The optometrist dimmed the lights, covered my left eye and asked me to read the chart. Switching to my right eye what I beheld was so unbelievable I stopped the procedure. The wall transformed from white to a dark gray. The doctor revealed a bottle top and sure enough it was bright red with the right eye and dark red with the left. Optic neuritis had induced graying or color desaturation in my left eye causing two versions of my vision simultaneously. The two-world experience also occurs when I see double side-to-side and top-to-bottom.

To bring my world back to one view I hold a finger out in front of my face and force myself to see only one and edge it forward until I can’t see it correctly. The MS Society reviews vision changes due to optic neuritis at: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/what-we-know-about-ms/symptoms/visualsymptoms/optic-neuritis/index.aspx.