Millions of people suffer from vision that is worse at night. This is known as night blindness, or nyctalopia and is a problem that can be present from birth, or that can develop later in life, usually as a result of illness or injury. Fortunately, there are things that can be done to help improve your vision in darker conditions and prevent it from affecting your quality of life.

What Happens to Our Vision When We Go Into a Dark Environment?

Everyone needs to allow time for their eyes and vision to adjust when transitioning from a light environment to a dark one. As the light dims, your pupils will dilate (get larger) enabling them to take in more light so help you see. On average, it can take up to 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust fully. However, in the meantime, the changing size of your pupils will make it harder for your eyes to change focus between near and far objects and this can make it even more difficult to see. This is when you are most likely to be ‘blinded’ up oncoming headlights, or a sudden streetlamp.

Some people can learn to manage the effects of worse vision at night. However, many people still find it a real struggle and are diagnosed with night blindness, needing extra help to enable them to see clearly and remain safe in dark conditions.

Symptoms of Night Blindness

Unsurprisingly, the main symptom of night blindness is worse vision in darker conditions. Often, the dimmer or darker it gets, the harder it gets for you to see clearly. Other symptoms of night blindness include:

• Difficulty driving in the dark

• Excessive squinting at night

• Difficulty moving around safely in dark environments

• Taking longer than usual to adjust when moving from light to dark

Visit your eye doctor if you experience any of these symptoms.

What Causes Night Blindness?

A very small number of people are born with night blindness. However, the most common cause of the condition developing is ocular deterioration with occurs with age. This is because as you get older, the natural lens of your eye will start to harden, making it less flexible and so less able to change as needed to provide visual focus. The eye lens also becomes less clear over time, making it harder to see in dim light conditions.

Other causes of night blindness include:

• Uncorrected refractive eye conditions such as myopia/nearsightedness

• Cataracts, which is a condition caused by the natural clouding of the lens of the eye

• Vitamin A deficiency

• Retinitis pigmentosa, a serious genetic eye condition

• Injury to the eye

• Side effects from laser vision correction         

What Can Be Done to Improve My Night Vision?

Fortunately, some causes of night blindness are treatable. The first step is to speak to your eye doctor to determine what is causing your vision to be worse. If they identify a problem such as cataracts or an undiagnosed refractive eye error, improving your vision could be a fairly straightforward process. For example, you may be recommended to have cataract surgery or to start wearing prescription lenses.

There are also some visual aids which can help, including anti-reflective coating on prescription glasses, which will reduce glare from lights such as the headlights of oncoming traffic.

For more information or to schedule an appointment with our team, call Limestone Eye Care at (785) 268-6880 to reach our office in Lawrence, Kansas.