Shooting while requiring corrective lenses.

My vision is pretty good when I wear my glasses or contacts and I am legally able to operate a motor vehicle without corrective lenses.  I have an astigmatism which while I basically can see very well with minimal correction for magnification or reduction everything is slightly blurred so at the same time I do not feel safe driving especially if I have to try and read road signs while driving along a section of road.  And shooting let alone having to determine if someone has a weapon and may possibly cause me harm. . . not going to happen.  All it would take is mistaking a stick in a low light situation for a firearm and making the choice that there is a threat approaching and a very big mistake could be in the works for everyone involved.  The opposite is also true, there could be a potentially dangerous person coming towards you with a knife and never say a word about their intentions, before you know it you have been harmed and had the right, ability and yet not the sight to defend yourself.  This tells me that good vision is a requirement if you plan to carry a firearm and you should be getting your vision checked at regular intervals.  Just because you are legal to drive doesn't mean that your vision is good enough to defend your life should the situation warrant it.  Not to mention the potential backlash should the weapon you saw being picked up by someone else and the possibility of being charged.  Could your vision become a liability in a type of situation such as this?

Another aspect to think about is hunting, we tend to try and be more alert for sounds and smells when we are out in the woods.  We have to even be aware of our own scent but for anything outside of around 20 feet the senses of sound and smell are pretty much at a loss so we have to rely on our vision to be able to hit game at any major range, sadly I don't see most people having the superb skills like Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli so on top of having good glass on your rifle it is important that we have good glasses or contacts on our eyes.  While scopes can help us to see better than with our standard vision they should not be a replacement for good vision.  If you find that you just can't see well enough any more to use iron sights you really should be visiting your eye doctor to see what can be done to help correct the problem.  If you are like me and have the desire to hunt hogs or other potentially dangerous prey you may come across a situation where you absolutely must shoot using iron sights.  In fact my rifle is setup so that I do not have to remove the scope to use the iron sights for this exact reason, I don't want to have to fumble with a scope when a 250 pound boar comes striding up 20 yards in front of me.  If you are unable to use the iron sights up to 100 yards you are severely limiting your options in my opinion.  And carrying a pistol with a scope or other vision enhancing sights especially if you happen to be in a state that requires concealment really is not an option.  Many of the same things will apply when you bow hunt as well plus the added worry about catching your glasses when you draw or release.

Now you really have to begin thinking about what type of correction will work best for you and your situation.  If you shoot regularly at an indoor range you will have different requirements compared to an outdoor range, you will also have different requirements shooting a rifle compared to a pistol so you will really want to try and find someone to take care of your eyes who also understands the unique situations.  The office I visit does understand and has worked with people who need corrective lenses in their life so they have a great ability to help.  I am fairly new the realm of contact lenses, I always wanted them when I was younger but other priorities had to be dealt with before I could afford having them.  In the last few years I have been able to change my insurance coverage so that is no longer a problem I have to think about.  But lets look at some advantages and disadvantages of glasses and contact lenses.

Glasses are a great choice for a lot of things in a lot of situations they can correct vision to such a degree that you can have much better than 20/20 vision.  But they do have a few downfalls as well.  Sometimes they can easily be smudged which can be almost as bad as not having them at all and if it's raining or misting the moisture can collect in spots disrupting your vision.  They will tend to get in the way at the least opportune times and can really cause problems when sighting through a scope that doesn't have as much eye relief as it could.  And if you bow hunt or even target practice your draw and/or release can catch them which is never a good thing.  If you need safety glasses you will find it's a pain to try and find a pair that will fit over your glasses so you may even have to have a special pair made for safety reason and maybe another pair with tinted lenses for outdoor shooting.  But if you have dry eyes you may find that contact lenses are not a good option for you and glasses are the only solution.

Contacts have a huge advantage in the field of view, as since they are completely covering your eye everything should be in focus including your peripheral vision and with no frames to block even the smallest spot your world can just seem a little bit larger especially if you are used to wearing glasses.  Also with glasses the lenses are fitted in such a way that they need to stay in and exact position to give the correction you need.  If they shift around too much that correction can be diminished or even lost, contacts again being directly on your eye do not have this issue at all.  And if you wear amber lenses for shooting or safety glasses at an indoor range contact lenses will not get in the way at all.  This also allows you to buy "cheapo" sunglasses or safety glasses that just fit and not shell out a couple hundred extra for specialty glasses.  The HUGE disadvantage for contacts is dust and dirt, if you are in a windy environment and dust is being blown around it will find your eyes and trust me sometimes even a little speck of dust feels like a boulder with contact lenses.  And while dust on the naked eye can be uncomfortable it sometimes seems like the contacts can attract and hold on to things causing them to be irritated for hours and even require the lenses to be removed and cleaned or even left out for your eyes to rest after the incursion.

One last thing to talk about is Lasik and Orthokeratology, we have all seen and heard the Lasik commercials by now and it is a great option if your vision is stable and you don't want to worry about contacts or glasses.  Your vision has to be to the point where you are no longer legal to drive without corrective lenses and while it will give you good vision it may not be "perfect" vision.  I found this out when I went to see about it for myself and my wife.  I am legal to drive and while Lasik would give me better vision I am still probably seeing better with my glasses and contact lenses.  My wife has an illness that tends to affect and change her vision slightly over time and while Lasik could get her close to good vision it would likely still require some sort of correction outside the procedure to deal with the fluctuations and if there is a drastic change the Lasik procedure will not have done much if any good.  Orthokeratology is something that not many people know about on the other hand but basically it's the act of wearing a special contact lens at night while you sleep that helps to reshape your eye so that when the lens is out the vision is corrected.  It is expensive and will not likely give much better than 20/32 vision so if you really have to have great or even perfect vision this probably will not be a good option, it is also a temporary change requiring you to wear the lenses every night to have the correction remain.

Depending on your eyesight you may also want to look into mono vision if you wear contacts or have Lasik done.  If you wear bifocals or even tri focal glasses and were to switch to contacts or have Lasik done you will find that you will still need reading glasses for things up close.  This is often times still much better as you can generally see anything else outside of arms reach very well.  What mono vision does is allows one eye to do the majority of the up close work and the other eye to do the ranged work.  If you are right handed you would want to have a reading lens in your right eye and a distance one in your left.  You would use your right eye for focus on your sights and while your target may be a little bit blurrier than if you had normal vision you will be able to aim and target correctly.  Plus you should be able to slightly focus your target with your left eye at the same time as you should be using both eyes anyway and if you are right hand right eye dominant your left eye should be closed just slightly to allow full dominance to take place.  The disadvantage to mono vision is that you may have some loss of depth perception and it can be disorientating as well as suffer some loss in night vision so it is best to try it before you buy it especially if you are going to have Lasik done.  You can likely have a pair of glasses made up this way or try a pair of contacts for a few weeks before taking the plunge.

So the moral to the story is go get your eyes checked and see if there are some options out there for you to enjoy the shooting and hunting we all like, and if you are licensed to carry a firearm for self defense or even work related GET YOUR EYES CHECKED, it's no different than taking your vehicle down for an oil change.  Your eyes should be checked yearly if you wear contacts and at least every two years if you wear glasses.  And while your at it go get a free pair of glasses on me over at Coastal.  Just look for the link at the top of the page that says "Get your first pair free" select a pair from the ones available and then use the code "FIRSTPAIRFREE" when you check out.  You still have to pay shipping but you can't beat the deal.

Stay safe out there, America. The crazies are always out on the prowl.