Understanding Night Blindness: Causes, Symptoms, and Management

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Night Blindness

by Alike Medical Team ∙ Updated on June 13, 2023

Additional names

This group contains additional names: - Nyctalopia

General

Night blindness is the inability to see well at night or in poor light such as in a restaurant or movie theater. It is often associated with an inability to quickly adapt from a well-illuminated to a poorly illuminated environment. It is not a disease in itself, but rather a symptom of an underlying eye problem, usually a retina problem. It is common for people who are myopic to have some difficulties with night vision, but this is not due to retinal disease, but rather optical issues.

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Signs & symptoms

* Abnormal trouble adapting to the dark while driving at night * Blurry vision when driving in the dark * Difficulty seeing in places with dim lighting, like your house or a movie theater * Excessive squinting at night * Trouble adjusting from bright areas to darker ones * Inability to see pedestrians walking at night * Reduced contrast sensitivity

Diagnosis

Night blindness has many possible causes, including: * Myopia (nearsightedness). * Glaucoma medications that work by constricting the pupil. * Cataracts. * Retinitis pigmentosa. * Vitamin A deficiency, especially in individuals who have undergone intestinal bypass surgery. * Diabetes. To determine what is causing your night blindness, an eye specialist will perform a thorough eye exam and may order any of a number of specialized images, tests or exams.

Treatment

Treatment for night blindness depends on the cause. Treatment may be as simple as getting a new eyeglass prescription or switching glaucoma medications, or it may require surgery if the night blindness is caused by cataracts. If a patient have a retinal disease, the treatment will depend on the type of the disease and will require additional investigation by a retina specialist.

Note

☝ We provide information on prescription and over-the-counter medicines, diagnosis, procedures and lab tests. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

National Institutes of Health ∙ World Health Organization ∙ MedlinePluse ∙ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

☝ All information has been reviewed by certified physicians from Alike

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