First range report since my eye surgery

[CaddmannQ]

Well today's range report was the first one in six months. I had not been out to shoot since I had my eye surgery back in December.

Part of this was psychological. I was blaming concussion effects from shooting the shotgun on some of my eye problems. The truth is I don't believe it had anything to do with it.

Other things at home however have been keeping me very busy so I haven't had as much time to enjoy myself as I would like.

But I am seeing much better, and in fact 20/15 corrected, if I have the time to let my eyes Focus. They do not focus quickly enough for CQB but at the range I have all the Time in the World to aim.

I took the Savage .223 varminter, the 12 gauge Mossberg 500, the Philippine-made ATI 1911, and my XDS-9. I had so much fun I never did make it to the shotgun range.

My pistol Target is at 15 yards but the red arrow at the top indicates my 225 yard Target. There is a 300-yard Dinger in a plowed depression off to the above left, and above my target is another one at approximately 400 yards which does not yet have a steel target.

I could tell how out of practice I was because I couldn't hit anything for the first few rounds.

But I managed to tighten up and finally shot this pattern of 5 at 225 yards.

Anyhow I shot about a 6 inch pattern where I would normally shoot a 2 inch pattern because I went to a 69 grain Nossler bullet from a 75 Hornaday.

Total mistake for this gun!!! We had just the mildest cross winds gusting today and it threw me all over left and right.

What I need is maybe a 78-79 grain bullet. I will not be trying to shoot the lighter bullets out of this gun again, and we'll just save them all for now.

 

[CaddmannQ]

By the way my improved eyesight really has improved my shooting.

For the most part it has improved the ease of which I acquire targets and which I hold them. I didn't try shooting the pistol without my glasses, but I know I could have done it. Next time I'll have to try my non-prescription sunglasses.

This is me shooting the 45, trying for a headshot at 15 yards, standing position.



The problem is I'm aiming for a black Target with a black gun that has black sights! I absolutely cannot see what I'm doing here, even in broad daylight.

Time for me to do a little more Gunsmithing.

I tried out my buddies new custom built Glock today and he has a fancy expensive Electronic sight on it. I was able to put about 9 kill shots out of 10 in the upper chest area. Very easy to aim! Unfortunately I shot his Target and I never got a picture of it.

I did far worse with my own XDS 9. The plastic modern nine is a little bit light for me and I prefer the manly meat of a 1911.

But I really prefer the sights on the Glock or XDS9.

This last Target is pretty shot up but that is the ATI 45 at 7 yards

The wild shots are mostly 15-yard shots with the XDS 9, but all the shots on the sticky Target are 7 yd @ 45 Cal.

 

[CaddmannQ]

One thing that I had mentioned previously is that my eyesight had gotten increasingly worse up to the time of my surgery. I was having to shoot with my right hand but aim with my left eye when shooting pistol.

All my hand guns have iron sights only.

But that crap is all gone now and my right eye is the better. I think I will be looking to set up a target pistol with a little scope on it.

 

[pepi]

I had eye surgery around 12 years ago and it was great then. THEN, the Vitreous Detachment happened Now I have curtain floaters that drive me mad. Still pretty good shooting a shotgun through LOL

 

[CaddmannQ]

I had eye surgery around 12 years ago and it was great then. THEN, the Vitreous Detachment happened Now I have curtain floaters that drive me mad. Still pretty good shooting a shotgun through LOL

Actually my problems started with a slight detachment and a bunch of floaters as well and eventually the vitreous humor of my right eye has detached completely from the retina.

I'm okay with it as long as I don't have to do any acrobatics.

 

[pepi]

I just got a new BIG BLACK floater in my good eye ... Man it pisses me off. I'm glad I've never had a detachment of my retina Oh well, could be worse and be blind. I always look for the good in things

 

[CaddmannQ]

Buddy if you have a big black floater in your eye it is because of retinal damage and while you may not have a major Detachment that doesn't mean they shouldn't see an ophthalmologist to be sure it is not hanging on by a thread.

They can stitch you back together with a laser and it's a very fast and painless procedure.

It would be rather scary if you're the timid sort, when they start strapping you down on Frankenstein's table and aiming these lasers in your face.

But I watched 80 year old women go through it. Not so bad.

 

[Pawpaw]

I had a dark grey cloud of floaters in my right eye. Last May they did a "vitrectomy". The doctor basically vacuumed the jelly (vitreous) out of my eye and replaced it with saline. In the process, of course, all of the floaters were removed too.

I had no retina damage and the process was very easy and painless.

 

[CaddmannQ]

They have spoken to me about that procedure but so far I haven't degenerated quite enough.

My floaters were from tiny tears in the retina and because of extreme myopia I am going to be prone to this.

