Living With One Good Eye

People who lose vision in one eye because of an injury or a medical condition must adapt to a narrower field of vision and loss of depth perception. They still see small objects as well as before, assuming the other eye is normal.

People often think children with strabismus (misalignment of the eye) or amblyopia (lazy eye) have poor depth perception because they have trouble using two eyes together. Although these children do poorly on tests of depth perception in an ophthalmologist's office, they have learned to adapt from an early age. In real-world circumstances, they do not have trouble with depth perception.

At first, adults who lose vision in one eye tend to have a few fender-benders, and reach out next to the hand they want to shake. But with patience and time, they learn to use clues to depth perception that do not require both eyes.

Courtesy of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Reprinted from Patient Education CD Personal Eyes and Ophthalmic Images, with permission of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, copyright 2003. All rights reserved. Users of this website may reproduce one (1) copy of this for their own personal, noncommercial use. All Internet, web or electronic posting or transmission is not permitted.