Dry eyes and blurred vision behind the scope

[DIYguy]

I've been noticing more and more that when I spend longer periods of time behind the scope I start to loose my vision and can't focus on the target. Last weekend I was doing ladder load tests for a new rifle and the blurred vision was getting really bad. Been figuring it's just part of aging eyes. After the last challenge with blurry vision behind the scope I was trying to figure out what might be causing the problem and think I came up with the answer.

A while back while eating at a restaurant I mentioned to my wife my vision was getting weird and distorted and blurring. She just mater of fact told me probably dry eye and need some drops. She had some in her purse so tried it. It worked. As she explained it, the surface of the eyeball is corrugated and the fluid coating the eyeball smooths the surface and evens the corrugation. Simple version but it works.

Thought back to the blurry eye incident and got to thinking about what happens behind the scope. Long periods of time intently focusing on target and not blinking. After a while of not blinking the eyeball dries out and vision blurs. Lifting the head, closing the eyes, blinking helps but comes back pretty quick. Next trip to the range going to be taking my wife's eye drops and see if it helps stay in focus and on target.

Anyone else run into this one?

 

[SkyScrapin]

Yes. A detached retina, early cataract and a multi-focal lens later, my shooting eye dries out pretty quick. Add in some allergies, and it totally f's my vision and irritates my eyeball.

Get some Blink Tears or Blink Gel Tears. They're the best thing on the market for dry eyes.

 

[DIYguy]

Wife had the early cataracts and did the multi focal lens option. Did not go well.

 

[Fig]

Do you close an eye, or both eyes open? I find closing an eye causes way more strain, and I would guess also probably keeps you from naturally blinking the open one...

 

[DIYguy]

Haven't mastered both eyes open behind a scope. Doing better with both eyes open with the pistol and a red dot but behind the rifle I have to close one eye.

 

[SkyScrapin]

Wife had the early cataracts and did the multi focal lens option. Did not go well.

Sorry to hear that. My vision came back in an XRay format. But it gets dry from time to time.

 

[seansmd]

Also, shooting glasses that block wind and sun help.

 

[Duc]

What's your blood sugar level?

Retaine is good stuff and in small sterile droppers.

 

[acudaowner]

did you happen to be tired ? maybe you just needed a break standing up and stretching it could be a good thing every few hours .

 

[Sieg]

I've been fighting it for a while now and at my last range session made a note to take moisture adding eye drops next time out.
Hope it works for you.

 

[Gee Kay]

Staying hydrated helps with eye sight I've heard.

 

[smoothy8500]

I've been noticing more and more that when I spend longer periods of time behind the scope I start to loose my vision and can't focus on the target.

All those years shooting Service Rifle I still focus on the reticle. Regardless, as eyes age, the diopter adjustment on the ocular lens may need to get moved in the + direction to relieve eyestrain.

 

[Supersubes]

Haven't mastered both eyes open behind a scope. Doing better with both eyes open with the pistol and a red dot but behind the rifle I have to close one eye.

Have you ever focused your reticle with the ocular adjustment? Might be worthwhile to do it again. Do you have trouble setting parallax? Try taping up the left eye of your shooting glasses and shoot both eyes open. You shooting with clear glasses or tinted? Any chance the lenses of your glasses are causing distortion, which your eye is trying to correct? Typically when people are on the gun they’re not looking through the center of the lense, instead higher and towards the bridge. Addressing those things may alleviate all of your eye strain. You can also try recognizing these things earlier and give your eyes a rest. Frequent eye drops would help as mentioned already.

 

[Rateoftwist]

Great post! As noted above I too have had vision blurring if I was fatigued. Once working emergency response, I was up for about 72 hours and I started to see double... no joke double vision... went to the doc and he told me to go to sleep. Amazing what general fatigue and added age factors can take on the body.

 

[DIYguy]

Good stuff guys.
Regarding tired, it makes a big difference if I go to the range on the weekend verse after work. Working on a computer with a lot of CAD and spreadsheet work does a number on the eyes. Last trip was after work to squeeze in some test loads.
DUC: Interesting you mention retain, I "borrowed" a strip of my wife's retaine and added it to the rifle range bag for the next trip.
Have prescription shooting glasses but those tend to be more for pistol shooting, I end up using my bifocals for the scope.

