eccentric viewing

eccentric viewing

A method of scanning peripheral visual fields to optimize vision in patients with diseases that cause central visual loss, such as macular degeneration.

viewing, eccentric 

Fixation in which the eye moves so as to place the image of an object outside the fovea. The object is perceived by the patient as looking 'past' it and not directly at it as in eccentric fixation. Eccentric viewing is often applied by people with low vision suffering from macular degeneration to improve reading a letter or a word by looking slightly above, below or to the side of it. See eccentric fixation; low vision.