I recently joined Gulf Coast Bird Observatory and being new to observing birds, I bought a pair of porro binoculars. To my dismay I was unable to correct it and others who tried them said everything looked fine. After some research online as to the possible problems, I’ve determined that this double vision is because I had cataract surgery and had one eye set to distance and the other set to closer in. I’m wondering if that alone could cause this problem or if possibly the implanted lenses are not perfectly aligned. I’m also wondering if I would have the same affect with the roof prism binoculars. Do any other folks who have had cataract surgery have this problem?
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Double vision with binoculars (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Crgraves2
- Start date
Cataract surgery in 2008 or 2009, no such problem.
Exactly what do you mean by "double vision"? Describe precisely what you see.
So far, you haven’t said anything which even convinces me that you have the IPD set correctly.
You need to help us to help you.
Exactly what do you mean by "double vision"? Describe precisely what you see.
So far, you haven’t said anything which even convinces me that you have the IPD set correctly.
You need to help us to help you.
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I doubt that roof versus prism will make any difference, they both deliver the same result to your eyes.
When you get new binos you have to set the diopter setting, i.e. adjust the focus of the binoculars for both eyes. They usually come with the setting on "zero" but with the different focus of your eyes it sounds like you'll have to adjust it toward the plus or minus to get them to match - have you tried experimenting with this? If they're porros it's probably a ring around one of the eyepieces with little numbers on it.
do you know what I'm talking about? If not there is a procedure to set the diopter. You close the eye on the side with the diopter ring on it, usually the right side. You then focus the binoculars with only your left eye open. Then, you close your left eye and open the right. You turn the diopter ring until the image is focused in the right eye. Then open both eyes and everything should be sharp
When you get new binos you have to set the diopter setting, i.e. adjust the focus of the binoculars for both eyes. They usually come with the setting on "zero" but with the different focus of your eyes it sounds like you'll have to adjust it toward the plus or minus to get them to match - have you tried experimenting with this? If they're porros it's probably a ring around one of the eyepieces with little numbers on it.
do you know what I'm talking about? If not there is a procedure to set the diopter. You close the eye on the side with the diopter ring on it, usually the right side. You then focus the binoculars with only your left eye open. Then, you close your left eye and open the right. You turn the diopter ring until the image is focused in the right eye. Then open both eyes and everything should be sharp
tenex
reality-based
My wife is often wearing contact lenses that are set up this way. I find it hard to believe but the brain adapts. She doesn't fiddle with diopters on bins; would it even have enough range to correct for this? I suppose that means she's effectively using only one eye when birding? But in any case she doesn't complain of "double vision"; I get the impression the situation is much the same for her with or without bins.
When I look through the binoculars I see two overlapping images that will not align into one. I tried adjusting the diopter ring to bring these two side by side images into one image. One image is also slightly higher than the other. I also tried adjusting the width between the two sides. Another person did the same thing but said they saw one image. I hope this makes sense and clarifies my question regarding post cataract surgery. Maybe a monocular would be a better choice. Thank you for your response.
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Thank you. I did that after reading how to adjust the diopter. I had an inexpensive pair of binoculars many years ago and had no problem. I have a longer explanation in one of the other member responses. I appreciate all of the responses.
Well, first off, that is not what the diopter does.
My guess (emphasize guess) is a misaligned implant, or eyeball. Talk to your ophthalmologist, and explain your difficulty.
I’m assuming that you have this problem with other binoculars, if not that one is obviously out of alignment.
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I am not qualified to provide any sort of diagnosis re the OPs concerns over double vision. I have had an experience that may provide some perspective on his experience, might even suggest a way forward.
I had cataract surgery almost 18 months ago. It included Toric lens to fix astigmatism in both eyes. Like most I went into the surgery with fingers crossed hoping Id come out the other side with 2020 vision, no astigmatism and perhaps just a need for reading glasses as I'd opted for optimizing distance vision.
The first eye did not come out as sharp, clear as hoped. A post surgery exam revealed a bit of distortion on the surface of the inner back of my eyeball near where the optic nerve exits, for which there is no fix. An Optometrist evaluation claimed I was getting 2025 from this eye. But it seems worse than that to me.
The second eye came out about as well as anyone could ask. Vision was sharp, clear, 2020, and oh my goodness things were so bright! I ducked into a local gas station and bought some cheap sunglasses to help with the glare coming off white building walls…
After a month or so of letting things heal, settle, I went back to the Ophthalmologists for what became a series of exams exploring my outcome. I had had detached Vitreous in both eyes for years and knew the scars from those would not miraculously be eliminated. In fact with better vision the scars are now a bit worse, as I can see, some adjacent tissue. I also now had zillions of tiny floaters... everywhere I looked. Over time as predicted, they have receded to the point I don't notice them. The left eye was blurry, the right perfect, but somehow it seemed my brain was not doing the "dominant eye" thing and selecting the better view from the right eye. Puzzling.
