focus but not both! With that said I can adjust the scope to see cross hair clearly and target clearly without glasses on,
( I know shoot without prescription glasses on DUMMY) not that simple I cant see scope settings or even if I have the right cartridge for the gun I am shooting So that is where the question comes into play, has any of you guy's had this problem and if so what have you done about it? Is there some kind or size of glasses that will help or am I just stuck somewhere in the middle? I found these funny looking Expensive glasses on the web, called super focus but I don't know ??? Any suggestions or thoughts are welcome Thanks
Wayne.

 

[jonbearman]

I have a similar problem wayne,I cant shoot with a scope using my regular eyeglasses,I have to wear plain old safety glasses. If I was you I would contact you opthamolgist and see what a real eye doctor says .

 

[bozo699]

jon,
Thanks for the quick reply, I have talked to my optometrist,he didn't have much to say about it. maybe it is time to change doctors. maybe this is something that is normal and nothing can be done? I will make a appointment with another eye doc. Thanks jon.
Wayne.

 

[15Tango]

They have beta carotene supplements you can take, maybe it'll help slow that presbyopia. 'Eye exercise' is controversial but might be worth a try.

Wayne

 

[RonAKA]

Wayne, I think I may have the solution for you. We volunteered to raise a seeing eye dog (puppy). She flunked out, so now we have her. Couldn't train her to behave, but perhaps I could train her to shoot for you!

More seriously what do you have for glasses? Are they correction for distance only? Or, are they bifocals (or variable).

The one thing you cannot do is use reading type glasses with a scope. The lens you use for shooting has to be pure correction for distance. If you have bifocals or more likely the variable kind, are you looking through the very top distance part of them? The reason is that optically the cross hairs are out at 100 yards or whatever you have the scope focus set for. An ideally adjusted scope should appear to have the crosshairs pasted on the target. Both in focus, and no way to look around the cross hairs (parallax).

So two things. Make sure you have the proper distance only lens correction in play. And I know you specifically asked not to be told to adjust your scope. But if you have the right distance eye correction, your target and crosshairs should be in focus at the same time as there is no parallax.

This method is not the usual one to set up a scope, but in my experience it works. Set power to max. Then use the objective focus/parallax adjustment to focus the scope on a target measured out to be at minimum focus distance plus one yard. Use a very small print document as the "target". Then you use the EYEPIECE focus to adjust the parallax to zero. Reset the focus with the objective again, and then set the parallax with the eyepiece. Run through this until you have both focus and no parallax. This method when done right ends up with zero parallax and perfect focus at the same time. And your cross hairs should also be in focus.

 

[Forum Boss]

Wayne,

Find a scope (such as a Swaro or Schmidt & Bender) that has a proper +/- correcting diopter on it. Try looking through that with standard (non-prescription) shooting glasses.

The other thing that can help is simply switching to a heavier reticle. I have astigmatism and it makes it difficult to see very fine cross-hairs in low light conditions. With a slightly heavier reticle I have no issues.

The other question I have is: "Does your problem occur with all scopes you look through"? It's possible you have a scope problem.

 

[bozo699]

Ron,
Thats funny I will take the dog I will try as suggested. I have absolutely no issues adjusting the scope with perfect clarity and focus with out prescription glasses but with tri focals its a bugger.

Forum boss,
I will admit it is a little better with my S&B but the cross hairs are fairley course as you mentioned. but it is still not 100%. When I am grouping I simply take my glasses off but it is a pain as Ihave to put on off on off 500 times a day, maybe I just shot a group and want to jot some notes down I have to put my glasses back on, then I forgot something and have to look back down range, glasses have to come off as I cant see @ all through the scope, then back on to finish note.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr its flustrating. Thanks fellas.
Wayne.

 

[bozo699]

Wayne,
When I was a young man my vision failed me had to wear glasses 3,4th grade. I read a artical about exercising your eyes, it worked and I was glass free for the next 30 years ;D I did try to execise after my sight started failing again but I got such bad headaces I got weak and quit ??? maybe I should give it another try. Thanks Wayne.
Wayne.(bozo)

 

[spclark]

Wayne you should be looking for a true eye doctor, an opthalmologist. An optometrist is fine for getting your vision corrected but they're not typically qualified to tell you what you need to know about the overall health of your eyes.

