Removal of the more-experienced eye decreases visual field deficits in cats reared with unequal alternating monocular exposure.

Unequal alternating monocular exposure produces a nasal field deficit for the less-experienced eye, which persists despite prolonged unrestricted binocular exposure. We now report that this deficit decreases after the more experienced eye is removed. Prior to enucleation, the visual field of the less-experienced eye was restricted to the temporal hemifield; 5 months after enucleation of the more-experienced eye, this field extended into the nasal field. Our results are consistent with those in monocularly-deprived cats, and with the occasional recovery of human amblyopes after loss of the fixating eye.