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Looks like might have to permanently cease shooting shotguns

nitesite

nitesite

Average Guy
Moderator
"Philanthropist"
Over half of my left retina detached and miraculously it was successfully reattached. This was about six weeks ago.

Now the risk of more retinal damage is higher to the point that all my shotguns (every one is a 12-ga) ought to be retired for good.

I know. I could shoot just light trap loads. Or sell all my shotguns and switch to .410, which I'm simply not going to do.

I spoke with my gun store owner yesterday and he says that over his 30 years at the gun store he has seen this predicament before. We talked about options like shooting a gas-operated semi-auto to soften recoil and I was on the edge of getting a Beretta gas semi auto. Chad said "NO NO NO"!!!! He haas seen more than a few customers have retinas detach again while shooting shoulder guns that have even moderate recoil. And he owns a Beretta 1301 and an A300 and he strongly discouraged me from getting either one, or any 12-ga, period. He's seen too many guys have a re-occurrence with retinas from shooting shotguns.

Damn.
 
Sorry to hear that man, as someone with a ton of eye issues I feel for you. I've been a welder for 20 years and recently had to take a step back from bigger jobs. You do your best but arc flashes still happen especially working on large projects with other people welding near you. Other eye issues have made me have to change my shooting style. Certain sights and scopes no longer work for me.

I can tell you though, you can still have alot of fun with smaller guns. Me and my brother in law got into doing NRA .22 target competitions on his range and have a blast doing it. One of my favorite guns is my Savage B17 precision .17hmr. No recoil, run with a linear compensator you don't even need ear protection, and super fun to shoot 200-300 yards matches.

Shotguns are fun, but not worth going blind for!
 
Nitesite, wish you the best brother.

Wonder if shooting something like a Shockwave, given it's not shoulder fired, might work for you. The bird's head, with it's push/pull grip action, really changes the recoil force to the forearm vice your shoulder.

Certainly you could continue to focus on .22 or 5.56 which has significant reduced recoil.

Just a thought but I'm sure there an alternative so you can continue your joy of shooting.

Regards
 
Something to consider as well. I'm not a doctor or scientist by any means, but it may not just be recoil to worry about. When dealing with shotguns or large rifles there's still quite a bit of a concussion from the blast even if you were to bolt the gun to bench when shooting. That concussion can still rattle your eyes pretty good sometimes.
 
I still have lots of shooting options ahead of me so I'm not all depressed or anything. It's like having to take my 7-iron out of my golf bag. Still plenty of other ways to hit the ball.
 
Geez, I hear what you're saying but that's still a bit rough brother. What about a 20ga autoloader?

Any insight into the how/why the retina detached?
 
cmcdonald said:
Geez, I hear what you're saying but that's still a bit rough brother. What about a 20ga autoloader?

Any insight into the how/why the retina detached?
Click to expand...

Hello. I am so set up with 12-ga even having all the components and two presses for reloading 12-ga ammo. Getting new guns (s) and all the extras is expensive when considering that I have plenty of other firearms of which shooting them gives me enjoyment and they have much less recoil than even an autoloading 12-ga.

How did it happen? I went thru Retina Specialists of North Alabama. Retinas are all they do. They explained that this is normally part of aging for some of us, some of us have it from head trauma/impact, sometimes it is hereditary. On a Sunday I began to see big black "floaters" which was blood in the vitreous fluid, which was the beginning sign of my retina starting to detach. When I woke up Monday it was like a black curtain had been pulled 3/4 of the way across my left eye vision. So it happened in my sleep of all things.

I was very lucky that on Tuesday morning I got to see the surgeon and by 1:00 that day I was in surgery.

If you start seeing warning signs like big floaters, don't waste any time. Waiting too long will leave you blind in that eye. Interestingly, the waiting room was FULL every time I went to the specialist. Apparently it is not uncommon. Young athletes to old people were there.
 
I always heard the old adage that your eyes were the windows to your soul. I kinda chuckled at that for the longest time. But when my wife (1st) started getting wonky vision one day, we went to her long time family eye doctor. After the initial puff test by the nurse, the guy comes in, pulls out his little flashlight thingie and shines it into her windows. Maybe 10 seconds, maybe. He tells us there’s 3 possibilities for her vision problems. Infection, MS or a brain tumor. You need to get an MRI asap. None of which he can help with. We get home, call our regular doctor to get an MRI appointment, sure next month is the earliest. Ok. She calls her eye guy, he calls BS and while she’s still talking to him, the hospital calls with a referral from him for an MRI as soon as we can get there…well, at least she didn’t have an infection. She survived 2 brain tumor surgeries but the MS prevailed in the end. At least her windows were clean. Don’t take chances , keep ‘em safe..rant concludes..
 