Keep in mind too that our eyes truly are an extension of our brain!

What we "see" is what our brain makes out of the signals our retinas send on up the optic nerves from each eye, probably one of the most complex tasks our brains perform on a routine basis.

Something as routine as proper hydration can do a lot to improve how the body's systems perform. Same goes for what we routinely eat and drink.

I'm going on 62, worn glasses since I was about 11 & found I couldn't see the blackboard when sitting anywhere behind the third or fourth row in school. Last eight or nine years my vision's been getting better. The gal who I've been going to for 25 years says that's not unusual. Not good enough to see without glasses but lenses from ten or twelve years back are too strong now. I used to need reading glasses & haven't for the past five or six years.

 

[bozo699]

spclark,
Thank you sir. Probably between tipping my head back in the shower and a couple of trips to the dentist a year I would guess I drink at least a gallon of water a year, and hundreds of gallons of coffee, wich is made from mostly water I will have my optometrist set me up an appointment with a good opthalmologist. And will try to drink more uhhhg ................water ;D seriously Thank you.
Wayne

 

[jonbearman]

Wayne, you can dehydrate drinking any beverage with alot of caffiene in it.Drink decaf and try to get more sleep.I know that is near to impossible when working goofy hours or stuff we have to do at home.Just try the decaf for a week or two and see if that helps.I hate the taste of tap water myself so I dilute crystal light sugarless drink mix and drink alot of that.It helps.

 

[xring]

Bozo ....are you kidding ? 20/10 and 20/15 ? You are one lucky guy . The only one I ever heard who had eyesight like that was Ted Williams ....who said he could see the Ball all the way to his Bat ! Optometrists have two Tests , one at Far Range ....maybe 20 Ft or so and also Close up ...maybe 1.5 or 2 Ft. . Just for Reference my eyesight is 20/250 Right and 20/400 Left with lots of Astigmatism . Send that Dog to me ......quick ! I don't like No-Lines , but lots of people do . Something for you to try . You essentially have all the Correction you need with a small up / down head motion . I use Bifocals or Trifocals for Driving but don't like them for working around the house or doing handwork , etc . I have my Optometrist put in small Diopter Adds to my Astigmatism Formula and I can see clearly from close up to maybe 15 or 20 Ft. Your Optometrist can do this for you while you are examined . He can put a wide range of Diopter Adds to your standard Prescription and you can then check your own accuity over the whole close to far Range in his office . You can also try this out at any big Pharmacy or WallyWorld ( this will be without your basic prescription ). These glasses run maybe $20 . Try a 0.5 to 1.0 Diopter Add and look around the Store to see if you get what you want . Can't remember exactly the Total Range they offer . I use a 2 or 2.5 Add for working with little screws etc . , but your range of good Vision with these will be +/- only a few inches . Your Optometrist should be offering you a few Options .....I would try someone else .

 

[bozo699]

xring,
Thanks I will have to check it out, I don't know what diopters even are but will ask the eye doc. I tried the no liner's and NO THANKS that's like being on a carnival ride all the time. I wear tri-focals right now, bottom lenses for little screws and things, middle for computer and arms length work and upper lenses for everything else. What I am thinking the problem is, is that I am getting parallax with my glasses and maybe I need to have a really big pair of shooting glasses made with a very small bi-focal in bottom or even have the glasses built with the right lenses bent out so you are looking straight through the center of the lenses instead of looking through the upper left corner of the lenses like you have to do.
Wayne.

 

[BoydAllen]

My bifocals are of the line variety, and, on advice of the first ophthalmologist that prescribed them for me, the line is low enough that I only "engage" the bifocal when looking down.This keeps them out of the way for everything that is not close work, including looking through rifle scopes.

I won't tell you how to focus your eyepiece, but I will say that if it was in proper focus, for use with your glasses on, while looking through the part of your lens that is corrected for distance, it should be focused exactly on the plane that the reticle is in, and from that point the objective should also be moved until the image of the target is in the same plane. If they are, there can be no one or the other issue.

One thing that I commonly see is fellows staring at the reticle as they attempt to focus it. That is flat wrong. I will leave it at that. There are a lot of repetitions out there of what is in some cases, an oversimplified set of instructions for adjusting a scope.

