New lenses, that is.  My eyes. About fifty weeks ago, my ophthalmologist told me it was time for cataract surgery.  The best surgeon around had a heavy schedule, so did I, and it took a long time to coordinate the dates.  On January 8, Dr. Karl Bodendorfer did my left eye, and a week later, the right. The whole eyedrop regimen is ongoing and more routine followup is scheduled.

The Glock 30 is my favorite Glock, this one being a 30SF with factory night sights. It did well for me today, as the scoresheets show.

Not quite a year ago, I posted this blog entry.  Well over a hundred of you good readers were kind enough to reply and share your own experiences.  My outcome was in line with what the great majority of y’all experienced.  I had no pain; the twilight sleep effect of the conscious sedation never manifested itself; and my eyesight is profoundly better.  Shot my first match of the year today, and while I can’t say my scores were any better than last year, I was able to see the whole thing a lot more clearly.  Anytime I can shoot 54 shots at all separate targets in under 50 seconds and hit with all of them, zero points down,  with a subcompact .45, I have no complaints.

Profound thanks to not only a great eye surgeon, but to all of you who encouragingly shared your experiences. If you or anyone you know might be contemplating this surgery, feel free to share this and the link included above, which I for one found very helpful.

It’s good that night driving is a pleasure instead of a chore, and driving home tonight with intermittent downpours I discovered happily that I could once again navigate dark and wet roads.  For the last year, if it started raining when I was driving at night I would pull over as soon as it was safe.  Halos and starburst effect from oncoming headlights were merely a hassle, but when that was multiplied by reflections of headlights and taillights on wet pavement, the world on the other side of my windshield turned into a kaleidoscope.  No more.

I’m looking forward to gazing through an optical sight and seeing a red dot instead of a red smear, streak, or starburst.  The world no longer looks like a smoke-filled room.

I only miss one thing about those cataracts with their visual effects…

…with starburst vision, Fourth of July fireworks were awesome!

30 COMMENTS

  1. I’m not far behind you Mas. My Optometrist is telling me it might be time to consider that operation. Glad you’re doing okay.

  2. Same experiences here Mas. I had my first surgery about 15 years ago on my right eye. Last year on the left eye. No complications for both.

    If you wear glasses, afew weeks of adjustment to your eyes should take place before changing the prescription. This will be your follow-up with the doctor.

    Good luck and like you said, better, safer night driving without all the flash bang!

  3. Excellent news! Very happy for you. Did you get to catch up on your collection of music and//or audio books during your recovery?

    • Jan, I had been planning to, but I was able to see so soon after each that I went back to usual routine almost immediately.

  4. Mas,

    Thanks for the good news! I’m sure all your students and fans are as glad as I am to hear this TERRIFIC news!

    Hope to see you in Alaska soon!

    Yog

  5. What can you look forward to after Cataract Eye surgery? Within a few years you will start to notice changes in focus, depending on corrections needed at time of surgery you’ll either begin having problems with either near of far object focus. This is because of eye changes that occur after cataract surgery. About ten years ago also had cataract surgery in both eyes an like you was amazed at the immediate improvements in vision-wonderful. For the first time I could read really fine print without glasses. Now, a few years later, I must wear reading glasses in order to read anything.

    The other thing that may occur is that your eye may form an internal film over the newly implanted lens that will once again have you looking into a smoky room. This does not always occur and when it does it does not always occur in both eyes. The film can be removed by the eye surgeon with a laser. But, they must be very very careful doing it as mistakes can also damage the Retina. That happened in my case in one eye. The day the surgeon did the laser treatment she was seemingly in a bit of a rush and her Laser caused a STRONG “Snap” in the back of my head in the vision center. The result is that I now have a blind spot in the vision of that eye. If the surgeon doing the laser treatment is not totally calm at the time of the treatment, cancel the treatment and re-schedule.

  6. I had mine done in 2010. Both eyes the same day. Not really painful, but I woke up in the middle of them working on the left one and caused him to cut a little too deep. I can see with both, but the one is a tiny bit foggy. The way you did it would have been much better. Glad it was a success.

  7. glad to hear things went well, Mas. funny how we take our senses for granted until there is something wrong – guess that really applies to all aspects of our health. Growing old kind of sux, but it is better than the alternative…

  8. While we’re on the subject of eyes, between an LEO buddy, my optometrist and I we had an idea to throw out for consideration. My friend was thinking about developing a rail mount to hold a corrective lens for his master eye so he wouldn’t need to fumble for his glasses in the middle of the night, and when I asked Doc if her shop could cut lenses she suggested just taking his last pair, cutting the master-eye frame off the nosebridge and earpiece and then brazing/welding/soldering it onto a Picatinny rail clamp.

    Think there might be something to this, or is it just a visit from the Good Idea Fairy? Our thought was “better ONE good eye than NONE.”

    • Outside my wheelhouse, Diamondback. I’d suggest you ask around at the local gun shops to see if there’s an opthalmologist or even an optician in your area who is into guns, then go to that person with your idea and progress from there. Good luck and keep us posted.

  9. Mas,

    Glad to hear it went well. I had mine done 6-7 years ago, one year apart. I never saw starburst, but I would describe my experience at night as, “where is the curb?”

    I chose the tried and true monovision with both eyes adjusted for distance. One eye also corrected for astigmatism. This allows me to use off the rack “cheater glasses” for reading. I was previously near sighted and had prescription glasses. Nice to not have to worry about losing or damaging $4 vs. $400 dollar glasses.

    Now while I can shoot iron sights without glasses the sights are blurred as I am distance corrected. If you chose monovision not multifocal I suspect you are in same situation. Unless of course you chose blended vision using monovision lens, with one eye focused for distance other eye for medium or close distance.

