Do you have Trouble Seeing at Night?

Night blindness or nyctalopia can result in impaired vision at night time or in low light environments which can dramatically impact on a person’s ability to drive in the evening time or at night.

If you have trouble identifying objects clearly at night or find that it takes your eyes a long time to adjust when you leave bright surroundings and enter darkness (e.g. cinema theatre) you may be suffering from night blindness.

Driving with impaired night vision is particularly dangerous, so if you have noticed a decline in your ability to decipher road signs when driving in the evening or in the dark it is imperative that you cease driving and have your eyesight and your eye health checked.

At Optilase Northern Ireland the extent of your night time eyesight deficiency can be determined during a free consultation at any of our clinics located in Belfast, Newry and Derry/Londonderry.

Light in the eye

When you open your eyes and can see your surroundings it is because light is able to travel through the cornea and lens at the front of the eye and land on the retina at the back of the eye.

In the retina there are specialized cells known as photoreceptors which change light into electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain to create an image for a person to see.

Rods and cones are the two types of photoreceptors in the retina, with approximately 3 million cones and 100 million rods in each eye.

Rods are responsible for peripheral vision but are only able to create black and white vision so a healthy number of rods are vital in order to see in dim lighting.

Cones are found in the centre of the retina and translate images into colour. They create vision from bright light.

Trouble seeing in low light conditions

To determine the root cause of your vision defect or to determine whether you suffer from night blindness, a free eye consultation at Optilase Northern Ireland can put your mind at ease.

When a person has difficulty see in dim light or at night, it can be because of impaired connections between rods and the nerve cells that are connected to the brain, or it could be caused by a loss in functioning receptors.

An inability to see comfortably in the dark could also be caused the pupil dilating so that it makes a person more nearsighted, which is a condition known as a spherical aberration.

Alternatively, if it takes a long time for vision to become clear in low light environments, it may be the result of a vitamin deficiency or underlying condition. You may be a candidate for laser eye surgery if you have a refractive error that can be treated with reshaping of the cornea.

To arrange your eye consultation at any Optilase Clinic across Northern Ireland, call 08000 121 565.