"I hope it doesn't fry your brain!"

This morning, I went to see Rich Wilson, my optometrist and fellow band-director spouse (his wife, Janie, taught at Grain Valley High while Bill was teaching elementary in that district), and I got a fun new contact lens to try out. It's one of the toric lenses for astigmatism, and once I put it in, I knew my vision was better than it had been with the standard spherical lens.

There's a catch, though: I only have correction in my left eye. My right eye is fine, and when I have both eyes open I have just a touch of astigmatism and almost 20/20 vision. However, the left eye has to be corrected or else it will go lazy.

The problem with correcting my left eye so completely is that my brain has rewired itself to compensate for the difference in my vision. I see things up close with my left eye, and things at a distance with my right eye. Even if I have both eyes open and am looking directly at something, my brain basically only processes the view from one eye.

With the toric lens, my left eye can work on an equal footing with my right eye, while with a spherical lens my brain still thinks my right eye is better for distance work because the astigmatism remains uncorrected on the left. Rich handed me a week's worth of the toric lenses to try out, and sent me on my way saying, "I hope it doesn't fry your brain! I guess we'll know in a week."