    In any case I will be interested in hearing how you are adapting and what sights you find fits your needs. I am finding scopes and red dots best. But on carry pistols I still like non optic sights. In this regard I am tending to the Ashley F8 sights as a compromise between quick pick up and some degree of precision. While the sight picture is not all that sharp I can at least get some sight picture with the large sights that let in a lot of light around front sight.

    On rifles with iron sights I find peep sights the best.

    Again glad all went well and I will look forward to reading about and learning from your experiences with various types of sights.

  10. Mas, YOU ARE CRAZY. That parting shot about fireworks cracked me up.
    I know the Big BOys up close and personal, because a good friend of mine is an FFL Pyro, and he puts on one of the best show in the Puget’s Sound Region every year on the Fourth. I delight in them just like a kid, always did enjoy the Disneyland show every night, nine PM sharp, at the original location. We got a great view out my bedroom window, we lived that close. But now I actuallly help set up, place the shots, wire them, etc. Then the launch….. six inch chells from 150 feet away provide an AWESOME thump to the chest…. seeing them up close and personal is great, too. I don’t have cataracts, but your description sounds amazing.

    BUT.. 54 rounds that fast all on the mark is impressive for a first run with your new eyeballs. Good going.

  11. Mas

    I’m glad you can see again, even if means more work to even hope to beat you at Pacesetter time.

  12. Had the surgery when i was 47 now 63 still going.Now just might have to get better sights eyes a bit older.Good luck happy shooting.

  14. Mas, your last two blogs have really resonated with this guy. First, I’m sure I share the following opinion with many. The importance of your surviving the helicopter crash survival cannot be overstated. What would the gun world be like without your writings? Don’t wanna think about it!

    Next is something I can really relate to: 2008. You and I both turned 60 that year, not as painful now as it seemed then, huh? Now LAST year was another story.

    Last, I’m closely following your recovery from the cataract surgery because I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing that next year. Everyone I know who has had the surgery has done very well – so glad you are, too.

    All my best for your continued good health and prosperity, Mas.

  17. Glad all went well, as I told you months ago,,,my wife is a nurse where they do work for several doctors,,,and she has never seen a problem in 30 years,,,God Bless and feel better

  18. Mas, – Glad to hear that your surgery was successful. This type of surgery is well established and has a low rate of complications. I remember one of my eye surgeons telling me that the success rate for this surgery is about 97%.

    Unfortunately, in the case of one of my eyes, I “beat the odds”. (Just my Luck, eh?). I suffered a detached retina about a week after the surgery on that eye. However, I am a special case. My vision was poor prior to the surgery because I was very nearsighted. Nearsighted people have an elongated eyeball which makes them prone to problems like detached retinas.

    If you had fairly normal vision during your lifetime, then the chance that you would develop a detached retina is very small. However, it is something to monitor. If you see changes in your vision such as (1) a shower of black specks, (2) waves in your field of vision and, especially, (3) a black zone that begins to creep across your field of view, then get thee to your eye surgeon ASAP! These are signs of a detached retina and you have only a very limited time-window for your surgeon to intervene to save your vision. If you delay even one day too long, you may end up permanently blind in the affected eye. A detached retina is a medical emergency!

    Don’t be unnecessarily alarmed by any of the above. The odds of most people developing a detached retina after cataract surgery is extremely small. As I noted, I was at unusually high risk due to my pre-existing vision problems. I expect that you will make a full recovery with no serious problems whatsoever. 🙂

  20. I’m glad all went well. I had both eyes done immediately after NRA/Dallas. I’m kind of anal about distance vision and went with mono focal for distance. I need reading glasses! My computer glasses have a focal length of 30” and are progressive from there to normal reading distance. The distance to the front sight is also about 30” which makes a beautiful sight picture for precision work. For tactical training (once a month) I refuse to look like chuckie Schumer and don’t wear the glasses as I wouldn’t be during daily activity. My EDC has Tru-Glow night sights with a bar under dot and the medium/large green dot sticks out when shooting even though I can’t focus on it without the readers. I have been able to maintain proficiency for training and even improve at precision with the help of the computer glasses.
    I won’t even discuss my shoulder surgery…..

  21. Mas, you should have had your eye surgeon install a couple of those optional X-Ray units while he was doing the operation. Superman vision comes in real handy when you visit a Hooters restaurant. Just don’t let Gail know about it, or you will need more than a Glock 30 to protect yourself 😉

  22. Mas, on this section, all the User Comment Photo windows, look like the are showing the same generic Person?

    Paul

  24. Mas,

    Glad the surgery went well. Your comment about the fireworks resonated with me. I like to take off my glasses when looking at Christmas tree lights. They blur a bit and look spectacular. I can achieve a similar effect, by simply leaving my glasses on and squinting my eyes.

    As I was reading the comments I realized something. Normally you write a great article about guns, and others post informative comments on the same subject. Well, the same thing just happened with another subject; eye surgery. It sure is helpful to be in the company of well-educated people. It’s a great time to be alive. I wouldn’t want to live without my glasses (unless I had perfect vision).

  26. Mas,

    If you are distance corrected and have no or corrected astigmatism you might want to look into these safety glasses. Are really safety reading glasses, but available with full face correction not a bifocal at bottom of len.

    While I generally do not use correction for my carry pistols, at times I wish to test accuracy and these glassed especially in low strength sharpen up sight picture without completely blurring everything at a distance. Jack
    link
    https://www.amazon.com/Elvex-RX-500C-Diopter-Magnifier-Glasses/dp/B07B14MBWH/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1549754801&sr=8-4&keywords=elvex+glasses

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