Welcome back, [s2Get user_field=”first_name” /]. It’s time we start taking a first look at your individual focal planes.
You likely have a ‘strong’ and a ‘weak’ eye (dominant and non-dominant eye, ocular dominance is entirely natural for your vision biology).
The strong eye, which we might put behind a patch once in a while. Like a pirate, except that you’ll be hiding the eye that has the bigger centimeter numbers.
So, how is your pirate’s eye?
We’ve done lots of measurements since the program started. Today, let’s go back and take a look at both the Snellen and centimeter, specifically looking at the variance in acuity between your left and right eye. Here are the questions you are looking to answers for:
- Which is your pirate’s eye?
- How many centimeters difference do you find between it, and your weak eye?
- How does this translate to your Snellen reading?
- Is it consistent, or does the centimeter vary?
Here are the scenarios we might consider:
You may not have a dominant / strong / pirate’s eye.
In this case, the centimeter measurements vary less than 10%, and/or the readings flip flop, where one day your strong eye is left, the next it might be right. If that’s the case, then let’s not worry about you focal plane equalization for now. You can just continue the focus pushing and focus pulling exercises. You can generally also take every suggestion we make, and add 25-30% more time/intensity (that is, if you can comfortably do so).
Your dominant eye is less than 15% divergent (coactive divergence).
So you have a left eye of -4.00 for example, and the right eye is -3.50. Both eyes participate in focus enough to where you have good depth perception. For the purpose of keeping things straightforward, we can say that this is normal. A little bit of equalizing work needs to be done to get you the most out of your rehabilitation progress.
Your dominant eye is more than 15% divergent (distinct divergence).
I use several additional criteria, but these are outside of the scope of this Web program. If you are over 20% divergent, drop me a line or post in the forum. The larger the divergence between your eyes, the more the dominant eye does the focusing work – and signal from that eye is relied on by your visual cortex. This is a lot like having a strong and a weak leg. Everybody has a bit of a stronger leg. Normal. But if you one of your legs is significantly weaker or otherwise ‘divergent’, you may have a limp, or trouble running (or even walking). The higher the variance, the more you are affected.
Your eyes will always be divergent to some degree. Getting both of them do an equitable share of the focusing work will allow you to make the most progress with your vision. Especially as you continue to progress, you want to be aware of the difference, and slowly work on closing the gap. Less pirate’s eye is the goal.
–> Here are some DIY tools for creating patches for single eye activity.
The next installment will discuss some base line exercise strategies. The thing to keep in mind here that the intensity is very important. And by intensity, I mean the lack thereof. You want to provide small inputs, same as the astigmatism subject.
So, on to some measurements. Take three days, morning, and after work, and take the average number for left and right eye.
In a few days we’ll look at some activities to help start equalizing your vision in both eyes.
Cheers,
-Jake
Session: Video Stream
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