Monovision
About halfway through shooting The Movie, the propmaster asked, “Hey, where are your glasses?” I had taken them off to check my email, and left them sitting on the dining room table. It’s part of his job to recognize continuity issues, so it’s natural he noticed something was off.
But it was only his comment that made me realize: Holy shit. I wear glasses.
The truth is, I’ve had glasses since high school, but I’ve never considered myself a glasses-wearer. I’m near-sighted, with mild astigmatism. Originally, the glasses were only for driving at night and watching movies on the big screen. After college, I found myself wearing them for watching TV. Then, several years ago, I started wearing them for all driving, day and night. But I work at home, so I don’t drive much. And TV hours are limited, particularly with the baby. Most days, you’d only find me in glasses for ninety minutes, tops.
Then came The Movie.
Whereas a writer only has to look at the words on the screen, a director has to look at actual things: people, props, stupid bamboo plants that keep getting moved into the shot to conceal light stands. In having to look at all of these things at various distances, I found myself wearing my glasses 12 hours a day.
The crew naturally assumed I was a person who wore glasses full-time, so any moment where I had them off was an anomaly. Thus Greg Props’s question. Thus my dismay: Without realizing it, I’ve become a (nearly) full-time four-eyes.
I’ve got nothing against glasses, really. They work. But they kind of suck for a director. When we were filming out in Malibu, they kept getting streaked with sweat and sunscreen. When looking through the camera lens, one has to take them off, adjusting the diopter to find focus, which screws it up for the operator. Mostly, they just get in the way. I have magnetic clip-on sunglasses which work okay, but honestly look stupid. The alternative — carrying around prescription sunglasses — just isn’t going to happen.
Contact lenses aren’t a terrific solution for me, partly because my eyes freak out at the mildest irritation, and partly because my reading vision is better without them.
All of which serves as introduction to the real topic at hand: laser eye surgery.
My uncorrected vision is good enough that I’ve put off LASIK for years, assuming (correctly, as it turns out) that it would get better and cheaper. But in putting it off, I’ve also gotten older, which means that correcting my distance vision will put me in reading glasses sooner. Maybe immediately. (This isn’t particularly a laser thing; it’s a time thing. As you hit your 40’s, your eyes lose the ability to focus clearly at short distances. Fixing one’s nearsightedness often hastens the need for reading glasses.)
Is losing my distance glasses worth adding reading glasses? Maybe. And considering I’ll eventually need reading glasses anyway, it might be time.
One possible alternative to the either-or scenario is monovision. That’s a terrible word for it, because it conjures up images of Colonel Klink, patch-wearing pirates and the foreign policy of George W. Bush. A better term would probably be “split vision” or “asymmetrical vision.” Basically, they correct one eye for distance, and the other for reading.
The literature touts it as the “best of both worlds,” but clearly it’s a compromise — your distance vision isn’t as good as it could be, nor is your reading vision. But good enough is often the best solution.
I’m test-driving it now, wearing one contact in my right eye (my dominant eye). So far, it’s pretty good. My distance vision is much sharper. The challenge is reading. I can focus with either eye separately, but together, things tend to be a bit blurry, as if the right and left are fighting about who should be in charge. From what I’ve read, your brain eventually figures out how to make sense of it.
For now, I’m enjoying my monovision experiment. But it’s brought up another issue: sunglasses. I didn’t have any non-prescription sunglasses, so I had to borrow a pair.
I guess you never really get away from glasses.
Articles
July 15th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
John– Embrace your inner four-eyes! I did, some years back, and the world has been a far better place since. Rather than monovision, go for multivision: a pair of glasses for reading, which can live next to your computer; a really good clear lens pair, for seeing Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm; a transition lens, that gets somewhat dark outdoors, for everyday; a pair of dark sunglasses, for shooting locaitons in Malibu or going to parties at night. Your eyes will be happier and you will be, too. And before you seriously consider Lasik, do watch Chien Andalou, okay?
In the society of the spectacles, the four-eyed man is king!
July 15th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
“The alternative — carrying around prescription sunglasses — just isn’t going to happen.” I am compelled to ask; Why on earth not?!?!?
Take my word, I am a cameraman and among the most terrifying things I have filmed (and I have shot heroin adicts shooting into their ankles, open heart surgery, brain surgery and a 32 hour marathon political debate on the budget of icelandic embassies) is Lasik. Wanna know why? You never stare at a brain or a heart, it´s absurd to see, but an eye! You´ve spent countless hours looking into eyes and then someone slices them up and juggles them about. I would seriously consider a monacle, and perhaps a claypipe.
