Refractive Surgery and Red Dots

[Moshjath]

It’s been a week since I got PRK and all I can say is: if you’re on the fence, get it.

Before I got my surgery all Aimpoint red dots appeared to me as a bit of a smudged/blurred circle when under magnification. Still quite usable, but not as defined as the 1 MOA dot of a holographic like an EOTech. . After just a week here at home bored during the day in an empty house on convalescent leave, I was clearing rooms as one does with their LMT under those conditions and I realized that the quality of the T1 2 MOA dot has significantly improved both magnified and even unmagnified. The surgery has definitely corrected the effects of the slight astigmatism that I had before.

This was absolutely worth the paperwork, all the appointments and the discomfort of the surgery. It’s just been a week and I’m already seeing better than I did with glasses beforehand. I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually stabilizes at 20/15 or so.

[RAM Engineer]

It’s been a week since I got PRK and all I can say is: if you’re on the fence, get it.

Before I got my surgery all Aimpoint red dots appeared to me as a bit of a smudged/blurred circle when under magnification. Still quite usable, but not as defined as the 1 MOA dot of a holographic like an EOTech. . After just a week here at home bored during the day in an empty house on convalescent leave, I was clearing rooms as one does with their LMT under those conditions and I realized that the quality of the T1 2 MOA dot has significantly improved both magnified and even unmagnified. The surgery has definitely corrected the effects of the slight astigmatism that I had before.

This was absolutely worth the paperwork, all the appointments and the discomfort of the surgery. It’s just been a week and I’m already seeing better than I did with glasses beforehand. I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually stabilizes at 20/15 or so.

I just got LASIK, at age 48 last month. While all my optic guns are currently not where I am, pistol iron sights are now a NO-GO for me without some sort of corrective lens. I was trending towards needing bifocals BEFORE the surgery, and I was warned that the surgery would improve my distance vision to 20/20 or greater, but my close vision would be gone. In bright light, I can focus probably as close as 10", but in dim light that distance increases to greater than arm's length. I was forewarned, and I accepted this fact going in. I also refused the option of mono-vision because I wanted stereoscopic vision.

As soon as I get a chance, I'm going to check my eyes vs the only red dots I have (Aimpoint T1 and Holosun 508) to check how my astigmatism has (or has not) improved, as well as the surgery-induced halo. I'm guessing it will be fine, and better than iron sights at any rate. I do have some halo, but looking at distant LEDs in the dark (ceiling mounted smoke detectors), I don't see any asymmetric flare. Probably it will be brightness dependent.

Just another data point for your consideration. If you are a longtime glasses wearer, and you're getting to the point where you LIFT your glasses to see up close, you'll probably have similar experiences to me.

[Default.mp3]

It’s been a week since I got PRK and all I can say is: if you’re on the fence, get it.

Before I got my surgery all Aimpoint red dots appeared to me as a bit of a smudged/blurred circle when under magnification. Still quite usable, but not as defined as the 1 MOA dot of a holographic like an EOTech. . After just a week here at home bored during the day in an empty house on convalescent leave, I was clearing rooms as one does with their LMT under those conditions and I realized that the quality of the T1 2 MOA dot has significantly improved both magnified and even unmagnified. The surgery has definitely corrected the effects of the slight astigmatism that I had before.

This was absolutely worth the paperwork, all the appointments and the discomfort of the surgery. It’s just been a week and I’m already seeing better than I did with glasses beforehand. I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually stabilizes at 20/15 or so.

I don't really remember how my optics looked before PRK, but they certainly don't look great these days, especially my EOTech EXPS3-2, it's bad enough that it's actually kinda a chore to zero, because the center dot is a pretty long coma to me, possibly worse than my old T-1 (my T-2, CompM5, P-1s, and P-2s all have some distortion in the shape, but are much better than the T-1 and EXPS3-2). It's pretty individual, IME, with some folks having much better RDS or HWS experience after surgery, some without much change, and some with degradation.

My natural night vision has also suffered, I get much worse halo and comas. I kinda wish I hadn't gotten PRK at this point, and had instead opted for ICLs; however, I would prefer PRK to having to deal with glasses or regular contact lenses.

[Moshjath]

I just got LASIK, at age 48 last month. While all my optic guns are currently not where I am, pistol iron sights are now a NO-GO for me without some sort of corrective lens. I was trending towards needing bifocals BEFORE the surgery, and I was warned that the surgery would improve my distance vision to 20/20 or greater, but my close vision would be gone. In bright light, I can focus probably as close as 10", but in dim light that distance increases to greater than arm's length. I was forewarned, and I accepted this fact going in. I also refused the option of mono-vision because I wanted stereoscopic vision.

As soon as I get a chance, I'm going to check my eyes vs the only red dots I have (Aimpoint T1 and Holosun 508) to check how my astigmatism has (or has not) improved, as well as the surgery-induced halo. I'm guessing it will be fine, and better than iron sights at any rate. I do have some halo, but looking at distant LEDs in the dark (ceiling mounted smoke detectors), I don't see any asymmetric flare. Probably it will be brightness dependent.

Just another data point for your consideration. If you are a longtime glasses wearer, and you're getting to the point where you LIFT your glasses to see up close, you'll probably have similar experiences to me.

That tracks with what I’m experiencing a week post surgery. I’m a decade younger than you, but I’ve noticed that focusing on close objects like this phone as I type is definitely a bit more difficult, but improving by the day. Definitely noticed the halo effect at night a bit, but it’s not as bad as it was within the first few days after the surgery. Only road bump I’ve had so far was at 0300 three days post surgery, my left eye bandage contact came out when I woke up and tried to put eye drops in. That was exceedingly painful for the two hours or so until the Keesler AFB emergency room was able to place another.

[Moshjath]

I don't really remember how my optics looked before PRK, but they certainly don't look great these days, especially my EOTech EXPS3-2, it's bad enough that it's actually kinda a chore to zero, because the center dot is a pretty long coma to me, possibly worse than my old T-1 (my T-2, CompM5, P-1s, and P-2s all have some distortion in the shape, but are much better than the T-1 and EXPS3-2). It's pretty individual, IME, with some folks having much better RDS or HWS experience after surgery, some without much change, and some with degradation.

My natural night vision has also suffered, I get much worse halo and comas. I kinda wish I hadn't gotten PRK at this point, and had instead opted for ICLs; however, I would prefer PRK to having to deal with glasses or regular contact lenses.

Interesting. The doc didn’t even really discuss ICL for me as an option. In any case having already had it I’m quite committed to this course of action!

[The Rat]

I had PRK about 13 years ago and it's held up great, no issues that I've noticed. Best money I've ever spent.

Some red dots (Aimpoint T1 for example) still look like a / rather than a . but to be honest I don't remember at this point how they looked before the surgery.

[rathos]

How has your close up vision changed if at all? I have always had great close vision, but my distance stuff is crap. The one thing that kept me from doing PRK is I don't want to have issues with iron sighted pistols or reading. My doc said my up close stuff would most likely degrade pretty quickly.

I had PRK about 13 years ago and it's held up great, no issues that I've noticed. Best money I've ever spent.

Some red dots (Aimpoint T1 for example) still look like a / rather than a . but to be honest I don't remember at this point how they looked before the surgery.

[The Rat]

How has your close up vision changed if at all? I have always had great close vision, but my distance stuff is crap. The one thing that kept me from doing PRK is I don't want to have issues with iron sighted pistols or reading. My doc said my up close stuff would most likely degrade pretty quickly.

No issues so far, though the doc did advise me that I'll likely need reading glasses when I hit my 40s. Though he did say I'd probably need those without the PRK anyways.