profiles in profiles

[rinue]

My face is still mildly distorted from last week's gum graft - green-yellow bruising, puffy jaw, unevenly flattened smile. It irritates me more than it might otherwise, because it's on the left side of my face, which is the side that looks like me. I can't say it's my "good" side, exactly; neither side is bad, and the right side is probably prettier. But it's my left profile I identify as myself when I look in the mirror. The other side, not really.

I'm left-eye dominant, so it may fundamentally be that when I look at my profile in the mirror with my left eye, I have an easier (more comfortable) time processing what I see (left side of my face). I look at photos binocularly, and don't have the same alienation from my right profile in photos.

All of this has made me wonder whether other people's preferred self-profiles align with eye dominance.

Comments

[tommx]

My face is still mildly distorted from last week's gum graft - green-yellow bruising, puffy jaw, unevenly flattened smile.

That sounds really rough! I hope you heal quickly.

I never really thought that much about eye dominance, though I do know that sometimes, when I'm on a screen at night, I have a tendency to close one eye while looking at the screen. I have no idea why, and I couldn't even tell you which eye I tend to close. I guess I'll have to pay attention the next time I find myself doing this.

Hope all else is well with you.

[rinue]

I don't think eye dominance comes up very often unless you're shooting (bows or guns or cameras) or looking through a microscope. I'm aware of it mostly because left eye dominance is less common (although not uncommon) so cameras usually assume you're using your right eye and place buttons and things accordingly, and sometimes I have to do some weird contortions.

As I understand it, it's nothing to do with the actual eye (like, both could pass the same eye test) and more about which half of your brain does faster visual processing. Left eye - right brain.