Oh that really sucks, @nitesite .

This is mostly why I switched from riding skateboards to bicycles. I took some eye damage and I don’t want to take another hit to the head.

I’m lucky retina damage wasn’t severe, just a scar, and most of my funny flashes were related to dehydration of the vitreous humor.

An old age problem.
 
Sorry to hear this nitesite. Hopefully things heal up and you can pivot to a different favorite shooting sport. A walk in the woods with a 22 LR looking for squirrels is a great way to spend part of the day. Good exercise as well.
 
There has to be something that can be done! Don't fallow the "standard" medical knowledge. Look for alternatives. Personally I really dislike the phrase "it is what it is" .
 
@TheRude1

I don't see how I could have prevented this, unless I backed up my life far enough to avoid all the head impacts, fistfights while arresting people, etc.

When my retinal detachment happened it occurred in my sleep.

What alternatives did I somehow miss that could have prevented this?

The "standard" medical knowledge of the doctors performed a small miracle as far as I am concerned. Are you suggesting that I was mis-diagnosed and the surgery was unnecessary?
 
nitesite said:
@TheRude1

I don't see how I could have prevented this, unless I backed up my life far enough to avoid all the head impacts, fistfights while arresting people, etc.

When my retinal detachment happened it occurred in my sleep.

What alternatives did I somehow miss that could have prevented this?

The "standard" medical knowledge of the doctors performed a small miracle as far as I am concerned. Are you suggesting that I was mis-diagnosed and the surgery was unnecessary?
Click to expand...
I vote you did the right thing. This bs about curing things through anecdotal medicine just jacks me up. My next door neighbor has prostate cancer and was told by another friend that cutting sugar out of his diet would cure it. He thought better of it after a little persuasion, and is doing better. He also told me that God had a plan for him, and if this was it, so be it..I told him that I prefer to think it was Gods plan to give that oncologist the brains to see the problem and fix it. Of course I’m just a gun owning Democrat, so what do I know…lol
 
nitesite said:
@TheRude1

I don't see how I could have prevented this, unless I backed up my life far enough to avoid all the head impacts, fistfights while arresting people, etc.

When my retinal detachment happened it occurred in my sleep.

What alternatives did I somehow miss that could have prevented this?

The "standard" medical knowledge of the doctors performed a small miracle as far as I am concerned. Are you suggesting that I was mis-diagnosed and the surgery was unnecessary?
Click to expand...
I didn't mean that you could have done something different or you where miss diagnosed. What I am saying there must/may be alternative methods to heal or make your condition better . Big pharma and medicine ALWAYS dismisses herbal and holistic medicine. Just saying there may be something else that can be done.
 
I firmly believe that some herbal or alternative treatments are next to worthless for certain conditions.
 
My understanding was that if you have a detached retina they could perhaps stitch it back down with a laser beam. But I can’t think of anything else that would fix such a condition.

@nitesite
Having suffered through the anxiety of eye surgery, if not any particular pain involved, but lots of possible anguish should things go wrong, I have great sympathy for anyone with these problems.

I haven’t been in a fistfight since I was a school boy of 16, but I’ve had a few run-ins with driveshafts, ceiling fans, ice skating rinks, and low hanging planters.

I’ve taken enough blows to the head to make me somewhat more cautious in my lifetime.
 
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Nitesite, everyone is different but let me share my wife's ordeal. A few years ago she had two separate detatchments over a period of six months or so in the same eye. The first one they fixed with cryogenic surgery and the second one with a laser. The location of the tear was the driving factor for the method. Both were done in the doctor's office and the entire proceedure lasted no more than 30 minutes. She was awake for both and sitting in a chair. In fact, I watch the cryogenic proceedure and the doctor described the entire process to both of us. Within 30 minutes after the proceedure were were going home and she wore an eye patch for a few days plus they rechecked her eye the next week and that was the whole proceedure.

That has been about 15 years ago and she has had no other issues since. She has her eyes checked every year and they specifically look at the the repair areas.

Hope you get it repaired and have no additional issues. Best luck brother.

Regards
 
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