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Should I "exercise" my non-dominant eye?

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#1 bokemon

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 12:33 AM

Hello folks, 

I have started doing binocular viewing again, after not having done it for a year or two.  One of the things I realized was just how useless my non dominant eye was.  For example, just reading black on white text on a computer monitor, things seem dimmer and there seem to be blind spots everywhere.  Now I know that eyes have a literal blind spot that your brain fills in thru some kind of compensation / fake image processing.  It feels fully working for my right eye and shut off for my left.  In the astronomical sense, when I alternately shut one eye to do focusing on a medium-brightness star, it works fine for the right eye even though the star drifts around due to the binoculars being hand held  But for the left eye the star seems to fade in and out.

 

When doing two-eyed viewing, I still have to do the "merge images" thing, and then the viewing does become very relaxed and immersive.  But again, it feels like my brain is just using the left eye data for support and discarding it if anything is wrong.  e.g. when the left exit pupil drifts off, I don't really seem to notice it.

 

Anyway, I doubt there is anything wrong physically with my eyes as my last exam from 2 years ago came out ok - it just feels like the image processing algorithms aren't being used on the left.  Would it help to do eyepiece viewing with the left eye for "practice"?  Or just spend some time (at home) walking around with an eyepatch?



#2 DeepSky Di

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 02:44 AM

Maybe it would help to find the blind spot for each eye? It's quite easy to do. If you look at something smallish with one eye and then move the eye in a horizontal line, the object will disappear when it enters the blind spot. For example, with the left eye, track along a horizontal line slowly to the right. Vice versa for right eye.



#3 Astrojensen

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 02:51 AM

You should definitely exercise your non-dominant eye as much as possible. 

 

 

Clear skies!

Thomas, Denmark


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#4 happylimpet

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 03:05 AM

That sounds like more than just an astro/binocular thing. Both of your eyes get used all day every day, it doesnt sound like it should be that way, especially if it didnt used to be so. I would visit my GP (doctor).



#5 TOMDEY

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 05:39 AM

Exercising the eye is highly recommended... otherwise the eye/brain system degenerates... in the extreme, can't be recovered. This is why an eye patch is generally discouraged. Would be worth at least ~seeing~ a full-service optometrist to get the field and blind spot(s) characterized. He will then refer to an ophthalmologist if he finds anything concerning. I think there are also vision physical therapists. Might be worth asking about. This general recommendation pretty much applies to all of our sensory and action/response systems --- the old adage "Use it or lose it" applies.    Tom

 

PS: I'm doing PT now for my terrible osteoarthritis (lower back, hips, knees...) which is helping a lot. I have a session 2 hours from now and then do exercises for a couple hours a day... every day in between the weekly coached sessions.

 

Our eyes are downright amazing; astonishing how well they perform with ~very little maintenance~!

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#6 bokemon

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 06:54 AM

You should definitely exercise your non-dominant eye as much as possible. 

 

 

Clear skies!

Thomas, Denmark

how



#7 Dave Hederich

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 10:21 AM

I had a similar issue and had success temporarily using an eye patch on my dominant eye for brief periods each day. Forcing the non-dominant eye to occasionally do all the work helped bring it back into balance. It's called occlusion therapy and is recommended by many ophthalmologists.  While they say it's more effective when done at an earlier age to treat lazy eye, for example, it can have a positive effect in older people as it did for me. Ultimately all visual data from the eyes is interpreted in the visual cortex, which is an amazingly powerful and flexible processor.


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#8 Binojunky

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 10:24 AM

I would suggest that the OP gets an eye exam every year, more of a sensible suggestion if you are over 50yrs of age, one eye working better than the other can be an indication of the onset of Glaucoma, Cataracts etc, speaking from my own experiences, Dave.


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#9 BlueMoon

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 10:32 AM

 

I would suggest that the OP gets an eye exam every year, more of a sensible suggestion if you are over 50yrs of age, one eye working better than the other can be an indication of the onset of Glaucoma, Cataracts etc, speaking from my own experiences.

This. At 68, as a life long glasses wearer, my optical prescription hasn't changed much in the last 10 years. The possibility for glaucoma and cataracts has however. To wit, my last exam showed every early signs of a cataract in one eye which was never evident before.

 

Consult with your ophthalmologist would be a safe and prudent path to take.


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#10 PKDfan

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 06:58 PM

Absolutely you should bokemon !

I've had severe issues with my dominant eye so the very weak nondominant one needed to be used.

When a blood vessel burst from extreme stress(be happy always!) I discovered to my absolute delight it had had much less yellowing -from the squint reflex- and after a very short time of it i also found its acuity was also better. A win win that i had zero clue about.

All folks should be observing with both eyes open as single eye squinters are clipping information out of the field when they close that unused eye.

Rig a blackout curtain for it and practice diligently with both eyes and perhaps you'll find a silver lining where you least expected to.


Cheers !!

Lance
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#11 bokemon

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Posted 22 May 2025 - 07:35 PM

I don't mind getting another eye exam since my prescription seems to have drifted off a bit since my last exam two years ago.

But looking at my old posts, I wrote this back in 2022 in another binocular thread:

"In a possibly unrelated observation, it seems my right (dominant) eye has a lot more "gain" than my left eye.  While doing the "cover one objective to focus the other eye", I noticed that things looked a lot dimmer with less stars and "uncomfortable" when viewing left eye only.  What's going on here?"

