I had eye surgery a little over a year ago. While my vision is OK there is one side effect of the surgery.

 

First I am right eye dominant and that is the eye upon which the surgery was performed. I am fine with iron sights and a scope, but when you add illumination to the mix, the side effect, mentioned above, comes into play, and that is optical scatter. I have heard people who have had Lasix surgery (not what I had) complain about halos around bright light sources. This is similar, except the extraneous images and scatter are below and to the left of the light source.

 

I know that you are supposed to keep both eyes open with a red dot and they are essentially parallax free. If I favor my left eye while looking at a light source, I have no scatter. So, the question is: If I use my non-dominant eye with a red dot, will I introduce error, as I would with iron sights and non-dominant eye use?

 

Thanks for your input.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

I am assuming you are referring to shooting a long gun and not a handgun, correct?

 

If I understand your condition correctly, I think that as long as the zero you have is current (post surgery) and you use the RDS correctly keeping both eyes open, you should be fine.

 

The difference with the RDS over Irons is that you keep focus on the target while superimposing the a single aiming point, the red dot, on the image downrange. It is a target focused sighting system so you do not need to focus on the dot as if it was a front sight, or line it up with anything.

 

Another trick to "train" your eyes to make the correction automatically is you can occlude the tube of the optic in training/practice/dry fire and let your brain combine the right eye dot/left eye target image into a proper sight picture (assuming a right handed shooter).

 

Using a quality optic will also help here.

 

Good luck.

WIthout my glasses I get the scatter in my RDS but with my glasses the astigmatism is corrected and goes away. But the older I get, the less my eyes seem to favor a projected red dot. Im finding these days an etched reticle is somewhat eaier on my eyes. Perhaps something like the Leupold Prismatic may work better for you now. Although highly subjective and surely individual results are likely to vary, my time differentials between an aimpoint and a unit with an actual reticle are tiny.

 

 

 

 

http://www.leupold.com/tactical/scopes/tactical-prismatic-riflescopes/prismatic-tactical-1x14mm/

Bob,

 

Have you tried both an Aimpoint and an Eotech? I'd be curious if you have the same problem with both, or if it's just the holograph that is distorting things.

Guys, thanks for the input - but I need to correct a few assumptions - first, it is on a handgun. It is a reflex sight (Burris FF III). I don't think I've shot my EOTech equipped AR since the surgery, but assume I'll get the same scatter there, as it seems to be any bright light source.

 

Driving at night is a bit more of a chore, but I must be subconsciously favoring my left eye, as it isn't too much of a problem.

 

I think that even with the scatter, I can discern which is the true dot and what constitutes scatter, it's just that things are so much clearer and better defined with the left eye. At this point the sight is yet to be mounted. My findings are just from holding the sight up and looking through it. Just got the mount corrected (a story in itself - "Just use a rubber mallet.") so should be completing my "build" this week.

 

Thanks again.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

Sorry Bob, just saw this reply.

 

With a pistol it should be even easier. Keep your right eye closed and zero the MRDS to your left eye. With a pistol it shouldn't be more than a slight head shift/tilt. With a good zero you may not even need to do that.

 

You can also try to put a piece of scotch tape on your shooting glasses right over your right eye. This should help train your left eye to take over a little more. Eventually it should be second nature to superimpose the dot on the target in a fashion that will work for you with your "new" eyes.

 

You may also want to ditch the Burris FF for a MRDS with a glass aperture like the Insight MRDS or a Trijicon RMR. In my experience they offer a much cleaner dot to start with then the plastic aperture on the Burris and the old Trijicon MRDSs.

I'm no expert but if its a decent red dot like Aimpoint etc, I would think that if you set it up that way(left eye) and zero it for that then as long as you are consistent it should send the bullet there every time.

Im a bit confused as to the references to zerioing the optic after surgery... once its zeroed, its zeroed.

 

The buety of an RDS is that when its zeroed, it does not matter how, in what position, or what eye you choose to look through it.  The RDS zero is not user dependant.

 

I am right eye dominant and a righty, so when I shoot support side I have to close my right eye otherwise I do not see the dot, once I close my right eye, I see it clear as day.  Obviosly there is no POA/POI shift.

 

For the OP, if you are shooting a pistol, I would imagine that shutting your right eye would solve your probelm.  This does make the whole point of an RDS a bit less effective since you are not shooting with both eyes open and limiting your situational awareness, but at least it will let you enjoy your firearms again.

 

Would your body be able to train your left eye to become the dominant one over time?  Honestly don't know, would be cool if it did.