Imagine driving a car down a busy interstate or inside a tunnel, when suddenly the lights and your vision go from bad to horrible. It becomes almost impossible to correct changes to the steering wheel, see the lines, and avoid any and all oncoming traffic.  Night blindness is close enough to that, when it goes from dusk to dark and your vision suddenly goes from good to horrible.

Night Blindness when described in the medical community becomes the important and authoritative word of Nyctalopia.   Night blindness can be its own condition, relatively little, or a symptom of another condition.  It may be something that starts from birth or something that you acquire over time.  In reality, it is the inability for your eyes to adapt to the light change when going from some light to little or almost no light.

Let’s look at some of the possible causes of Night Blindness.

1.)     Congenital 

–          This means that it’s a condition from birth
–          X-linked night blindness affects the Rod cells in the eye

2.)    Eye injury

3.)    Malnutrition

–          The cause for this is often a lack of vitamin A.
–          There are other nutrition related causes.

4.)    Retinitis Pigmentosa

–          This is a disorder that affects one of the two types of cells
–          In this case – the rod cells are affected
–          They lose their ability to respond to light.

5.)    Myopia

–          This is nearsightedness and when this becomes worse
–          The eye is spending so much effort to become better or focus
–          It then loses the ability to see or differentiate light.

 6.)    Glaucoma Medications

–          These types of medication often constrict the pupil
–          A constricted pupil allows less light to enter
–          This affects the overall ability to see lights

7.)     Cataracts

–          This is a condition where clouding occurs on the lens of the eye
–          This also affect the ability for light to enter into the eye.
–          They can be potentially blinding if not treated.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of night blindness can be simple and complicated at the same time. You will be asked several questions to ensure that some other issue isn’t present. Of course, if it is Glaucoma medications or Myopia, treatment may be simpler than you think.

You must consider a few things in your mind. Try to understand when you are affected by night blindness?  Is it somethimes or all the time?  Are there other vision changes that you are experiencing. Any family history of Diabetes?

Eye Exam

You will probably need a full eye exam. They will check vision, pupillary changes with light, a light that is shined in your eye to look at the vessels of the eye and overall lens. They will probably check your ability to see colors as well.

Treatment

Unfortunately, not all night blindness can be treated. If it is a symptom of a condition and that condition can be treated, then that’s a good thing. Things like Vitamin A deficiency, Myopia, and certain medications can be altered.  But Retinitis pigmentosa and Birth defects can not be treated and avoidance of driving in the dark is recommended.