Your vision-how much is it worth?

260madman

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This will be a bit long winded and it is what happened to me.

18 months ago I had a stroke. The stroke affected my vision, balance, coordination, migraines, vertigo, memory and cognitive issues. I was seeing double and everything shifted to the left along with vertigo and migraines. About 2 months after the stroke my provider said to do vision therapy at a place in town that specializes in it. So between vision therapy 2x per week and vestibular PT 1-2x per week I made significant progress.

If there was something to have wrong with your vision I had it. Between prisms, brock strings, light therapy, eye tracking, eye teaming, depth perception and peripheral therapy I was spent everyday. Migraines were and are debilitating to this day and I have them everyday. Did I forget the nausea and vertigo? Well they slap goggles on you and toss you around to align your ear crystals. Didn’t know I had the Issue until my brain did a short circuit. My PT is a Harvard PhD and has some studies published. Crazy stuff that she knows and does. She explained everything to us. She was not happy with my previous care at another facility for something else that ties in with this.

so after 6 months of eye therapy 2x per week to the tune of $8000 out of pocket and 17 months of vestibular PT it has paid off immensely. When I started therapy I would grab a pistol and try and acquire a target in my basement. It was horrible. I couldn’t repeatedly line the sights up. I am left eye dominant and right handed. I could never shoot both eyes open with my LPVOs on my ARs. By the end of May 2022 I was able to acquire the targets every time.

Last month I had LASIK performed. I will say that it has helped along with everything else. I am able to shoot both eyes open with my pistols and LPVO ARs and am no longer left eye dominant. I noticed the change a few months ago while doing pistol drills in my basement. With LASIK it was very apparent that everything has fallen into place. The downfall is I now have to adjust all the diopters on my scopes, I have a pile of them.

Grand total is $12,000 and that does not include gas running 100 miles round trip to all the appointments. Insurance picked up the vestibular PT. Total bill for my stroke is over $60,000 so far. I am fortunate that I always planned for the ”what ifs” in life. My wife nearly died 12 years ago and I worked 3 jobs to pay that bill off so after that I had savings set aside for the catastrophics in life along with other savings. If you think 6 months is enough you better double it.

How much is your vision worth? I’d skip the Instagram scope and go for LASIK to help out in everyday life. You read about the guy who has bad vision and thinks the $2500+ scope is his cure all when LASIK is $3800 and you will use it every single day. My vision was good before my stroke and wore glasses and contacts. Now I wear cheaters for upclose and nothing for distance. Maybe even look into some vision therapy, it helps everybody, I’ve seen it with all ages that walked through the door while I was there.

there‘s a lot I’m leaving out but this is a good overview and my cognitive issues don’t allow me to categorize things too well and go in order so if I went off track and rambled, it’s just the way things are now.
 

Mhopper5

Lil-Rokslider
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Dec 5, 2021
Messages
126
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California
This will be a bit long winded and it is what happened to me.

18 months ago I had a stroke. The stroke affected my vision, balance, coordination, migraines, vertigo, memory and cognitive issues. I was seeing double and everything shifted to the left along with vertigo and migraines. About 2 months after the stroke my provider said to do vision therapy at a place in town that specializes in it. So between vision therapy 2x per week and vestibular PT 1-2x per week I made significant progress.

If there was something to have wrong with your vision I had it. Between prisms, brock strings, light therapy, eye tracking, eye teaming, depth perception and peripheral therapy I was spent everyday. Migraines were and are debilitating to this day and I have them everyday. Did I forget the nausea and vertigo? Well they slap goggles on you and toss you around to align your ear crystals. Didn’t know I had the Issue until my brain did a short circuit. My PT is a Harvard PhD and has some studies published. Crazy stuff that she knows and does. She explained everything to us. She was not happy with my previous care at another facility for something else that ties in with this.

so after 6 months of eye therapy 2x per week to the tune of $8000 out of pocket and 17 months of vestibular PT it has paid off immensely. When I started therapy I would grab a pistol and try and acquire a target in my basement. It was horrible. I couldn’t repeatedly line the sights up. I am left eye dominant and right handed. I could never shoot both eyes open with my LPVOs on my ARs. By the end of May 2022 I was able to acquire the targets every time.

Last month I had LASIK performed. I will say that it has helped along with everything else. I am able to shoot both eyes open with my pistols and LPVO ARs and am no longer left eye dominant. I noticed the change a few months ago while doing pistol drills in my basement. With LASIK it was very apparent that everything has fallen into place. The downfall is I now have to adjust all the diopters on my scopes, I have a pile of them.

Grand total is $12,000 and that does not include gas running 100 miles round trip to all the appointments. Insurance picked up the vestibular PT. Total bill for my stroke is over $60,000 so far. I am fortunate that I always planned for the ”what ifs” in life. My wife nearly died 12 years ago and I worked 3 jobs to pay that bill off so after that I had savings set aside for the catastrophics in life along with other savings. If you think 6 months is enough you better double it.

