VR - Ummmm WOW - Saw 3D for the First Time in My Life!

[JrClocker]

TL;DR: VR has had an unexpected affect on me.


On a whim, I bought an Oculus Rift VR headset for my gaming computer.

For the FIRST time in my life, I saw objects in 3D.

I have suffered from Amblyopia (aka Lazy Eye) my entire life. Basically, the vision in my left eye is 20/300+ (I can barely see the "E" on the eye chart), and the vision in my right eye is 20/20.

I have visited many eye doctors over my life, and they couldn't correct the vision delta in my left eye with glasses as my brain just ignores it (this is very common for people who suffer from Amblyopia).

If my right eye can see something, my brain "turns off" the image from my left eye. So, I do not have stereoscopic vision (aka no depth perception). I studied a lot of martial arts as a child/young adult, and learned eye-hand coordination through repetition.

I can only keep the VR headset on for an hour or so as the muscles in my left eye start to hurt.

So far, the effects of VR appear to be positive in the "real world" for me. I am noticing things now with my left eye that I never noticed before. It was disorienting at first, but I am starting to get used to it.

Who knows if things will ever be "normal" for my vision...but being able to see things in 3D for the first time was incredible...hard to explain!.


YAY!





I am making this post for others who find this on a Google search who can only see out of one eye...or who have Amblyopia. You can still use a VR headset!!!!!

 

[Mandrake4565]

Very cool to hear JrClocker, a very good friend of mine has the same issue as yourself. I know when we were in our teens about 3 decades ago. Driving with him was an experience, especially when coming to traffic lights and stop signs.

 

[JrClocker]

Hehe - same for me driving...a bit hard on the breaks!

I just learned to associate the “gap” between cars with the distance. You don’t have this “gap” for stop lights and stop signs, so I have to draw an imaginary line to create one. Sometimes that line is not close enough - hehe.

My car has the “front collision avoidance” feature. For he first few months of driving, it went off A LOT. I’ve had to “recalibrate” my distance indicator to keep it quiet - hehe.

 

[EarthDog]

Wow! That is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

I don't have vision issues, but my first time in VR was in a driving sim and that was intense. Heading into the first corner waaay too hot, and went i to the sand and hit the wall. In vr you can't just 'get out' of the world, so, i had that terrible feelingn in your stomach when you lose control of a car....that helpless feeling... it was weird.

Im also afraid of heights and was climbing on the side of a cliff with a ravine 1000'feet below... and pterodactyls... crazy...VR.

 

[UltraTaco]

Hehe, I too lost my VR virginity not too long ago. It's weird cool tech! Probably bad for the 'normal' eyes, but I guess it cures problems when they are present.

 

[habbajabba]

Nice. I also have bad vision but just from reading a lot at an early age. When I was 'bout 17 or so I could focus at a distance for a minute. As I have grown older I no longer have that ability. However I did notice that by using binocs and then taking them away, my eyes would automatically try to refocus at the distance. Not quite an exercise, just something to take note of. Now I just keep a spare set of glasses in my car...just in case. I just saw a liveleak post today from who knows when that stated an old woman fell, hit her head, and regained her sight after being blind for umpteen years. Pretty cool.

 

[JrClocker]

Thanks for the comments guys!

I'm flying my spaceship now in Elite Dangerous VR. My aim is WAYY OFF in VR (learning to compensate), but I have noticed myself ducking when I'm getting buzzed at high speed by other ships. It's like EEEEK...they are coming right at me!

Too cool.

After only about 4 hours in VR over 2 days, my left eye is starting to get "stronger". If I relax, I am noticing "double vision"...like while typing this post. Pretty cool experience so far.

So now I can tell my wife "I need to play some computer games for my eye therapy" - hehe

 

[Bill Dimwit]

Wow this is cool. Think of all the people that this could help.

(showing my age here) My first VR experience was playing Mechwarrior2 with a 3D VR setup in 97/98. Full head tracking and everything at glorious 640x480.
Back then VR was alot harder in the eyes. You would end up with extreme eye aches and headaches from it, even vertigo and loss of eye site if you used a crt VR setup. However most headsets in the mid late 90 used TIN/LCDs and were alot lighter, smaller and safer.

The set I had was about 9 ounces with the head tracking and speakers, sadly I sold it not to long ago and still miss it.

 

[UltraTaco]

Still having 2 screens 1/2" from your eyes can't be good for normal human vision. That's what taco thinks..

 

[Bill Dimwit]

Still having 2 screens 1/2" from your eyes can't be good for normal human vision. That's what taco thinks..

I agree. Wille the newer vr systems are far safer then what we had in the 80s and early 90s. CRTs blasting radioactive particles at your eyes doesn't sound good to me. And 30-60hz on a crt is well known to cause problems with vision.

The eye strain is still there with newer sets but to a lesser extent. I believe most older sets came with a warning to only use the system for like 20-30 minutes at a time. Id fallow the same warning with newer sets too.