Then I had an eye exam in 2023 with pictures of the retina, flashing lights for peripheral vision, shooting puffs of air, etc, and it checked out ok.

 

Well, anyway, for those bothering to reply, please try out these two things and get back to me:

Read a page or paragraph of black on white text with non-dominant eye only.

Walk around a bit with non-dominant eye only.

Does it feel the same as with dominant eye?



#12 Binojunky

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Posted 23 May 2025 - 11:07 AM

You can own the finest optics in the world but they are no good if you are reduced to a seeing eye dog through ones own neglect regarding eye care,  I have worn glasses most of my life with no real issues, prescriptions  have basically remained the same with a bit of a tweak once in a while until I hit the big 50, then thing started to happen, Glaucoma, torn Retina and now Cataracts, all detected by annual eye exams with no symptoms warning me.. Now I go every 6 months, I know of one observer who would think nothing of spending megabucks on the latest eyepiece yet declined to spend his money on eye exams, now he is facing Macular Degeneration which if caught earlier may have been slowed down before damage was done. 

My apologies for the lecture, bigshock.gif Dave.


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#13 Dave Hederich

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Posted 24 May 2025 - 09:28 AM

I don't mind getting another eye exam since my prescription seems to have drifted off a bit since my last exam two years ago.

But looking at my old posts, I wrote this back in 2022 in another binocular thread:

"In a possibly unrelated observation, it seems my right (dominant) eye has a lot more "gain" than my left eye.  While doing the "cover one objective to focus the other eye", I noticed that things looked a lot dimmer with less stars and "uncomfortable" when viewing left eye only.  What's going on here?"

Then I had an eye exam in 2023 with pictures of the retina, flashing lights for peripheral vision, shooting puffs of air, etc, and it checked out ok.

 

Well, anyway, for those bothering to reply, please try out these two things and get back to me:

Read a page or paragraph of black on white text with non-dominant eye only.

Walk around a bit with non-dominant eye only.

Does it feel the same as with dominant eye?

I've done a lot of single eye image comparisons in the past and it's never felt the same to me. My optometrist verifies that there's significant difference between my two eyes. There's simply too much difference between pairs of seemingly identical organic items like our eyes, ears, kidneys, etc., for them to have perfectly identical performance. Differences may range from obvious to virtually undetectable, but they are there at varying levels. With the eyes it's our visual cortex that integrates the data. Ideally our visual cortex prioritizes what it believes to be the most accurate data from each eye and filters out the least accurate when merging them into a single image.



#14 ihf

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Posted 30 May 2025 - 10:26 AM

I always thought my eyes were about equal with slightly favoring the left eye. Trying just to use one eye walking or reading the more dominant left eye has a steady view. The less dominant right eye with start to partially blacken out after 10-15 seconds. I need to actively move it around trying to avoid the blackout. I don't know what is happening. Overall it is unpleasant to just walk use either one eye, as I feel that I don't have spacial orientation anymore. (A step towards vertigo.) Funny enough I can read my cell phone with both eyes while walking and not worry about spatial orientation.



#15 bokemon

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Posted 30 May 2025 - 01:46 PM

 The less dominant right eye with start to partially blacken out after 10-15 seconds. I need to actively move it around trying to avoid the blackout. I don't know what is happening.

Can you describe the "black out" sensation in more detail?



#16 ihf

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Posted 30 May 2025 - 08:45 PM

Can you describe the "black out" sensation in more detail?

Well, I tried to reproduce it. I assume it is related to the blind spot, even though it doesn't seem to be at the blind spot.

 

Say you take one eye and find the blind spot using this template: round spot disappears, cross is visible nicely. After a while the surrounding of the cross blackens out like a donut and the cross is visible in a very narrow tunnel of black. This happens with either eye. This Reddit discussion seems to be related, several people claim that the brain is mixing in the black of the closed eye. Now when walking or reading with one eye this happens pretty quickly to my less dominant eye and it is really hard to avoid except by trying to move attention around quickly. But unlike on the test I can usually avoid it on the dominant eye when the visual texture is richer than plain white.

 

I assume that is all normal. Probably worth getting a good book or read up more on that Reddit if you are curious?

 

P.S. Ah, the Wikipedia page had good links: Filling-in, Troxler's fading (fun!).


Edited by ihf, 30 May 2025 - 09:07 PM.

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#17 Scott99

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Posted 01 June 2025 - 12:25 PM

FWIW, I try to force myself to use my left eye (non-dominant) every night at the telescope.  I get transient astigmatism and some nights one eye is better than the other at low power.  Other nights, the floaters in one eye are worse than the other on planets.  If you keep both eyes trained for observing you can quickly switch to the other eye to try to get away from floaters.

 

It's usually on planetary I'll force myself to use the left eye, since you're often staring at the planet for long periods.  It's amazing, at first the left eye doesn't see anything on the planet.  Then you settle in and concentrate and before long, it's working like the right eye.  There must be some eye/nerve/brain connections that need refreshing from time to time.  i.e., training your mind to concentrate on the left eye.



#18 David L

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Posted 01 June 2025 - 09:48 PM

While bicycling, I use a helmet mounted mirror which works my non-dominant left eye.


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