Have exactly the same eye problems as you. After 30 years of contacts quit wearing them last year because it's too hard to manage them when in the field and eyes dry with age, making contact lenses progressively more uncomfortable.
I've found 2 types of solutions that work very well to make iron sights sharply visible again:
1) With contacts -
a) soft contact lenses that correct for both myopia and astigmatism. There have been great technical advances recently that allow perfect correction of both problems with softs. You can have either dual vision correction - near vision one eye (usually dominant eye for shooting) - and far vision for the other eye. This gets rid of need for reading glasses. Some significant down sides for me were the need for care of contacts, tedious period of finding the right correction and type of lens, and problems with visual acuity at dusk - big problem in the brush for me. I could never work through this visual acuity problem so gave up on this solution. To make this work you need to have sufficient ability left to accommodate for far and near vision quickly and doesn't work for everyone.
b) A second solution involving contacts is bilateral eye far vision correction that allows great focus of front sight, rear sight, and target, but still requires reading glasses.
2) Progressive (no-line) eyeglasses - Mine are ground to provide excellent focus between 24 and 48 inches which lets me see pistol, and rifle, rear and front sights in perfect focus, through the lower part of the lens. I don't know whether this type of focal distance correction is routine, but I discussed with my optometrist my need for perfect visual acuity at the distances I needed for iron sights before he wrote the eyeglass prescription. The angle of the head when shooting places the eyeglass lens in a position for me that allows me to see the target in focus. You'll probably want to discuss all of this, as well as your specific needs, with your provider for professional advice.
I'm so satisfied with the results with my progressive eyeglass lenses that I have now taken scopes off some of my heavier caliber DGRs in favor of irons. I was never able to do so with my rigid GS contacts and had given up on all open sights and only occasionally used a peep.
There are attachments you can place on your dominant eyeglass lens that act as a diaphragm and sharpen the focus of the sights. While this works on the target range, I've not found it a practical solution in the field while hunting. Hope this helps.
Last edited by Wildcatter264; 01/02/11.