Anyhow it's not like the eye surgery actually corrected the major problems with my eyes. My eyeballs are physically too short.

It's just like having contact lenses that you never have to take out and they don't irritate me all the time.

I wore glasses my whole life because I could not stand to wear contacts.

Meanwhile my wife wears them all the time.

Anyhow if you have floaters in your eye they are drops of blood, and that blood comes from the retina. I don't think any other part of the eye will actually bleed into the eyeball.

But you can have pinpoint damage which is not dangerous and it's not repairable (nor needs to be repaired) but it still gives you a big drop of blood in your eye. This is basically my case and I did not have any real tears in the retina. There was lots of minor pinpoint damage where the viterous humor pulls away.

 

[pepi]

Buddy if you have a big black floater in your eye it is because of retinal damage and while you may not have a major Detachment that doesn't mean they shouldn't see an ophthalmologist to be sure it is not hanging on by a thread.

They can stitch you back together with a laser and it's a very fast and painless procedure.

It would be rather scary if you're the timid sort, when they start strapping you down on Frankenstein's table and aiming these lasers in your face.

But I watched 80 year old women go through it. Not so bad.

Nope ... Been to two Ophthalmologist doctors and both said no retina damage. As far as having my eyes drained and saline put in ... Nope, I've read this can cause problems later.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Did they give you any idea what caused the bleeding in your eye?

 

[carbinemike]

Good to see you back at it Caddman!

 

[pepi]

Did they give you any idea what caused the bleeding in your eye?

From what I read on the internet the darker floater CAN indicate blood. Freaked me out and I went to my doctor that did my cataract surgery and then got a second opinion. Both said it is just from the sack breaking down in my eye causing all the garbage floating around. I'm getting to the point I use to it and I'm learning to live with it. I really would love to have my right eye drained and replaced with saline but both doctors did not recommend it due to problems down the road

 

[Scoop]

@pepi @CaddmannQ and @Pawpaw
I really appreciate the discussion here about the problem related to floaters, curtains and retinas. I am sort of on a "watch" with my optho, so I appreciate this info from the patient's side.

 

[CaddmannQ]

I have been very lucky Scoop, because my condition has not gotten worse nor has it progressed to the other eye; and in fact the other eye was the most in Jeopardy all along.

Because of that of course I am always nervous that the left eye may start to come apart as well.

There's really no telling but any impact or concussion will accelerate the chances of a rip, tear, detachment, etc.

But right now, thank God, my bad left eye happens to be in better condition that either eye has been for over 50 years.

I'd always expected to go slowly blind because of my miserable and failing eyesight and when my retinal problems began I was expecting to go blind quickly.

Now my whole outlook (if you'll pardon the pun) has turned around 180 degrees.

It just amazes me that I have never until this year driven a car without eyeglasses. It would have just been totally impossible to read the signs or spot pedestrians in time.

 

[Pawpaw]

My situation was that I have early stage cataracts in both eyes. They could see very early stage macular degeneration in my left eye but, because of so many floaters, could not determine how bad it was in my right eye. Thanks to the vitrectomy, they were able to determine that it, also, was very early stage.

I had the surgery last March and my latest follow-up was about a month ago. There has been no change in either eye. The surgeon was quite pleased that the surgery had not worsened the cataract in my right eye. He doesn't want to see me again until next year.

 

[CaddmannQ]

If you can afford the intraocular lens cataract surgery I would not hesitate.

I know several other people who have had this, including my sister, and they are all very pleased with the results

 

[Pawpaw]

Thanks, but my cataracts are at such an early stage that I wouldn't even know I had them if the doctor hadn't told me.

If and when surgery becomes necessary, I'll go through the VA, so money won't be an issue.

Thanks, though!

 

[pepi]

Thanks, but my cataracts are at such an early stage that I wouldn't even know I had them if the doctor hadn't told me.

If and when surgery becomes necessary, I'll go through the VA, so money won't be an issue.

Thanks, though!

Very wise decision IMHO. Some people have the surgery and have perfect results. Others will have great results for awhile and then the problems happen from the surgery (ME). Sack breakdown, Retina problems and the real pain in the arass ... DRY EYES. My eyes are so dry I wear a sweat headband over my eyes when I sleep to keep my eyelids from sticking to my outer Corneal epithelium area. If I don't, the skin will pull off for a very painful day. The out cornea skin will heal in 24 hours. Kind of amazing. The doctor prescribed me RESTASIS but it is medicine for the rich people LOL

 

[CaddmannQ]

Oh that's awful.

I'm afraid that my eyes always been a little dry and that has not changed.

I would be waking myself up every few hours to put in eyedrops I guess, but I rarely have to use them.

What a pain!