Vision quest

Telluride Daily Planet, Friday, June 6, 2025

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” – Helen Keller

Traveling recently, I saw something in an airport bathroom that got my attention. It was one of those moments: you see something and you wonder why you’ve never tried it, you give it a go – and, boom, it’s brilliant, and simple, and effective! A serendipitous real-world hack. I hope you know what I’m talking about.

This was a silly little thing. A woman was using the soap and water in the sink to actually wash her eyeglasses. It was evident she’d done this a thousand times before and that nothing else would suffice: her no-nonsense moment took about ten seconds of expert washing and drying, and then, with glasses back on, she marched back into the crowd with both vision and attitude reset.

Later on, at home, my reading glasses got the treatment, and I found a huge improvement in the lens cleanliness, in the clearness of my vision, and, most importantly, my mood. Those cloths we all use didn’t even come close to soap and water — not even close. The edges were clean without the use of a fingernail. Frustration thwarted!

Some of us learn the anatomical aspects of seeing clearly as we age, when our once perfect ocular vision starts to deteriorate. One day, we are trying to read ingredients on a label at the grocery store, and all of a sudden it seems like a scheme, a mean and ageist joke to keep us blind, blind, blind. Tiny print, in white or beige, on a beige or white background: It takes 3.5-strength reading glasses and a flashlight to get the info, or the phone magnifying glass. Generally, I think I just swear off the product.

Andrew Huberman, a popular podcaster who is an ophthalmologist and neuroscientist, talks extensively about the eye in all respects, and likes to point out that the eye is the only exterior part of the brain, the only part outside the cranium. He stresses the importance of eye health with regard to brain health, and with regard to proper circadian rhythm function – which is crucial for healthy sleep and waking cycles, body temperature regulation, appetite, and hormone regulation.

During a five-year stint in New York City in my 20s, my right eye unaccountably went from 20/20 vision to 20/200. My driver’s license cited the requirement for corrective lenses; I was wearing contacts, mainly for that right eye, the one that was, oddly, green at birth as opposed to the other one, the brown one (eventually they synchronized almost completely).

Fast forward to my move to Telluride in 1984 and a different life in pretty much every conceivable way. In a relatively short amount of time, the right eye self-corrected and I had perfect eyesight again for many years. What had happened? Less stress or less pollution? Bigger field of vision? More and better rest? Some kind of regular ocular relaxation I was not aware of? All of the above?

Beyond the reading glasses I started needing in my late forties, I had no complaints, until years later, in my 60s, when I noticed driving made me anxious, especially driving at night. For those of you familiar with the toll cataracts can take, you will understand how not being able to read signs and dealing with nighttime glare can actually freak one out. And the process was slow enough to not be completely evident, until the ophthalmologist pointed out that it was past time to surgically correct that right eye, the troublesome one.

How do we get through the idea of someone operating on our eyeballs? They have drugs for that; and the aftermath is simply unbelievable, as if the world itself has once again come into focus.

Today, with all the latest advances in vision hacking –  blue light blockers,  AR (augmented reality) glasses that overlay digital information on what we see, as well as the latest surgical advances in lenses and bionic eyes, we can still acknowledge the basic miracle of our eyes and our vision, the poetic and metaphorical notions of vision, our inner vision, what we “see” and through what “lens.” With awareness, better care can be taken to see more clearly in all ways.

Two basic hacks from Andrew Huberman that will serve all: the first is the 20-20-20 exercise. A 20-second rest after 20 minutes of focused screen or reading to look at something 20 feet away. This is repose for the eyes and it will feel good, I promise. The other is to get into bright daylight first thing in the morning (5-10 minutes on a sunny day) to realign our circadian rhythm with the sun’s cycle.

And what your mother said about carrots being good for the eyes? True enough. You can also add leafy greens, and all other yellow/orange veggies and fruits to that list.