July 15th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Ah, so monovision is the term for the experiment my optician is carrying out on me! My experience so far is that my glasses are basically OK but I can’t read very well in the evenings, and my contact lenses are set up for the one eye distance/one eye near thing but the effect is I can’t read a computer screen very well with lenses. So, yeah, the reading thing is a problem (big problem if what you do most days is read and write). Is your brain figuring it out yet? Hope mine will soon.
July 15th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
John,
I had a nearly identical experience. I never wore glasses until my second year of college, and then just for taking notes and night driving. But my proscription was very slight. Then, a few years ago I got a stronger proscription, and found myself wearing my glasses more often. But I still considered them a choice, or a style option.
Then it happened: I went without glasses for a day, and several people asked “Are you wearing contacts? You’re not wearing your glasses.” That’s when it hit me - I had slowly become a full-time four-eyes. I didn’t take the news well. I opted for contacts. They are a bit irritating to put in, but at least people can picture my face without the glasses.
My mother has monovision. Actually, she thought she made up the idea when she asked her doctor to do it three or four years ago. He’d never heard of it, but he did it. She combines the idea of monovision with contacts (which she’s used most of her life), so often she’ll wear one contact, either for distance in the near-sighted eye, or for reading in the far-sighted eye. If you can bear the idea of using contacts part-time, that’s also an option to consider.
July 15th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Oh, I’m fascinated - people are opting for what I was born with! I have one shortsighted, one “normal” eye which refuse to work together at all, so I can’t wear glasses. One eye is for reading and one for everything else. I’m 42 and haven’t noticed any deterioration so far. Two main drawbacks - I judge distances poorly, which can make driving a little alarming, and I squint when I’m tired. But remember, you only need one eye to look through a camera viewfinder…
July 15th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
hi, mr august
i think im the last person here to know that you’re directing a film! (i should visit this more often.) nice. let me ask you sir, can you work on many projects at once? or do you prioritize one project at a time? i read in time magazine that one shouldn’t multitask because although you get a lot of things done, you put the quality of the work at risk. but i’m not so sure if you multitask though, i mean, what are production assistants for?
haha (i’m one)
about having four eyes now, i think you had it coming because you work a lot in computers. well, that’s what my mother tells me.
ivi
July 15th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Totally off topic but possibly of interest…MYTHBUSTERS on discovery is airing an episode (right now) that analyzes the Hollywood myth of air ducts as a means of entry into a secure chamber. Thought you might want to Tivo it.
July 16th, 2006 at 3:50 am
I’m wearing glasses 24/7 for a year now. I should have done this ten years ago but my twelve year old self just wouldn’t go for it. Two years ago I finally got some presciption glasses and wore them causually. Than a year ago I started to wear them all the time. Last week I forgot to put them on and went to work. A co-worker confronted me with it and only than did I notice that I somehow slowly became a four-eyes. It was quite a shock. I mean I’m waring glasses and never considered myself a glass-wearer. For 23 years I barely had glasses and now after a year I look “strange and way too young” without them.
July 16th, 2006 at 6:22 am
I had lasik done 5 years ago and still don’t need reading glasses (I’m about to turn 47). My eyes were awful, very nearsighted and now they’e still 20/20, so having the surgery doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll need reading glasses right away. I say go for it. Whatever makes you comfortable.
July 16th, 2006 at 11:35 am
My friend just had PRK done, because he decided it was more reliable than LASIK. He’s not in “the biz.” I investigated it all, including something called Ortho-k, which I thought was the best solution since it is reversible. In the end, I decided against surgery since I am a film maker and I read too many testimonials about unpredictable side effects including difficulty distinguishing between shades of color.
ZAK
July 16th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
One of our copywriters at work tried the two contacts of two different prescriptions and hated it. It made it too hard to work on her computer.
Oh, and Ed Bloom: You where your glasses while you sleep?
July 16th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Ugh, of course I mean “wear” not “where.” It’s been a long day and I beg everyone’s forgiveness.
