How I keep my front sight Sharp and in focus at 50!!!

[HeavyDuty]

Interesting. I had 20/15 vision for years; my far vision is still plano but now with a mild astigmatism correction, but I need reading support so I wear bifocals when I’m not at home. At the house I just wear cheaters since I don’t need assistance for TV viewing and the like.

One side effect of my vision change is that I can’t focus on the front sight like I used to. I’ve gotten around this by going to a bold orange front and a plain serrated rear (Ameriglo Hacks.) I’m not going to be shooting Bullseye any time like this, but I am MoPP effective.

Maybe it’s worth $10 to try it for a month.

[Jamie]

I'm tagging on with interest. I heard Spencer mention this on a CCR Podcast I believe.

I'm 65 and I've worn glasses since the 7th grade and bifocals since I turned 40. My vision pretty much sucks and I'm moving, albeit slowing, over to MRDS (RMR'd G17 currently).
But I run the Ameriglo Hack setup on my iron sighted guns as @HeavyDuty mentioned. They help, but only so much.
Distance in my greatest challenge with irons...
Getting old kinda sucks.

I'm not ignoring what @Nephrology has to offer (Thank you Doc), but if the exercises can help strengthen the muscles controlling the eyes I can't see a negative. Maybe not a direct benefit, but it might be worth a exploring.

[gtae07]

I've always had great distance vision but age and years of a computer desk job have killed my near vision, and I now wear +1.0 cheaters for close work and reading.

I've found lately that focusing on the front sight isn't my problem, really; I can see it just fine but any target beyond 5-10 yards gets way blurrier than I remember them being even a few years ago. My groups open up much more than one would expect just scaling by distance. Nevermind hte groups some of y'all achieve at 25, I'm just amazed you can see the target well enough (letalone choose the top or bottom of an index card or something!)

My shooting with a red dot is dramatically improved at 25 yards with a pistol--from keeping everything on an IDPA silhouette to mostly in the black of a B8 printed on letter paper, and everything on the paper itself. I still luck but the dot mostly takes my eyes off the table as a detrimental factor.

I think not only is the target indistinct but I can't detect small misalignment of the sights with irons.

I also see the same effect withirons on rifles, though less pronounced. Ithink small peep sights help some.

[JohnO]

Not to be a debbie downer, but this app seems based on behavioral ophthalmology (a rabbit hole my dad fell down a while back). There is no evidence that they work.

That doesn't mean they aren't necessarily worth trying as the risk of harm is nil - just consider the amount of money you are willing to spend with this in mind. They may even work for you - but the odds that they will just isn't supported based on the evidence to date.

I have asked two ophthalmologists about the efficacy of "vision training" or "eye exercises". Both dismissed the the concept as worthless.

[Nephrology]

Both dismissed the the concept as worthless.

That would be a less generous way to paraphrase my opinion as well

[Prdator]

That would be a less generous way to paraphrase my opinion as well

So what would you say if I told you I've been using the app for about 7 years now and I've been able to keep my vision in shape by it? When I go a few months w/o it I have to use readers when I use it 1-2 times a week, I don't. So that's proof to me it works.. at least it works for me and many people have told me it works for them... maybe give it a try before saying it doesn't work.
Just my 2c.

[theJanitor]

@Prdator , would you consider your program an exercise for the muscles that control the shape of the lens (which allows for focus)? Or an exercise to facilitate your brain processing the image data from your eyes more precisely? Or maybe a routine for keeping the lens flexible, and therefore more easily adjusted for focus?

[Prdator]

@Prdator , would you consider your program an exercise for the muscles that control the shape of the lens (which allows for focus)? Or an exercise to facilitate your brain processing the image data from your eyes more precisely? Or maybe a routine for keeping the lens flexible, and therefore more easily adjusted for focus?

The app talks about how it re-trains your brain to see out of your aged eyes, its not an exercise like eye sprints etc.

Great question. Thanks

[Nephrology]

So what would you say if I told you I've been using the app for about 7 years now and I've been able to keep my vision in shape by it? When I go a few months w/o it I have to use readers when I use it 1-2 times a week, I don't. So that's proof to me it works.. at least it works for me and many people have told me it works for them... maybe give it a try before saying it doesn't work.
Just my 2c.

Subjective experience is inherently a deceptive lens through which to make medical decisions (e.g. placebo effect).

This is why all clinical guidelines issued by all major medical professional associations rely on expert review of published clinical research, which ostensibly (by using large numbers of participants, a placebo treatment group, double blinding of patient/observer, etc) provides a more objective picture of the relative efficacy of a given intervention. Not only that, but because not all research is created equal, experts try to convey to clinicians reading their guidelines the relative quality and strength of the available evidence (usually on a grading scale from A-E).

So, how do I explain your experience? I don't have a great answer for you, and you shouldn't expect one - particularly in something as challenging as vision, which relies on self-reporting of your subjective impression of your visual acuity (vs something objective and quantifiable like blood pressure).

Maybe these exercises are improving your eyesight (per available evidence, this less likely). Maybe they are not, but you perceive your eyesight to be improved (placebo effect). Maybe you are experiencing an improvement in your vision for reasons unrelated (time of day/ambient light, relative degree of recent eye strain, etc) but you are attributing this improvement to the exercises. Who knows?

At the end of the day, I can't explain your subjective visual improvement and I certainly would not say that your experience is "wrong." Because these exercises cost you (presumably) no money and have effectively 0 risk of causing you harm, I would certainly not tell you to stop. However, I am sure you can imagine that if clinicians made all medical decisions based on a similar degree of subjectivity and intuition, we would hurt a lot of people.

Long story short: research can't explain everything, but it provides a degree of objectivity that can can tell us what is most likely. Most likely, your subjective improvement is due to a placebo effect. That doesn't mean your experience is "wrong," or that you are foolish for trying, or that there isn't a very small chance that it is helping you in a way inconsistent with available evidence.

[Arbninftry]

Ah Shit! I have been doing it wrong. I just put a bigger front sight on it.