I did this over 3 years ago, and I still notice the effect today. I look directly in people's eyes much more.

Whether this is a good or bad things is debatable. I have seen that it makes me more noticed in (small) crowd. If a teacher or presenter is saying something, my default is to make eye contact. They usually maintain this for a bit, and from then on tend to speak more at me than others.

I do sometimes have to consciously break eye contact, because very prolonged eye contact does make some people uncomfortable.