How much is your vision worth? I’d skip the Instagram scope and go for LASIK to help out in everyday life. You read about the guy who has bad vision and thinks the $2500+ scope is his cure all when LASIK is $3800 and you will use it every single day. My vision was good before my stroke and wore glasses and contacts. Now I wear cheaters for upclose and nothing for distance. Maybe even look into some vision therapy, it helps everybody, I’ve seen it with all ages that walked through the door while I was there.

there‘s a lot I’m leaving out but this is a good overview and my cognitive issues don’t allow me to categorize things too well and go in order so if I went off track and rambled, it’s just the way things are now.
My comment doesn’t have to do with you sight, although I’m glad you figured it out.

I commend you for being responsible, planning ahead, and paying your debt. Not the norm these days. Kudos to you.
 
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260madman

260madman

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I know a guy that missed the biggest Ram in the Unit 3 times on his once in a lifetime tag because he was to cheap to get new contacts.

He never tagged a Ram
I’d pay double of what I have paid already to get the same results.

Tally up 5 years of glasses and contacts and you’ll hit LASIK territory. Cheaping out on contacts versus time and money in the hunt? Idiotic.
 

Rob5589

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Lots going on in that post but, glad to hear you're in a positive direction. My wife had Lasik about 5 years ago and 100% regretted not doing it sooner.
 

bnsafe

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I have a eye issue and my corneas are not shaped normal. I had a corneal transplant several years ago and have to wear scleral lenses to see anything. When my eyes hurt and I cant get them in I cant see a thing. Take my word for it, if you have good vision protect it, if you can do anything to get it, do it. Not being able to see is not fun.
I am not complaining by the way, alot of folks are worse off than me. Just saying once its gone you cant get it back so take care of it.
 
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260madman

260madman

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I did notice that the image through several scopes was sharper and a little easier to get behind the scope on a couple of scopes that have been finicky in the past. The next outing I’m taking a couple of 5-25 XTRIIs that are notorious for a tight eye box. Just playing around in the house with them I’ve noticed a difference. We’ll see how it plays out in the real world hopefully this weekend.
 
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I just had a LASIK tuneup on my right(dominant) eye 18yrs after the original Lasik.
Same doctor, charged me $500 for everything...Pretty good deal.
My right is now 20/15 although I lost my up-close vision in that eye.
My shooting has improved dramatically.
 
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260madman

260madman

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My LASIK progress is going better than expected.

Took a rifle out tonight with the Burris XTRII 5-25 on it. The Eyebox did not seem too finicky at all. I was not shooting prone or off of a bench. I turned it up to 25 and everything aligned, it was a definite improvement from the last time I shot the same rifle and scope combo. I’m thinking my therapy had more to do with it than LASIK but combined it certainly has helped.
 

yfarm

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Son is a vitreoretinal surgeon, takes ER trauma call because he like doing difficult salvage surgery. Daily horrendous eye injuries virtually all preventable with eye protection. Number 1 tool involved 4 1/2” angle grinder cutting tile. 2nd handheld small circular saw that binds and kicks up cutting across your face and eye.
Wear the glasses, being blind sucks.
 

SloppyJ

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I have a eye issue and my corneas are not shaped normal. I had a corneal transplant several years ago and have to wear scleral lenses to see anything. When my eyes hurt and I cant get them in I cant see a thing. Take my word for it, if you have good vision protect it, if you can do anything to get it, do it. Not being able to see is not fun.
I am not complaining by the way, alot of folks are worse off than me. Just saying once its gone you cant get it back so take care of it.

This thread popped up and while I was reading it I saw your reply. Sounds like you have Keratoconus. I suffer from the same issue and just got a sclearal fit in my right eye so I can see 20/40. Uncorrected it was 20/200. My left I caught it early enough and was in a clinical trial for cross linking before it was approved. So far, that has halted the progression in that eye.

This started when I was around 16 and it took a while for them to figure out what was wrong. By the time I was 23, I basically had to quit hunting because I couldn't see well enough. I'm about to roll over 36 and I've just got a handle on it. For years I could only see out of my left eye so I learned to shoot left handed with both guns and bows.

All of this to say, don't take your vision for granted. My next step is a corneal transplant and I'm not looking forward to when that day comes.
 

SloppyJ

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yes sir, keratoconus it is. scleral lenses arent to bad, just a pain
They're an absolute God send for me. They let me start hunting and fishing again. The more I talk to people, the more I find that have the same or similar problems. I hate that we all have them but it's nice to talk about it with people since most have no idea what it is.
 

Fire power

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If I get reviews that it’s the best then I’ll like to try it. Expensive things are that way for good reasons.
 
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