July 16th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
Holy crap…you just described a lot of my ‘life with glasses’ over the past six months. Always wore them, but age won out and needed to get progressive lenses/bifocals…laser surgery was suggested…contacts were considered…but went with the progressives - still adjusting to them (my fear is once I do figure out when to look through the top half and when to look through the bottom, I’ll need a new prescription again)…and now this monovision - makes the head spin, more than it already is.
July 17th, 2006 at 2:16 am
I have a question for you - left brain vs right brain…
Would having your driving eye be on the logic side of your brain, and your reading eye be on the creative side of your brain be something worth including in the equation…? Or are you a non-sided multi-tasker?
July 17th, 2006 at 8:11 am
So far, the experiment has gone pretty well. My middle-slash-reading distance is not ideal, but I can see well enough to type (though I suspect I’m making mistakes that I’m not noticing). What’s strange is to notice my left eye rack=focussing. It’s like a have an apprentice AC pulling focus.
My distance vision is good — probably as good as it is with glasses — so I’m thinking the compromise might be worth it.
July 17th, 2006 at 9:03 am
They also make bifocal lenses…Have you looked into those? Very cool. The contact is ringed with two prescriptions.
ZAK
July 17th, 2006 at 10:43 am
Hate my glasses. Had them since the 6th grade and my vision is outside the allowable tolerances for LASIK. Thus, I must hold out for implants (of the contact lens variety). Has anyone else noticed that writers in LA are almost expected to wear the JJ Abrams-style funky frames to be taken seriously? As an attorney back east, I had gotten used to wearing them only out of the office. Now it’s just the opposite.
July 17th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
Monovision? Wouldn’t that be you wearing an eyepatch? I would consider two working eyes without glasses to be stereovision and with glasses would be quadvision. Pedantic critism, I know, but isn’t that what the comment section is for?
July 18th, 2006 at 9:24 am
I have slight astigmatism, too. A couple of years ago I finally gave in and got glasses. They’re a very mild prescription, and I figured I’d only wear them once in a while. However, I was told often enough that I looked better with them that my vanity took over and decided I’d be a full time glasses wearer. Despite the fact that my vision without my glasses is still better than my father’s post-lasik vision.
July 19th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
I have one eye slightly nearsighted and one eye slightly farsighted. I’m stuck wearing glasses driving and sometimes if I have to look at a tv screen or computer monitor a long time. Driving can be pretty scary with me too.
I’d never try the LASIK. Just because I don’t think they know the real long term effects it might have in say, 20 years.
Love the blog by the way.
July 21st, 2006 at 10:08 am
John,
Have you looked into this?
http://www.visianinfo.com/
I have a friend at work who is going to be getting this. The cool thing about this is that it’s reversible, unlike Lasik. The technology came from what they do to fix cataracts. Basically removing the lens and putting in a plastic one. Only in this, they don’t remove your lens.. they simply slide
the plastic one underneath. (As I understand it.)
On an anecdotal note, as a life time wearer of glasses, I’ve made the decision to do no surgery on my eyes. As you noted in one of your past posts, sometimes it’s nice not to be able to see the things around you.
I think Miguel is the same way.
And, they make a great prop for when you are in a meeting and you want to express your displeasure non verbally. (throw glasses on table.. squeeze eyes shut while massaging temples..) It works wonders.
July 24th, 2006 at 3:44 am
just get glasses with reactive lenses. That way you don’t have to carry around perscription shades with you.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Get two monocles and wear them at the same time, then when u want to lose them you just release the grip and let them fall around your neck.
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:40 am
OK, here’s my experience. When I got to about age 45, I found my accommodation was going, so I got varifocal glasses, which were fine, but I just hated having to wear glasses all the time! I tried progressive contact lenses, but couldn’t get good vision with them, so have just gone on to monovision recently, with a single lens to correct for distance in my right (dominant) eye. So far, results have been really good. I now have my old level of distance vision back without the need for glasses. I can work OK on a computer as well (I spend over 6 hours a day at the computer, usually), although I’ve had to play around with the zoom to get the best text size to avoid eyestrain. Driving during the day is fine as well, but last night I tried it at night with the lens in, and it wasn’t good - I had to concentrate too hard to see everything properly. So first chance I got, I whipped out the lens, put my glasses on, and it was much better.
The night driving thing is a common problem with monovision, I’m told, but if that’s the only difficulty I’ll have with monovision contacts, I can live with it - don’t think it would be a good idea to try to “learn” to use monovision while driving at night, it could be dangerous!