© Linda Davick
I found the perfect illustration on the sea wall today for my monocular vision story, so here goes:
I saw my eye doctor a couple weeks ago to get my contact lens prescription checked. He said my far-away vision* had improved. I was thrilled until I realized what he meant was that my up-close vision* was getting worse. He said, "Why don't you try wearing just one contact lens period?" He told me my right eye was my dominant eye, and suggested wearing the contact in that eye. He assured me that I'd be able to read the menu at Hahn's Hibachi with my other eye.
* professional terminology
I said, "Excuse me, Doctor. That won't work. I'm a visual person. I can't go around with one eye corrected and one not." But I tried it and it worked sensationally. So now I'm saving tons of money by wearing only one contact at a time. Money that I can spend on shoes and music and property taxes.
My friend Larry told me this kind of seeing is called monocular vision, and he should know. He's been seeing out of only one eye for a long time–detached retina complications–but next week he's scheduled to get his other eye back up and running.
More contact lens tips & tricks you might want to try
•When I go to the movies, I wear two contacts instead of just one. I was given a different lens prescription for each eye. But the prescriptions are so close that I use the same prescription for both eyes. That way, I only have to order one box of contacts, and I don't have to worry about putting the left contact in the right eye by mistake, and vice versa.
•The first time I went to Dr. Mebine, Marilyn said she'd give me some complimentary contacts to take home until the box she ordered came in. But she didn't have any extras of my particular prescription. So she gave me a weaker prescription. When she wasn't looking, I rolled my eyes. But I tried them anyway. They worked much better than my real prescription! I could read the speedometer with them. So I called her back and asked her if she would cancel the box she had just ordered, and order the wrong prescription instead.
A tip for you if your partner has monocular vision
•e-mail from Louie*: PS: Talking about one eye … Luke* can only see clearly from one eye, the other is a “lazy eye.” I know which one is the good eye. So, when I do something that he wouldn’t like, I stand next to his bad eye. ;)
*names changed to protect the guilty
