20/20, what's it like?

Question

im legally blind and my dominant eye is my right eye. i c 20/400 in my right and light in my left. well anyway, i never understood the concept of seeing 20/20. is it like u see the same object twice when u c it with both eyes? just curious...something i never understood.

thanks a million!!
esh

well, i get the technical answer..the whole seeing wut others c at 20 feet away..i just dont understand wut it REALLY is like

thanks for the answers soo far!! :)

mkay some hav been askin so i'll tell :] im legally blind w/my glasses...my glasses do pretty much nothing, im not sure y i wear them..they really do NOTHING and never have. they dont change my acuity at all, but i dont mind...
i love it!!

Answer 1

Esh, I was 20/400 without correction my entire life...til laser surgery...

You do not see the same object twice with two eyes unless there is a condition called strabismus where the eyes are misaligned...sometimes causing double vision.

Imagine the blade of a pair of scissors...you can feel how sharp and clear it is...that's how 20/20 vision is...no fuzz, no blur, no colors fading into each other. It's more pinpoint.

You know how sharp things are about six inches in front of your nose?? You can see outlines of objects super close to your face....well, it's like that...only you can see that well further and further away. What looks like a green blob on top of a brown stick thing to you, and how I saw a tree when I was a child....you can actually see the limbs, branches, and individual leaves.

Does that help? It's so hard to explain, but the scissor edge is how sharp I see things now as compared to a month ago without glasses or contacts.

Answer 2

Visual acuity is how fine a detail you can make out. The human eye can see two separate lines, as two lines and not blurred into one line when the lines are a certain size. The most common way is to see lines that are about 1 degree wide, with a space between them of 1 degree.

If the lines are smaller, or closer, most people can't tell if it's one blurry line, or actually two separate lines.

The E on the 20/20 line, as others have explained in this answer portion, is normal. There are lots of people who see better than that. The ability of each eye to see well is a prerequisite for stereopsis or three dimensional vision. This is where you pour the coffee IN the cup rather than ON the table. But people do adjust. And humans do not have stereopsis beyond about 14 feet anyway as our eyes are too close together. Beyond that distance and it's the relationships of size, things being in front of or behind other things that can give some depth to the images.

I'd wonder if you are legally blind WITHOUT your glasses, or are you legally blind WITH your glasses? Legally blind is a measure of vision most would say was at a level of 20/200 or worse. It's not BLIND where you can't see anything, or barely see anything. And there are people with glaucoma that have very, very good central vision, but such narrow fields that it's like they're looking through straws or a double barrel shotgun. They're legally blind too, but in a different way.

So if you can see, WITH your glasses well enough to read, read the newspaper, bible, or other fine print, then you may not be legally blind in that eye. Since you didn't indicate how this was determined for you or what disease or problem you have, it's hard to address the issue.

If you see well enough to read with your glasses, and are not legally blind with your glasses, but are legally blind without your glasses, and you see at a level of 20/20 or 20/25 when corrected, .... well that's about how 'normal' people see.

Answer 3

I have 20/20 vision, almost. My eyes are almost perfect, I don't need to wear glasses, but when I drive at night I wear them. Anyway, I can see things with both eyes at the same time, but I don't see two of everything, instead, I see everything in 3-D. I don't know how to explain it, but I am sure that my range of vision is much better than yours, because I am seeing everything and then I can see movement out of the corner of my eyes too. The only way that I can understand how you see is to cover my left eye. When I do that, my field of vision is cut in half. I can't imagine what it is like to see like that all the time, just as it is hard for you to imagine how it is to see 20/20 all the time. I hope I have been able to describe it ok for you!

Answer 4

as far as I unerstand, normal vision which I guess is discussed as 20/20 here is about the ability see the depth of an object which is called 3D (binocular)

Just to demonstrate, try to close one of your eyes and see some object and see the same with both the eyes. With one eye you just see 2D. It could take time to realize the difference.

On a lighter note, when I read 20/20 I was about to post the rules of the new flavor of the game of cricket which is called 20/20 :)

Answer 5

Hi. It means that you see as clearly at 20 feet as most of us see at 20 feet. Considered 'normal'. But not perfect. My dad had 20/15 vision until he got older and with good glasses on I can usually read the 20/15 line on an eye chart.

Answer 6

You can read more on it here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_acuity
You do see the object in both visual fields but you don't see a double image. Binocular disparity gives you the ability to sense depth and distance much better than you probably can. My Dad was legally blind too til he got the surgery. He just needs glasses for reading now.

Answer 7

20/20 is normal vision, you don't see things twice, just very clear. I used to have severe astigmatism, I had it corrected now I have very clear vision 20/15 both eyes. Don't believe you can't be helped the science of optics is getting more advanced day by day. Research and ask questions, you never know.

Answer 8

it means you see things much clearer kinda like if you had blurred vision and put on glasses that is like 20/20 you have perfect vision in both eyes. Nothing is blurred and you see things clearly.

Answer 9

you just see one thing ,but very clear and colorful too=sorry to hear you are legally blind===the good thing in this is you don't have to look at junk laying around or someone getting sick,right

Answer 10

No, its just....Hmm.

How do I explain this?

You just see the one object how it really is. The color, the shape, the texture...Well, at least I think how it really is.

Girl, you've confused me.