Long preamble. Feel free to skip down!

Growing up I had TERRIBLE vision plus fairly severe astigmatism and strabismus (often imprecisely called a lazy eye). I wore thick (nerdy!) glasses and couldn't be without them for a moment. They invariably slid down my nose.

After college, I had laser eye surgery that corrected my nearsightedness and astigmatism. I could finally see without my glasses. And nothing sliding down my nose! (Writing this is giving me a strong sensation of needing to push up phantom glasses.)

The issue is that the laser surgery did nothing for the strabismus (nor was it supposed to), and the lack of specs to hide behind makes the issue much more apparent to others. I can focus/ look out of either eye but not both at once, and the resting eye tends to drift off to the side. When I meet new people, the new person invariably looks over his or her shoulder to see what I'm looking at because it's impossible to tell that I'm looking right at her/him. After initial meetings/handshake type situations, I rarely try to engage in direct or sustained eye contact - just too uncomfortable for my partner in conversation. Teaching can be a problem for the first few days of class before I know students' names as they can't tell which person I'm addressing, but that's another story!

If you've made it this far, I think you'll have a good grasp of the question before me here.

Short Version:

A (very direct) friend suggested that if my eye problem and the resulting social awkwardness bothers me, I should choose and wear some great specs with clear lenses to camoflage my strabismus.

What do you think? Usually I don't even think about my eyes, but now that I'm back in school and meeting new people, attending conferences, etc., I have been realizing how unnerving people can find it to talk with me. All the networking events and professional development workshops I've attended stress the importance of eye contact, and I just can't do it! Maybe a little distraction with fancy specs would help? Or maybe just lipstick on a pig? I'd be interested to hear any advice or thoughts you all have as this is a wise community.

I've included a few pictures that sort of show the issue. And a close up of the eyes - no makeup today - yikes!! The problem is much more apparent in person and in non-staged photos.

Edit: Just realized that in the middle photo I have unfocused/sort of crossed my eyes to make them look more normal. That trick sort of works for selfies but is quite unsustainable!