# Left eye vision fine, don't bother correcting the right?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-eye-vision-fine-dont-bother-correcting-the-right/637044>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 8, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-eye-vision-fine-dont-bother-correcting-the-right/637044 "2012-10-08T02:06:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![cooldster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@cooldster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cooldster)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-eye-vision-fine-dont-bother-correcting-the-right/637044/21 "2015-10-25T19:11:49Z")

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It’s been a few years but anything new? Has anyone ended up the way they are as a result of glaucoma and/or a cataract?

Also, thought I’d share my similar vision condition. I had a cataract as an infant as well as glaucoma. The cataract was removed back then. My left eye is basically useless but it can detect light vs dark plus exotropia (veers outward). My right eye is normal. I’ve switched between contacts and glasses over the years but glasses are more stylish. 🙂 I’m 31 now.

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**Author:** ![trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-eye-vision-fine-dont-bother-correcting-the-right/637044/22 "2015-10-26T03:13:00Z")

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I know this is a zombie thread, but I think it’s an interesting topic, and I’ve never discussed amblyopia with other people who have it.

> [@doreen](#):
>
> But even getting glasses at a young age , patching the stronger eye and undergoing vision therapy may not fix the lazy eye (also known as amblyopia, at least in my case). Wearing glasses has been pointless for me since I before I was a teenager- I don’t see any better with the glasses on, because I don’t see out of the weaker eye unless the stronger one is patched or held closed.

This is pretty much my experience. I had my good eye patched for a while when I was about 4 or 5, and wore glasses from that point up until age 10. Then my opthalmologist told my parents that the glasses wouldn’t make much difference for me anymore, so I stopped wearing them. In high school I complained about doubling in my vision so I went back to glasses or wore a single contact in my bad eye, but after a few years I stopped bothering. Last year I tried the single contact lens thing again, but because my brain is so used to ignoring most (but not all) of the input from my bad eye, when my vision was corrected everything looked strange. Even after a week I wasn’t used to it, so the optometrist told me it probably wasn’t worth the bother.

Although I actually failed the eye exam when I applied for my learner’s permit, I have never found driving difficult due to my vision. I still fail binocular vision tests, but I can only recall one or two specific experiences where I noticed a lack of depth perception. I guess in real life there are enough other cues that combine with the limited input from my bad eye. Even when I wore glasses, I never noticed a whole lot of difference in how the world looked with them. I think I mostly just wore them because the doctor and my parents said I should.

For what it’s worth, my bad eye is farsighted, not nearsighted. I’m not sure if that’s the case for the others who have posted, or if that would affect whether corrective lenses would improve my vision.

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