 

[hk_shootr]

Haven't mastered both eyes open behind a scope. Doing better with both eyes open with the pistol and a red dot but behind the rifle I have to close one eye.

Set up your shooting glasses with tape over the non dominant lense. This helped me immensely.

 

[Dunraven]

Start with a complete eye exam n go from there. There are so many reasons for blurred vision, there is no point in going into all of them, or guessing at a backyard solution , until you at least have some baseline measurements(this, from an 'eye doctor'!).

 

[XTCBoltAction]

Set up your shooting glasses with tape over the non dominant lense. This helped me immensely.

This.
And, use eye drops regularly. All the staring at the scope/sights keeps your eye open more/less blinking. I use Bausch and Lomb drops.

Absolutely stay hydrated. They say if you're not pissing you're too dry.
Keep your blood sugar level up. I'm told that our eyes run on water and glucose.

And, yeah, long sessions with the computer puts you behind before you start.

 

[Dthomas3523]

This.
And, use eye drops regularly. All the staring at the scope/sights keeps your eye open more/less blinking. I use Bausch and Lomb drops.

Absolutely stay hydrated. They say if you're not pissing you're too dry.
Keep your blood sugar level up. I'm told that our eyes run on water and glucose.

And, yeah, long sessions with the computer puts you behind before you start.

High blood sugar creates blurry vision. You don’t need anymore sugar than the normal amount and most people consume too much sugar as is.

 

[XTCBoltAction]

Right. Was there something I said that sounded like eating a lot of sugar?

 

[Fig]

 

[Dollman]

I've been noticing more and more that when I spend longer periods of time behind the scope I start to loose my vision and can't focus on the target. Last weekend I was doing ladder load tests for a new rifle and the blurred vision was getting really bad. Been figuring it's just part of aging eyes. After the last challenge with blurry vision behind the scope I was trying to figure out what might be causing the problem and think I came up with the answer.

A while back while eating at a restaurant I mentioned to my wife my vision was getting weird and distorted and blurring. She just mater of fact told me probably dry eye and need some drops. She had some in her purse so tried it. It worked. As she explained it, the surface of the eyeball is corrugated and the fluid coating the eyeball smooths the surface and evens the corrugation. Simple version but it works.

Thought back to the blurry eye incident and got to thinking about what happens behind the scope. Long periods of time intently focusing on target and not blinking. After a while of not blinking the eyeball dries out and vision blurs. Lifting the head, closing the eyes, blinking helps but comes back pretty quick. Next trip to the range going to be taking my wife's eye drops and see if it helps stay in focus and on target.

Anyone else run into this one?

Yep... I use Refresh eye drops every couple of hours. The night before I go shooting I drink a ton of water and lots of water at the range. Also, I don't drink any alcohol the day or night before range day. Has worked for me the last few years.

 

[Powder_Burns]

Shooting pistols at distance, a few blinks prior to aiming would sharpen up your vision..same concept anyway, blinking lubricates your eyeballs. I have a bottle of eye drops for computer use, formulated for tired dried out eyes. Good otc product but I actually had prescription eye drops many years back after an eye injury at work. Apparently ppe is a thing. After pulling out a piece of wire from my eye, went to the eye doctor who gave me an anesthetic cream and a box of single use ‘synthetic teardrops’.
Having a proper cheek weld/eye relief/head position will help a lot too. Looking straight forward out your skull induces less fatigue than having your eye focused up or down.

 

[seanh]

One thing that you need to be aware of is how blood pressure affects eyesight. 2 high blood pressure and you get blurry vision to lower blood pressure and well I think you just pass out.

Control your diet, the day before you go shoot no caffeine, no cigarettes, no significantly fatty foods, no sugary Foods.

After every string of shots, relax and close your eyes for about a minute, pick your head up from the rifle and look around for a couple of minutes ... being sure that you focus on everything from 5 yards to as far out as you can see... every three to five strings, get up from the rifle go walk around for 5 minutes.

