Today I Learned (TIL)

That’s because our eyes adapt themselves to different colour temperatures all the time during the day (a tungsten light bulb has very warm (orange) light, while daylight is much cooler (blue), for example, yet white is always white to us). This happens automatically and subconsciously.

If you close one eye for a little while though, it „resets“ back to its default colour temperature. After opening it again, it’ll take a little while for it to start compensating to the correct white point again and thus you‘ll have different hues on both eyes for a little while.

The effect is exaggerated a lot, if you close one eye and then look at a bright monochromatic image with the other one (like a bright red image on your phone, close to your face).

Or, of course, if you wear anaglyphic 3D glasses (that’s the red/green or red/cyan kind) for a while, as one eye will try to compensate for the red as much as it can, while the other one will try to compensate for the green/cyan as much as possible. Result: the eye with the red glass will look much cooler after taking off the glasses, and the eye with the green/cyan glass much warmer.

Generally that effect will balance itself out after a little while. Except for very slight variances of course. Our eyes and brains are far from perfect.

I had this a year or so ago, when I had to have surgery on my eyes and have new artificial lenses put in. They only do it one eye at a time with a long gap in between, and after the first one there was a noticeable difference in colour tone between the two eyes.

Thankfully, once the second one was done, both were back to the same colour tone, but it was a very weird experience having never had it before.

I have a yellowish tint in one eye vs the other. Also one seems to have lower contrast, or one is just more light sensitive.

What's the effect called?

So I'm not imagining it.

I only recently remembered this was a thing and that it might not be common until I searched.. there are others!

Did you ever wear those old-school 3D glasses?

I have contrast and vision differences between eyes. Probably because for a long time at night when I get up in the middle of the night I keep one eye from navigating the dark and when light turns in I switch. So I guess doing this for years made the contrast of each eye can detect different.

i have the same, i always assumed it's normal. the left eye sees things in an emotional way, thus is has an orange bias. the right eye sees things in rational way, thus it has a blue bias.