No, The Other Eye

Have you ever had a conversation with someone with a lazy eye?  Most people have.

First Encounters with a Lazy Eye
When I meet a person with a lazy eye, if I can’t figure out which eye to focus on, I prefer to simply ask the person which eye is best.  Some people freak out after a minute, and decide it’s less trouble to stop looking at the person all together.  The direct approach while a little uncomfortable at first is an easy way to avoid a more complicated and uncomfortable situation.

It’s no trouble…
Face the facts here.  People with lazy eyes are aware of their situation.  They’ve probably heard it all.  There’s no need to feel embarrassed if you’re having a difficult time determining which eye to look at.  Take a minute and ask them “Which eye should I look at?”.  They’ll appreciate it and you’ll both be able to move on with the conversation.

Lazy Eye Etiquette
Attention people with lazy eyes! Is it really that much fun to watch us squirm while we figure out which eye is the “good” one?  If you have lettuce stuck in your teeth, toothpaste on your mouth, or a booger in your nose I’ll tell you about it.  It’s a simple courtesy to make someone aware of a potentially embarrasing problem right away.  I’d appreciate it if you could treat encounters with new people like they’ve got lettuce in their teeth and just tell them “this is the good eye”. 

If you’re not sure how to approach the subject, you can try the direct approach.  I provided an image to help explain the process.

“Point at the good eye”

Oh.. that brings me to my other topic…

What I learned from being blind in one eye:

1. I lost my depth perception
2. it’s much easier to have an eye-to-eye conversation with people
3. it’s harder to catch with my left hand
4. I take my “nearly” perfect vision for granted
5. Don’t drive with a patch on your eye.