Another thing people don't think about is breathing. Well of course we know it's necessary, what people forget about is the blood oxygen ratio necessary for Clear Vision. So if you're taking shallow breaths and then holding for the shot guess what... You probably just jacked your vision all up. Since everybody's physiology is a little bit different you'll have to figure out what works for you. For me it's three or four deep breaths from the diaphragm, slowly let out last one, about 80%.

 

[seansmd]

What about drinking a lot the night before a match in the ?

 

[SporterII]

Floaters. Blurred sight picture sometimes seems lighting changes but floaters are big issue for me.

 

[napt0wnc1ty99]

One thing that you need to be aware of is how blood pressure affects eyesight. 2 high blood pressure and you get blurry vision to lower blood pressure and well I think you just pass out.

Control your diet, the day before you go shoot no caffeine, no cigarettes, no significantly fatty foods, no sugary Foods.

After every string of shots, relax and close your eyes for about a minute, pick your head up from the rifle and look around for a couple of minutes ... being sure that you focus on everything from 5 yards to as far out as you can see... every three to five strings, get up from the rifle go walk around for 5 minutes.

Another thing people don't think about is breathing. Well of course we know it's necessary, what people forget about is the blood oxygen ratio necessary for Clear Vision. So if you're taking shallow breaths and then holding for the shot guess what... You probably just jacked your vision all up. Since everybody's physiology is a little bit different you'll have to figure out what works for you. For me it's three or four deep breaths from the diaphragm, slowly let out last one, about 80%.

Bust out that foam roller the day before and loosen up!

As for the dry eyes, I get killed during allergy season. Might be a factor for you, not sure. Usually bring something like Gatorade g2 and a banana in the bag if I’m out there for a while and that helps me for dry eyes outside of Claritin. Although FL gets hot so potentially different situation.

 

[LawnMM]

Haven't mastered both eyes open behind a scope

There's your problem. Eye fatigue. Does it happen with breaks?

 

[mkelly]

I cannot go through the day with out drops. Whether at the range or on the computer. Chronic dry eyes suck.

 

[Seymour Fish]

There's your problem. Eye fatigue. Does it happen with breaks?

Consider lutein, lycopene, zinc, adequate B’s

 

[fencewire]

Do you close an eye, or both eyes open? I find closing an eye causes way more strain, and I would guess also probably keeps you from naturally blinking the open one...

I too have found that opening my non-dominant eye, even slightly, helps with the strain. We regularly have humidity below 20% so eyes dry out a lot, as I have started shooting NRL type matches I have added re-wetting drops (contacts) to my bag and add a few when my vision starts getting irregular.

 

[wpgk58]

I keep a bottle of eye drops in my range bag for just these circumstances, and also when dust blows back in your face.

 

[seansmd]

Also wearing eye protection helps, it cuts down on wind and dust getting to your eyes. I see so many shooters not wearing eye protection. It is more than safety.

 

[checkmate101]

I had vision correction surgery 1.5 years ago. Since then I always keep some drops on me. I use the preservative free (individual little droppers with about 6-10 drops/dropper). The preservatives in some of the eye drops will also lead to dryer eyes over time if used frequently (info from my ophthalmologist and optometrist).

https://www.costco.com/refresh-plus-lubricant-eye-drops%2C-100-single-use-containers.product.11318658.html

That is what i get.

 

[Ugly_Duck]

What's your blood sugar level?

Retaine is good stuff and in small sterile droppers.

Blood sugar affecting vision? Is this in extreme cases?

 

[Eli17L]

My eye doctor has me use a heated mask at least 15 minutes a day and it has helped. Puts me to sleep immediately also which is nice.

 

[OutThere]

An occluder on the non-dominant eye helps alot.

Dehydration is also a driving factor.

 

[sinister]

My eye doctor has me use a heated mask at least 15 minutes a day and it has helped. Puts me to sleep immediately also which is nice.

A detailed eye exam will help diagnose whether your tear ducts are blocked. As we age, the aqueous humor in the eyeball may not properly drain, raising internal eyeball pressure (causing glaucoma). Drops and a warm mask can help drain tear ducts as the humor becomes thicker (like vaseline) than thinner and free-flowing.