One day, staring at a street sign 50-100 yards away I noticed... double vision. It started as this blur Id been seeing, but staring at that one place, one view became 2. What I had been seeing, depending on how long I stared at a thing, was the 2 images diverging. Quick glance all looks fine. Hesitate a bit, things blur. Stare some more and the two images slide apart (horizontally in my case). I was referred to a Neuro-Ophthalmologist who first had me go back to the Optometrist to prescribe so-called Prism lens, as an experiment. It worked. He and I then met for another exam, conversation on the causes of and the implications long term.
Ironically, while this was going on, thinking months back pre surgery, I recalled a private email I'd had with a BFer in which I discussed seeing double vision through my bino. I had worried, this was a collimation issue. But then thought as I was just back from birding for several hours, perhaps my eyes were just tired. As well, In the recent past before the surgery I had returned a different bino to the seller as I thought I was seeing double and surely this sample must be out of collimation… It seems fair to say, the post surgery experience of double vision was something going on before the surgery, something masked by the impression that my crap vision was caused by cataracts.
As well based on the conversation with the Neuro-Opthalmologist, it also seems fair to say this a known, now diagnosed condition having to do with the muscles that control eyeball movement and nothing to do with misaligned replacement lens.
Sometimes it's not about the bino. Sometimes not the surgery.
G'Tom
I had cataract surgery almost 18 months ago. It included Toric lens to fix astigmatism in both eyes. Like most I went into the surgery with fingers crossed hoping Id come out the other side with 2020 vision, no astigmatism and perhaps just a need for reading glasses as I'd opted for optimizing distance vision.
The first eye did not come out as sharp, clear as hoped. A post surgery exam revealed a bit of distortion on the surface of the inner back of my eyeball near where the optic nerve exits, for which there is no fix. An Optometrist evaluation claimed I was getting 2025 from this eye. But it seems worse than that to me.
The second eye came out about as well as anyone could ask. Vision was sharp, clear, 2020, and oh my goodness things were so bright! I ducked into a local gas station and bought some cheap sunglasses to help with the glare coming off white building walls…
After a month or so of letting things heal, settle, I went back to the Ophthalmologists for what became a series of exams exploring my outcome. I had had detached Vitreous in both eyes for years and knew the scars from those would not miraculously be eliminated. In fact with better vision the scars are now a bit worse, as I can see, some adjacent tissue. I also now had zillions of tiny floaters... everywhere I looked. Over time as predicted, they have receded to the point I don't notice them. The left eye was blurry, the right perfect, but somehow it seemed my brain was not doing the "dominant eye" thing and selecting the better view from the right eye. Puzzling.
One day, staring at a street sign 50-100 yards away I noticed... double vision. It started as this blur Id been seeing, but staring at that one place, one view became 2. What I had been seeing, depending on how long I stared at a thing, was the 2 images diverging. Quick glance all looks fine. Hesitate a bit, things blur. Stare some more and the two images slide apart (horizontally in my case). I was referred to a Neuro-Ophthalmologist who first had me go back to the Optometrist to prescribe so-called Prism lens, as an experiment. It worked. He and I then met for another exam, conversation on the causes of and the implications long term.
Ironically, while this was going on, thinking months back pre surgery, I recalled a private email I'd had with a BFer in which I discussed seeing double vision through my bino. I had worried, this was a collimation issue. But then thought as I was just back from birding for several hours, perhaps my eyes were just tired. As well, In the recent past before the surgery I had returned a different bino to the seller as I thought I was seeing double and surely this sample must be out of collimation… It seems fair to say, the post surgery experience of double vision was something going on before the surgery, something masked by the impression that my crap vision was caused by cataracts.
As well based on the conversation with the Neuro-Opthalmologist, it also seems fair to say this a known, now diagnosed condition having to do with the muscles that control eyeball movement and nothing to do with misaligned replacement lens.
Sometimes it's not about the bino. Sometimes not the surgery.
G'Tom
tenex
reality-based
But the OP has only noticed double vision with a binocular, not without, and only post surgery, not before -- correct? What is its magnification? Might it be worth trying the lowest possible, say 6x? Or the widest field possible, like an NL, just as a test? If it does have to do with using a binocular, some further experimentation might be worthwhile.
