What was so bad, particularly if you're comparing it to knee surgery?

Charlie

I would be happy to answer any questions anyone has regarding their eyes through pm, I am an eye surgeon who does LASIK and cataract surgery in the metroplex, southlake specifically.

Regarding what makes LASIK rough is there exists a continuum between mild irritation and feeling like someone dipped your eyes in jalapeño juice, everyone who has LASIK experiences some discomfort on this continuum but can't predict where you will land. It lasts for 2-5 hours and then it magically just goes away (your eyes actually heal that quickly). We do most of our surgeries on Thursday evenings so you just go home and go to bed, sleep through the worst of it. It isn't fun, but the end result is normally 20/20 or better the next morning.

You would probably shoot better if you had single vision distance glasses, without the bifocal. No-line bifocal lenses have some prism induced in them with the bifocal and you might be catching a little of that when you shoot. This could certainly cause your shots to be off. I always recommend single vision distance correction for my hunters, gives the best distance without the compromise.

Glasses.

My lasik was fine 16 years ago. Even watch hockey game that night though not recommended per the doc. Now my ACL surgery was the worst ever. Severe pain for weeks but all healed just fine.

This. Best money I ever spent. I do, however, take reading glasses to the stand with me so I can read if I fell like it or it gets slow. I can still see up close, but my transition from up close to seeing at distance takes a long time these days and the reading glasses preserve my long distance vision.

It's a personal thing. I wear glasses. Always have. I use anti-fog stuff while hunting and carry a spare pair. Pulling my cap low works when there's precip. Never had any issues.

Thanks for the advice. I will give this a try.

I have had 2 ACL reconstructions and a scope, all on the left knee. The most recent reconstruction was last August, which included "reefing" of my MCL to help stabilize it. first one was from football, scope was from falling out of the bed of a truck, and the last I stumbled on some stairs in the dark last July 4th and hyperextended the knee by about a foot. Even so, I was up and walking within 20 minutes.

Admittedly the last injury was immediately worse than what the lasik ended up being, but the pain from my knee lasted only a few minutes. The surgeries and recovery were not fun by any means, but rest and ice do a heck of a job on something like that (at least for me). Not to mention the now 13 years I have lived with new or partially torn ACL's.

Now as far as my eyes go, I do not know if I just didn't get the right dose of drugs or what, but there was no "go home and rest" for me. My eyes were on fire for 4 and a half hours. When they finally did stop burning, I had given myself the only migraine I have ever had from being tensed up in pain for that time. A few spouts of puking my brains out later and I was fine. Drove myself to the appointment the next day.

Both are a pain.

Either one is fine to me just a matter of learning how to manage and shoot effectively with either. Glasses require slightly more eye relief and maybe some differences in squinting/flinching when shooting. Shoot proficiently with either and it's a non-issue in my mind..

Trifocals and having issues with getting the right script for distance. On my 4th set of lenses.

I do wear the single vision lenses while hunting. My trifocals are a pain for hunting, especially bowhunting. I learned that real quick.

I hunt in both but I prefer to hunt in glasses due to my astigmatism. I can really tell with a shotgun when I'm bird hunting I'm more accurate with my glasses.

With a rifle and bow I wear both but also prefer glasses. My contacts dry out from not blinking and get hazed.

I use glasses but I found these to use with open sights. http://www.seebettershootbetter.com/
It is a magnetic aperture that you put on your glasses. You look through the aperture and the target and sights both come into focus at the same time. It's awesome!

Sometimes I feel like Helen Keller, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder can all see better than me.

When I was 7 I got a fishhook in my left eye. The hook tore my cornea and screwed my chances of getting into a service academy - even on a medical waiver. I wore glasses until high school and then switched to contacts - they were rigid/hard contacts and were the most uncomfortable things ever. According to the doc, my right eye got over strained and I became dependent on glasses. I finally got soft contacts about 10 years ago in both eyes and am very happy. Unfortunately, I can tell I am probably going to need readers or bifocals at some point in the next 5 years.

With regard to hunting applications, I will go contacts until it gets really cold out. I hunt from a tripod frequently and my eyes dry out when its cold and wind is blowing - on those days I will wear my specs. I have backup contacts stashed all over the place - truck, cabin, hunting bag, pockets - and then keep my glasses as a backup, just in case. I will never bring myself to carry/wear one, but the advantages of a man-bag seem like a no-brainer to me sometimes when I feel like I need extra contacts, scrip glasses, sun glasses, and scrip sunglasses.

Wear glasses. Protect your one good eye.

Wore contacts only for hunting for many years. When I had cataract surgery, I went with the accomodating lense implants instead of mono or multifocal lenses. So far, I have been satisfied with the decision to go that route.

Only glasses here, they've saved my eyes to many times.

In the field the contacts have a huge advantage especially in foul weather. Contacts all the way when hunting