 

[JrClocker]

An update on this:

- After 3 days of VR time (about 3 hours total per day), I can now "see" double vision at arms length if I totally relax both of my eyes. Before this, the only way I could make this "happen" was to put my hand right by my nose. Now, I can stretch my hand totally out and "see" it with both eyes.

- Last night while I was flying my spaceship in Elite Dangerous, I kept "seeing" something that I couldn't locate. Come to find out, it was part of my cockpit that only my left eye could see because of the position of my head. I was like "OMG - wow"

- Another thing that was quite common when looking with my right eye closed and only my left eye, was to have a dark area in the center of my left eye vision after about 30 seconds when focusing with it...which progressively got worse. Kind of like my optic nerve overloading as it's getting too much data. Now, it still happens, but takes a couple of minutes. I can temporarily "fix" it by blinking. Too cool.

- Also, for the first time last night, I had a black "floater" in my vision. When I closed my right eye, I could still see the floater...so it was in my left eye. Never before in my life have I seen a "floater" in my left eye with both eyes open.


Who knows if I will ever have "normal" vision with both eyes, but it's truly amazing to have such a drastic change in left-eye vision over such a short period of time. I will continue my "therapy" for the next few months, and then visit an eye doctor to see if they can prescribe a lense.

 

[UltraTaco]

This is beautiful, sir!

 

[JrClocker]

OK - a quick update to my update:

- I was able to close my right eye, hold my phone at arms length, and read the time on the screen with my left eye!!!!!!

I had to "search" a bit, as it took a few seconds for my brain to process the shapes to numbers...but holy crap! With 9 hours of VR time, my left eye vision has improved to not being able to read the "E" on the eye chart to being able to read the numbers on my phone.

Holy crap!


This is so cool - I just had to share!

 

[UltraTaco]

This is great, sir! Just take care not to strain your good eye too much.

 

[habbajabba]

There's a Japanese guy trying to develop like a virtual display in 3d using glasses. He believes that in the future all displays as we know them will be virtual. He called it something like 'digital nature'. I believe it except for the part about everyone wearing glasses. Can't find the link and only caught the last bit but it was on NHK Live tv on the net. Great channel btw. If I can locate a link I'll edit this post.

 

[JrClocker]

OK - quick update:

- The "drastic" improvements in vision for my left eye has slowed down some. In other words, the curve is starting to flatten out.
- When I "relax" I start to get more "dual eye" vision. This is much more noticeable with the VR headset on.
--- Last night while flying my spaceship in Elite Dangerous VR, I did a quick turn exiting a space station and flew through my own exhaust trail. It was coming at me in 3D and I was like "duck"!!!
--- Also yesterday, I was coming in to land on a planetary base. This base is right next to a large meteor crater. The edges of the hole simply "popped out" at me...was quite an experience!

- I can actually go for about 1.5 hours in one VR session without my left eye muscles hurting. When I first take the VR headset off, my vision is blurry as my brain tries to process from both eyes. It's a bit disorienting...but my vision quickly clears. I am assuming that my brain tries to process the image from both eyes, and then turns off the left eye image after a bit.

- I'll make an eye doctor appointment at the end of next month to see if I can get a lens subscription.
- Meanwhile, I have to find a VR app that will "force" me to use both of my eyes (versus just projecting a strong image to my left eye.) I have found one app, but this requires a prescription from an eye doctor.

 

[JrClocker]

Just about a month into this, the vision in my left eye continues to improve.

Over the past 10 days, it has not improved as drastically as in the beginning...but still improving.

I bought a patch for my right eye (arrived yesterday)...to do more exercises with just my left eye (and look like a pirate...RRRRR!)

When I put the patch on, it's very disorienting for the first few minutes.

When I take the patch off, it's disorienting for the first few minutes before things return to "normal".

I was able to play Bejeweled on my iPad for 30 minutes today with just my left eye! (patch on right)

It was difficult because of all the shapes and colors. Towards the end of the 30 minute session, my left eye vision started to go dark...kind of like my brain saying that it can't deal with all of the data! I closed my left for a few seconds and opened it up...the dark was gone...for a bit...then rinse repeat.

It's truly amazing how the brain works.

 

[JrClocker]

An update on this...I just finished my yearly eye exam:

- Right Eye: 20/25 now...glasses correct back to 20/10
--- Eye doctor says my arms are still long enough, so I don't need bifocals...yet...

- Left Eye: 20/80...this is improved from 20/300+ !!!!!
--- In the past, I could barely read the "E" at the top of the chart
--- Now, it's 20/80...and I can read (if the letters are big enough)

Bad news is that the any sort of corrective lens brings it to just better than 20/80...so still to large of a vision delta between the two eyes for any sort of lens.

BUT..."proof" that the Oculus has helped with my Amblyopia (and not me just thinking it helped)!!!

 

[JLK03F150]

Awesome news. Glad to read that you are progressing so much. 20/300+ to 20/80 is HUGE. Hopefully you will continue to improve that eye using the Oculus & the patch. Arrrr!

 

[habbajabba]

See All Right!