Today I offer up a bit of a history lesson and mix in a helpful tip. Eye patches today are commonly used by people who have had an eye injury or recently had eye surgery, though less often now that we have advanced prosthetics. An eye patch is common in treating children who might have a “lazy eye” (amblyopia) because it forces the eye to work. Patches are also used to treat double vision (diplopia) and relieve dizziness or vertigo cause by the double vision.

. However, there is another function for an eye patch that you may not be aware of. Have you ever wondered why pirates wear eye patches? Back in the days of wooden ships, wooden legs, and lack of electric lighting, the below-deck area of a ship was quite dark, especially when compared to the bright sunlight above deck. By wearing a patch, a pirate (or sailor) could switch the patch to the other eye when in the darkness below deck and already have one eye that was adjusted to the dark, thus allowing him to see without waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darker conditions.

While you may not want to wear a patch, keeping one eye closed during a quick run to get a drink in the middle of the night may help you see better when you get back into the dark bedroom. Once you return to the darkened room close the eye that was open and open the eye you had been keeping closed. It sure beats stepping on the dog or kicking the dresser in the dark because your eyes had adjusted to the light while you were up!