The notion of focus has recently taken on a new meaning for me. Anyone who wears glasses or contacts understands what it is like to see the world without it. We understand the importance of periodically fine-tuning our corrective lenses to see the world in its sharpest form.
Not too long ago, however, I noticed that I had a minor double vision in my right eye. Initially, I chalked this up to a defect in my contact. But when I noticed that it was still there when reading without contacts (or glasses), I began to worry a tad. It took the optometrist some time to find the problem—I am developing a minor needle of a cataract. As the light bends around this, it throws two images onto my retina.
We then spent the next few weeks tweaking and re-tweaking my prescription. No matter how much he increased the corrective effect, the worse the double vision became. I finally realized (and the doctor concurred) that this made perfect sense. We were increasingly sharpening each of the two images. The correction was to weaken the prescription.
I now live in a world where I must give up a bit of focus to be able to see things, not clearer, but better. I find that I am actively shifting which eye I use for various tasks. It is a weird time.
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