I have worn glasses for distance since I was in the sixth grade ( I am 62) and bifocals since I was 44. The good news is that with a fresh prescription, I am still 20-15.

 

[itchyTF]

This may be barking up the wrong tree, but just a thought. I realize this was made for iron sights, not scopes (http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2010/05/breakthrough-microsight-technology-improves-iron-sights/)
but was wondering if glasses were made from this type of lens if that would help?

 

[wapiti25]

I agree with those that said "a real eye doctor". I'm getting to the point of pre-diabetic. Too much blood sugar will screw with your vision. I had to get the blood sugar test kit and start checking at various times during the day, I had a few high readings. One of my hunting friends was having vision problems before he was diagnosed with diabetes, now his vision is better when he eats and does his meds. Diabetes changes all kinds of things in your body as I'm learning. I need to get my eyes looked by a real eye DR. more often as the sugar thing can really screw you up big time. I'm into "grazing" as that is how my Dr. think's I can control my sugar level, no more big meals.

 

[RonAKA]

"What I am thinking the problem is, is that I am getting parallax with my glasses and maybe I need to have a really big pair of shooting glasses made with a very small bi-focal in bottom or even have the glasses built with the right lenses bent out so you are looking straight through the center of the lenses instead of looking through the upper left corner of the lenses like you have to do."

You are thinking along the same line as I was. I would get some glasses made, that has uses a large section for distance correction, and just a small part at the bottom for close up (loading the gun). I would go for a lens that is large from top to bottom. The problem with the current style of glasses is that they are too narrow from top to bottom for bifocals, let alone trifocals.

I found out some time ago that progressive lenses are not all the same. They vary in technology and quality just like rifle scopes. The ones I am currently using are called Accolade Freedom. They are the best ones I have ever had for clarity, and ease of adjustment to them. Costco sell them up here, but they are still not cheap. So your other option could be high end progressives like these ones. Again if you go this way avoid frames that are too narrow top to bottom.

http://www.accoladelenses.com/Accolade+Freedom/index.html

 

[BoydAllen]

Before you spend money on new glasses, when you are in your normal shooting position, looking through the scope. put a finger tip on the lens on the area that you are looking through, and leave it on that spot as you remove your glasses. This should show what part of the lens you are looking through. My guess is that it is no where near your bifocal, and so making a change in the size of the bifocal will have no effect.

In looking back over your posts on this thread, it seems obvious that your scope is out of adjustment. The good news is that this will not cost you anything to correct. The bad news is that you are unwilling to have anyone tell you how to do the adjustment. Oh well

 

[bozo699]

Boyd,
Its funny I have no problems adjusting the scope with out glasses on for perfect sight picture and crisp cross hair. I will remove the part about scope adjustment anyway because I value you thoughts and opinions as always. So by all means please tell me how to adjust the scope. I have over a hundred scopes of all makes and types, but am currently using a couple 6.5-20x50 LR Leupold's and and a 5-25x56 PmII S&B. And no I am not looking through the bi-focal but I am looking through the upper corner of the glass not the center which might give you the same affect as looking across and up the hill through the windshield of your vehicle at a deer, you have done that I am sure? its not clear, you can see the deer but one eye is pulling more than the other and its just not clear. Please give me all your thoughts on it Boyd, as stated I value your experience,thoughts and advice
Wayne,

 

[dreever]

Wayne,

Scroll down to the bottom of this piece for my article on prescription eyeglass recomendations: http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/eye-protection-for-shooters/

You need to find a good optomologist. The guy I use is an eye surgeon so he really knows his stuff. You can buy your glasses anywhere once you have a prescription so find a lab with a person you can talk to in regard to lens materials etc. Most place will try to sell you polycarbinate, insist on Trivex. Go for the anti glare coating, makes a hell of a diference at night while driving, or shooting in bright glaring sun. i like the transition lens I never know how dark they are unless I take them off and look. I use no line bifocals in large aviator frames. Not stylish but the bigger the better for shooting. Ever see a picture of Tony Boyer? His glasses look to big for his head. He buys them that way on purpose. The bigger the better as far as transition from the no line bifocal. Mine are size 58 and if I could get 60's I would. 58's seem about as big as it gets these days. I'm like you blind as a bat without them and would have a hell of a time checking my come up notes or seeing those itty bity scope elevation lines.


Danny