Jump to content

Anyone 50 or over like to shoot...read on


R.L.

Recommended Posts

Like most of you, I think I see well enough. I drive ok,  I shoot, hit the target. I still shoot pretty good groups so everything must be ok with my vision...right?

Wrong.I have spent the last year being tested/evaluated for what my ophthalmologist referred to as "atypical glaucoma" caused by narrow angles in the eye. 

This all started with a simple glaucoma test at an optometrist's office when I went in to buy new glasses after being in denial that my vision was slipping after all these years. After looking into my eyes she freaked out and refused to dilate my eyes for fear she would trigger a negative response, and  referred me to a specialist sayinbg I had a potentially dangerous condition. I'm like WTF??? 

This condition, narrow angles, can happen to anyone but mostly in people 50 and over. You can't see it or feel it, you will never know it until it's too late. If the eye pressure changes and two parts of your inner eye make contact, it can cause instant permanent blindness! 

At first they thought I had a brain tumor pressing in causing the high eye pressure. After living with this unknown for the last 3 moinths, I was finally told yesterday that was not the case.

Relief...kinda.

I still have to endure a rather painful laser procedure to alleviate the draining/pressure issue.

Guys if you haven't had your eyes checked in years or worse never checked. go schedule an eye exam today, and get checked for glaucoma too.

Losing your sight or the prospect of losing it really was a game changer for me.

Think about it...No hunting, no shooting, no driving, never see your family's faces again.

Go schedule that exam today!

 

R.L.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

+1 on this! My wife's ophthalmologist helped diagnose a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball that had no outward symptoms other than one eye's vision being slightly darker than the other eye. Her subsequent surgery was a complete success, although they had to sever one olfactory nerve, which means she can't smell very well (but from my perspective that's actually a benefit).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A big thank you to Dr. Bales for helping me privately with critical information on my problem. It's nice to have a board where everyone in the shooting community can communicate with one another about ALL topics without getting zapped, just because it was deemed "unworthy" by one person.

Collectively we can all learn a lot of new stuff.

Vision means being able to do what we all live for, to shoot. 

No vision, no shooting.

Not much of anything like it once was without vision.

You only get one set of eyes guys,

Take care of them!

 

R.L.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hello all. This is my first post. I am an optometrist, and had to sign up just to comment here. I agree with all that's been said here. Both glaucoma and eye/brain tumors are fairly rare, but do happen. And, like many other medical conditions, can be detected in the eyes during an eye examination.

How often should you get your eyes checked? Who cares, just do it somewhat routinely in general, and promptly if you experience any new and unusual vision changes, especially if your medical condition includes hypertension, diabetes, or strong family history of eye disease.

When people ask me what's the likely hood of this or that condition to occur, I always tell them,

"It's like getting hit by a car in the parking lot, it's 100% if you're the one, and it's 0% if you're not."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...