Lost focus in dominant eye

[jeffjeeptj]

I have always been strongly left handed,left eye dominant and somewhat far sighted. Recently, i had two locations in my left eye where the retina tore and detached. Went through laser re-attachment and am released to go back to life with no doctor imposed restrictions. But, the vision in my left eye is now pretty poor. If I look at the Snellen Eye Chart, the E at the top is fuzzy and if I look at the license plate on the car in front of me at a stoplight with only my left eye, i can see there is a plate but it is totally unreadable. I am relearning depth perception when walking and driving. Doctor says retina is re-attached, and in his experience, he has seen vision improve over a one year period.
So, since released, I have gone to an outdoor range and fired about 10 rounds with my pistol and realize I have to learn to shoot all over again. I could not hit the target at 3 yards with my normal left handed left eyed posture. When I held left handed and sighted using my right eye, I was able to hit a 3 inch target every time. I am thinking I need to learn to shoot right handed.
Any thoughts on the process to change over to shooting right handed? Practice, practice, practice?
At least I never bought a left handed rifle or shotgun, and now, all accessories will be easier to find. :wink:
Thanks in advance

 

[contender]

Learning to use your "less dominant" eye, and or hand,,, can be done,,, and often easier than you think.
Also, MANY folks are cross dominant. Right handed,,, left eye dominant, or left handed & right eye dominant.
First,,, study how dominant you are with your hands. As a life long lefty,, in an emergency, you will revert to motor memory skills. You will use your left hand. So, I'd suggest you look into using your right eye,,, and left hand, as the way to re-learn how to shoot. Canting the gun, or slightly shifting it, with a slight wrist angle change, will allow the use of your normal hand, and make your "good" eye the main focal plane.

 

[Dan in MI]

Guessing here, but with both eyes open will your dominant hand move towards your dominant eye on it's own?

I have gone from strong right eye to nearly neutral dominance. If I notice my shooing open up I have to blink my left eye to force right eye focus. It is really bad with my bow.

 

[Ethang]

I've been cross eye dominant my whole life, right hand/left eye. I shoot a handgun right hand, using my left eye to aim, just shifting the weapon over. I shoot a long gun left hand.

The advantage I believe is I can shoot on either side on my body pretty easy, it just takes a split second longer to adjust my focus. Give it some time.

 

[Kevin]

I'm also a strong left handed dominant, but more and more I am realizing my right eye is stronger, with sharper vision. I still shoot with my left eye, but have thought about practicing with left hand, right eye.

You sound correct with just practice, practice and more practice.

Good luck!

 

[DGW1949]

I'm in a similar situation as the OP, meaning that my dominant eye can no longer focus on anything close to me. As Contender has said, the "fix" was to teach myself to use my normally non-dominant eye for looking at the front sight.
Yeah, it takes some effort to unlearn an old habit...and yeah, there's still times that "switching eyes" slows me down a bit.

But hey, I'm getting better at it all the time.
Dedicated practice...that's what it's about.

DGW

 

[CGDustDevil]

Learning to use your "less dominant" eye, and or hand,,, can be done,,, and often easier than you think.
Also, MANY folks are cross dominant. Right handed,,, left eye dominant, or left handed & right eye dominant.
First,,, study how dominant you are with your hands. As a life long lefty,, in an emergency, you will revert to motor memory skills. You will use your left hand. So, I'd suggest you look into using your right eye,,, and left hand, as the way to re-learn how to shoot. Canting the gun, or slightly shifting it, with a slight wrist angle change, will allow the use of your normal hand, and make your "good" eye the main focal plane.

I think Ty's advice is excellent! My dad was a lifelong righty with a dominant left eye, and having grown up using his right eye before he realized his left eye was dominant, it meant he could shoot with either eye. He shot with both eyes open always, and was as good a shot as I've ever seen. He could hit stuff that I couldn't even see. In fact, to make it 'fair', he'd sometimes compete with me with his weak (right) eye. And he'd still beat me. The point being that his switching of left to right eye was barely noticeable to the casual observer. Which means that there was very little change in his shooting posture. Very little to 're-learn' IOW.

Best regards, Pete

 

[Colonialgirl]

Who was it that brought the rifle to the East Coast Gathering at Ty's place one year that was made for a right handed, Left eye dominate shooter? As I recall the stock felt and looked a bit weird when you picked it up , but once on the right shoulder the barrel and sights lined up with the LEFT eye and it felt and shot GREAT.
I've wanted one of those ever since.

 

[Cholo]

Amanda aka *frustrated middle child* brought that rifle. Talk about looking awkward trying to figure it out Great fun! It was a .22 rifle that you held right handed but the stock curved far left for a righty who was left eye dominant.

I found it east to shoot a handgun with my off eye. I'm practicing shooting lefty with a pellet rifle. I'm one for one shooting an eve living starling left handed off my overhead fiber optic line. I'm just glad I still have an internet connection :shock:

 

[gasbag]

I've gone through what you experienced.
The retina in my left eye detached last January.
Had surgery and I had to go for another surgery the next day.
Two months later I was cleared to go about my business.
Two days after that it detached again.
One more surgery and this time they filled the eye with oil to work as sort of a cast.
Last November another surgery to remove the oil and do a lot of laser work on it
and now they think I may be ok.
Can I see out of it? Well, no. Not really but I am not blind either.
I've lost central vision and can no longer see the color red in that eye.
I have shot left handed left eye dominant all my life.
I now shoot left handed and use my right eye.
It's weird but I am getting used to it.
My biggest problem is shooting a rifle.
I am relearning to shoot again right handed.
It is one awkward stumble footed feeling but I am doing pretty well I think.
I am also relearning to shoot trap right handed.
The pigeons need not fear me one bit......but I am learning.
I used to have 20/20 vision.
Now my left eye is 20/2200.
Oh well.
It sucks but I am not going to stop shooting.
I just need to change a few things.
I do not drive as yet though. No depth perception is weird.
I have no friggin' idea where the front fenders are on my truck................. :shock:

 

[jeffjeeptj]

I appreciate all the replies and advice. I agree about the depth perception and also the left right position of the front fenders. I live in an area where the neighborhood roads are three cars wide, and people park on both sides. It is also fun to go through the tunnel that is two lanes wide at 65 during rush hours in the dark.
I put a rifle up in my hands today, and will have to learn right handed shooting as I do not anticipate getting a curved stock. Besides, i won't miss the semi-auto ejected brass passing across my face.
Sorry to hear about your multiple operations. Glad to know you have some vision.

I learned lefty, so it must be possible to learn righty, many have. Just have to get started.

Thanks to all.

 

[opos]

I had a branch retinal occlusion (ruptured artery) in the right retina...it's stabilized and no more issues but the exact location of the occlusion is the focal point in that retina..the vision in most of the eye is still good but the center is like looking through a bubble..much distortion. I am right handed and was always right eye dominant...shot for many years and either rifle, shotgun or handgun I was strictly a "righty".

I find now that the left eye has become stronger and in fact checks out dominant with the "triangle" test. I've tried shooting left handed (sort of works), right handed with my gun cocked to present the sights in front of the left eye...cocking my head to put the eye in line with the sights, etc...and here is what I have settled on and it works well

Handguns...right handed hold..both eyes open..do a lot of dry firing to train the eyes to relax.
Rifles...strictly shoot with scopes or red dots..no iron sights for me....right handed stance.
Shotgun...right handed stance with both eyes open (which I always did anyway)

Being nearly 80 I'm lucky to hit the target but have had good luck with the above....just took some time to have the eyes adjust and it takes relaxation to allow the eyes to "settle in" to the double eye sight picture.

Works for me.