Is there such a thing as 'Night Vision Blindness'?

Question

What exactly is it and what is the cause?....
My friend told me she has limited vision when driving in the dark and says it's difficult to see clearly, but in the day she can see clearly.

Answer 1

Interesting question. The clinical definition of night blindness is 'non-progressive congenital condition characterised by normal retinal appearance and absence of dark adaption' (according o my big fat ophthalmology book). This basically means the chemicals in the rods (nerves in the retina resonsible for night vision) do not adapt properly to the dark, which is someting that some people are born with, and it doesn't get worse over time.

However, what it sounds like your friend and many people like her have is a mild 'night myopia', which is when the eyes become temporarily slightly short-sighted in dim lighting conditions, or a low amount of existing short-sightedness or astigmatism become amplified due to poor lighting. Also in dim light the pupils dilate, which increases aberrations of the light passing into the eye.

Hope that made some sense!

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Yes, there really is such a thing. I have it to some extent as does my Dad.
For me it happens most often when it's VERY dark outside and I"m not in a town or city, so there's no city lights. So my eyes have adjusted to the darkness outside and then around the corner or up the hill, a car comes and even though I can see their headlights are on dim, it hurts my eyes to the point I want to close them until the car passes. This, of course, is never a very good thing to do while driving, and since I live in a rather flat area of the country, it usually takes a while for the car to pass. The closer it gets, the worse it gets. It becomes disoreinting and I sometimes swerve unknowingly. As long as I have something else to focus my eyes on it's usually not a problem - like the car in front of me, or sometimes even the solid line to the right of the car on the road. For my Dad it's worse. Due to a childhood accident, he only has one eye. And his is worse in that his eyeball actually hurts.

We've both found that it's worse when we are tired. Not physically tired, but if we've used our eyes a lot - in detail work, or staring at the TV or computer screen for very long periods of time, or if we have or are close to having a headache. So, since neither of us work the night shift, and are not as fresh and alert at night like we are in the day, it's usually worse then. However, my Dad said that when he was younger and had to make long trips, he would sleep the day before and get a good "day's" sleep then drive at night. Usually after it gets good and dark, and not at twilight. We both try to take the less traveled roads to minimize the likelihood of facing oncoming traffic. However, I have noticed that if there isn't a road with little traffic, I prefer a road that has a lot of traffic. As long as my eyes don't have to make a constant adjustment from light to no light, it really helps. Of course driving at night when it's foggy, is the worst - for me at least. Both Dad and I see fine during the day.
As for the cause, I don't know for sure, but I would think that as our eyes get more and more tired, it's harder for our pupils to dialate and contract quick enough not to cause major eye pain and temporary blindness.

For more "official" info and not just a testimonial try going to webmd.com and searching for night blindness.

Answer 4

I'm not too sure exactly what the cause is but yes, people can have some different degrees of "night blindness". I myself have a harder time seeing at night than I do during the day. When I had my eyes checked, I found out I had astigmatism and I was told that, that can cause some people to have a harder time seeing at night.

Answer 5

Yes, when you look in to the darkness things are very flat and have little depth. For example its hard to judge the distance to a junction. Also often your eyes do not adjust quickly to the glare of head lights and you are temporarily blinded. True and very worrying.

Answer 6

Yes there is such a thing, its caused by..... hang on, the_only_solorose just beat me to it. So yeah, what she said.

Answer 7

yes there is night vision blindness, it is caused by a lack of specific nerve recepters in the eye's visual layer.

Answer 8

Yes there is, go down to your local optician & they can sort you out with a pair of glasses. They will more than likely be slightly yellow tinted. Hope this helps.

Answer 9

This is a real thing...no one treats for it though. I get anti-reflective lenses, and that seems to help with the glare.

Answer 10

no, I don't think their is but ask a decoder jest in case