Monocular vision can refer to independent eye perception or vision impairment in which a person or animal can only see out of one eye. Animals with monocular vision have a wide range of vision but lack depth perception. Monocular vision impairment can lead to reduced vision range and poor depth perception.
The term “monocular vision” can be used in two different ways. In the former sense, it refers to visual perception in which the eyes see independently, rather than acting in pairs as human eyes do. In the second sense, it is more properly called a monocular vision impairment and refers to a person or animal that can only see out of one eye. This can be congenital or acquired and can lead to impairments due to changes in visual perception.
Many animals see with monocular vision, including horses, sheep, and lizards. These animals often have eyes set wide apart in their heads, allowing for a very wide range of vision. This is especially important for prey animals such as horses and sheep, which need to be able to spot threats from as many directions as possible. The problem with this type of visual perception is the lack of depth perception. Because the eyes don’t work in concert, it’s harder to provide useful information about the distance to and between objects. This would be a disadvantage for predators such as big cats, which usually have binocular vision.
There are other variations in visual perception between monocular and binocular vision, depending on the species. Eyes come in a variety of styles, so to speak, including eyes equipped for enhanced night or color vision, as well as eyes capable of seeing in a wider range than the human eye. Bees, for example, can see the ultraviolet markings on flowers.
With monocular vision impairment, one eye is damaged and the other has normal function. Depending on the reason for the visual impairment, the non-functioning eye may be removed and replaced with a prosthesis. This is often recommended when there has been trauma to the eye and the eye tissues have died or been severely damaged. In cases where vision loss is caused by trauma to the brain or other problems, it may be possible to leave the eye in place.
People with monocular vision problems may have some vision problems. Their vision range is reduced, as they only have one eye to see. This causes people to have a blind side, where they can’t see along one side of the body and can lose visual cues, ranging from a waitress approaching to a car about to merge lanes. Depth perception is also poor and people will need to adjust to this to perform tasks safely.
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