The optical absorption spectrum of ion-implanted silica is shown to become dichroic when it is photobleached with polarized 248-nm light. The dichroism is modeled by a photobleaching process that bleaches color centers preferentially depending on their local orientation with respect to the polarization of the photobleaching light. A similar photobleaching process may occur in photosensitive fiber, thus providing a possible explanation for the birefringence that is observed in the photoinduced index change.