Eccentric viewing simply refers to looking away from what you want to see in order to see it more clearly. For example, to see someone’s face you may need to look slightly above, or below to the left, or perhaps to the right of their face to see it more clearly. The technique can be helpful for a variety of different visual tasks such as reading, watching TV, shaving, applying makeup, etc.
Many people discover eccentric viewing by accident. By scanning what they want to see, they find an area of their vision that gives them a clearer image. This may mean they look slightly away from an object to see it more clearly. For example, you may look slightly above someone’s head to see their face because you can’t see it clearly if you look straight at them. You may use different parts of your vision to do different things; near tasks such as reading may use one area of vision and spotting landmarks another. With time and practice, eccentric viewing can become automatic.
Click here to see a video guide to Central Vision Loss
For more information about eccentric viewing contact the Macular society or visit their website.
Try Eccentric Viewing
Try looking at the face by looking above, below, left and right of it.
Is Bruce’s face clearer when you look away from the picture than when you looked centrally? If ‘yes’ then eccentric viewing may work for you. Remember which position made the face looked clearest and try a few more faces
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