Moving the center of vision in one eye

[bloobi]

When fully corrected with lenses, my left eye can reach 20/10, while my right eye sticks at 20/20. Although this is still enough for normal functioning, in some situations the left eye tries to take over as the dominant eye and the right eye starts to get ignored.

I always assumed that this was because my right eye was lazy, but since doing exercises with a Snellen card I discovered that the center of vision of my right eye is not the center of optimal sharpness. If I look at a letter on the Snellen card from a specific distance, the letter left to it is sharper than the one I am looking at.

So it looks like the brain doesn't use the fovea as the optical center, but some place near to it.

Does tracing letters or lines with my right eye help to solve that issue, or can anyone recommend other exercises to get the optical and visual centers together?

[Nancy]

When fully corrected with lenses, my left eye can reach 20/10, while my right eye sticks at 20/20. Although this is still enough for normal functioning, in some situations the left eye tries to take over as the dominant eye and the right eye starts to get ignored.

I always assumed that this was because my right eye was lazy, but since doing exercises with a Snellen card I discovered that the center of vision of my right eye is not the center of optimal sharpness. If I look at a letter on the Snellen card from a specific distance, the letter left to it is sharper than the one I am looking at.

So it looks like the brain doesn't use the fovea as the optical center, but some place near to it.

Does tracing letters or lines with my right eye help to solve that issue, or can anyone recommend other exercises to get the optical and visual centers together?

This is an example of eccentric fixation, or seeing most clearly where you are NOT looking, a trait of imperfect sight. Just being aware of this is a big deal, so congratulations for that. Yes, doing chart work with the other eye patched will help, and just leading with this eye when you think of it. Do what you can with no correction.

[bloobi]

Thanks for your reply Nancy, I will give it a try.

Just being aware of this is a big deal, so congratulations for that.

Yeah, it took me only 46 years to realize the problem with my right eye and only after I had read a number of patient reports of Bates. But knowing the problem is the begin of the solution so I will now start working on it to get the centers overlapping again. My main problem was with reading with the right eye only, where the eye always wanted to shift from right to left, probably searching for the best focus, whereas the text goes from left to right. I sometimes had the feeling that if my left eye wouldn't have been capable of reading, I would have been diagnosed with dyslexia.

So maybe dyslexia is a vision problem after all.

[Nancy]

Thanks for your reply Nancy, I will give it a try.

Just being aware of this is a big deal, so congratulations for that.

Yeah, it took me only 46 years to realize the problem with my right eye and only after I had read a number of patient reports of Bates. But knowing the problem is the begin of the solution so I will now start working on it to get the centers overlapping again. My main problem was with reading with the right eye only, where the eye always wanted to shift from right to left, probably searching for the best focus, whereas the text goes from left to right. I sometimes had the feeling that if my left eye wouldn't have been capable of reading, I would have been diagnosed with dyslexia.

So maybe dyslexia is a vision problem after all.

Bates writes a lot about eccentric fixation, and easing people toward central fixation, "seeing best where you are looking", smaller and smaller areas without straining. He writes about some severe cases where someone could only see the letters on the eye chart if she looked to the side of the chart, for example. Central fixation exercises with just one eye might help, Tom Q's 2 pebbles and "which one is clearer?", then bring them closer and closer together as you get better at it.

No shame in taking a long time to find your eyes need attention and corrective lenses aren't the true solution to seeing clearly. Me too!

[bloobi]

I will use this weekend to read more about eccentric fixation in Bates' books.
Going without corrective lenses is no option yet. I need sufficient correction due to safety reasons with my work, but slightly under-correction is allowable in most circumstances.

[arocarty]

I will use this weekend to read more about eccentric fixation in Bates' books.
Going without corrective lenses is no option yet. I need sufficient correction due to safety reasons with my work, but slightly under-correction is allowable in most circumstances.

You may also want to consider the Huxley slot card for reading - it helps block out peripheral text, so you can fixate better on one line at a time, accentuating central fixation somewhat. Takes a little time to get used to, but if one of the problems at the near point is looking at too much at a time, can't hurt. I used it for a long time, then started seeing the optical swing (letters swinging, or pulsing on their own) . There's even one for the computer. When you reduce strain at the nearpoint, it can carry over into vision at all distances.