Casey Packer O.D. of Austin’s Lone Star Eye Center writes:
“In order to accurately visualize a target when shooting you must focus on the front sight of the gun while simultaneously viewing the target. Unfortunately, there is an anatomical flaw called accommodation that disrupts our visual system from doing this naturally. Accommodation is the process where our eyes focus in unison on a near visual target. The focusing muscles are connected between the two eyes. Therefore it is not possible to have one eye affix a near target (in this case the front sight) and a distant target (shooting target) without the use of prescription eyewear. What I’ve done in the pictures you see above is exactly measure the distance from the dominant eye of our shooter (the truth himself, Mr. Farago) to the front sight. Then . . .
“I use this distance to determine his prescription at that focal point. This prescription is placed in the dominant eye’s lens while the other lens of the glasses is set at the normal distance prescription. This custom prescription will allow Mr. Farago to effectively focus both targets equally and bypass the accommodation system to improve overall accuracy.
“Not all barrels are the same distance from the eyes so depending on the variety of firearms used I can determine an average prescription to work with your full artillery. A patient using this custom method of eyewear won a national shooting competition shortly after its use in the competition circuit and claimed his accuracy improved by 20-30%.”
RF here: Wearing a pair of glasses with the close-up lens on the right eye and the far away lens on the left eye is a friggin’ revelation. I tested the system out on a pair of sunglasses and Hallelujah! I was blind but now I SEE! I can see the little gap on either side of the front sight within the rear sight AND the target. I’d say my accuracy improved 50 percent. Then again 50 percent of not much is . . . a lot better.
Some people report headaches when they use this system. Casey reckons that’s because they don’t have enough of a difference between their eyes. As a Jew I’ve been blessed with two crappy eyes of differing crapitude. (Thank you inbreeding.) So this works a treat every day, all day. The only downside: I have to switch to reading glasses or ditch specs entirely for close-up work.
This is no big sacrifice; I’m much more confident with my shooting at all distances, at all times, including possible defensive gun uses. YMMV and finding an eye doctor who’s happy to measure the distance between your dominant eye and the front sight (e.g., Kahr PM9) in your preferred shooting stance might be a little tricky in states like, say, New Jersey. But I can’t recommend this process enough.
[Note: I paid Dr. Casey cash for his services and my glasses. Yeah, it’s that good.]