What is Night Blindness? Night Blindness Symptoms and Treatment

Night blindness, or nyctalopia, is the name given to having vision problems in low-light environments. People with night blindness have difficulty seeing at night in poorly lit places, cinemas, and dimly lit environments. This vision difficulty is seen as difficulty in activities such as driving or walking in the dark, rather than being unable to see completely, that is, a complete loss of vision. Night blindness may occur due to different health problems. While some of these problems can be treated, some cannot.

What is Night Blindness?

Night blindness is a condition in which vision is limited in darkness and dim light. People with this condition may have difficulty performing even simple tasks in low-light environments. How severe the symptoms of night blindness will be is closely related to the degree of the disease in the person. Night blindness is actually a symptom that develops due to different health problems rather than a disease. Eyes constantly adapt to the light in the environment. In low-light environments, the pupils (the small black area in the middle of the eye) enlarge, increasing the amount of light entering the eye. Light entering the eye falls on the retina at the back of the eye. Cone and rod cells in the retina are responsible for detecting this light. Cone cells provide color vision, while rod cells provide vision in the dark. When rod cells are damaged by injury, disease, or any other reason, night vision is also affected.

What Causes Night Blindness?

Night blindness usually develops due to an underlying eye-related health problem. Eye conditions that may cause night blindness:

• Glaucoma:Glaucoma is a disease in which increased pressure inside the eye damages the optic nerve. Permanent vision problems may occur due to glaucoma. Glaucoma can also lead to night blindness.
• Cataract: It is an eye problem in which the lens of the eye loses its clarity and becomes cloudy. This clouding occurs as a result of the breakdown of protein in the lens, usually associated with aging. Cataracts can cause vision problems, including vision in dim light.
• Myopia (farsightedness): Myopia develops as a result of the horizontal axis of the eye being extended and not being able to completely reduce the light to the yellow point. People who suffer from myopia have problems seeing distant objects. When myopia progresses, it can also cause night blindness.
• Retinitis Pigmentosa: Retinitis pigmentosa is a genetic disorder that damages the retina. Damage to the retina can also cause vision problems in dim light.

How to Understand Night Blindness?

The most important part in diagnosing night blindness is the signs and symptoms the patient has. The doctor tries to diagnose night blindness or another eye disease by questioning the patient’s complaints in detail. The doctor may ask the patient the following questions regarding the symptoms that may occur in night blindness:

• Do you have difficulty moving around the house in dim light?
• Do you have difficulty driving at night?
• Is it difficult to recognize faces in dim light?
• Does it take you long to adapt to the transition from a bright environment to a dark environment?
• Does it take a long time for your vision to return to normal when you switch from bright to dark?

The answers to these questions give the doctor clues about the disease. There are symptoms that can be seen with night blindness. These symptoms may develop due to the underlying disease that also causes night blindness. Symptoms that may occur with night blindness are as follows:

• Headache
• Eye pain
• Nausea, vomiting
• blurred vision
• sensitivity to light
• Difficulty seeing distant objects

In order to diagnose night blindness, a detailed eye examination should be performed in addition to the patient’s complaints. With the night blindness test, the patient’s vision in dim light is evaluated. The patient can be diagnosed with both the patient’s history and the information obtained through examination. During this procedure, the patient is also investigated for other eye diseases that may cause night blindness.

Which Vitamin Deficiency Causes Night Blindness?

Vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness. Vitamin A, also known as retinol, is a molecule located in the light-sensitive area of ​​the retina and plays a role in converting nerve messages into images. In vitamin A deficiency, problems may occur in this transformation and night vision is affected. Diseases such as pancreatic insufficiency and cystic fibrosis; It may lead to deficiency of vitamin A, which is a fat-soluble type of vitamin. Therefore, people with these diseases are also at risk of night blindness. Night blindness is a disease seen in vitamin deficiency. Getting enough vitamin A along with diet is very important in preventing night blindness. Foods rich in vitamin A can be listed as follows:

• Carrot
• Melon
• pumpkin
• Mango
• Spinach and other dark green leafy vegetables
• Red meat products such as liver
• Milk
• Egg

How is Night Blindness Treated?

The basic logic in the treatment of night blindness is to treat the underlying causes that cause the vision problem. For this purpose, it is necessary to resort to different treatment methods for different problems:

• To treat night blindness caused by cataracts, the damaged eye lens must be replaced. For this purpose, a simple eye surgery can be planned. With surgery, the cloudy lens is replaced with a new, artificial and transparent lens. In this way, complaints such as night blindness and blurred vision are corrected.
• Vitamin supplements must be taken to correct night blindness due to vitamin A deficiency. The likelihood of vitamin A deficiency is low in people who eat a balanced and regular diet. However, the risk of vitamin deficiency increases in people who do not eat properly or have diseases that cause absorption problems.
• There is no chance of reversing night blindness due to genetic conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa. In retinitis pigmentosa disease, pigment begins to accumulate in the retina. This accumulation cannot be reversed by a method such as night blindness surgery or medication. Therefore, it is not currently possible to treat night blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa. People with this type of disease should avoid situations that may have dangerous consequences, such as driving at night.

Night blindness is a condition that can be prevented by taking certain precautions and the risk factors that may cause this problem can be controlled. The first method that comes to mind in preventing night blindness is to regularly take vitamin A, which the body needs. Other precautions that can be taken in addition to vitamins can be listed as follows:

• Wearing sunglasses: Sun rays can damage the eyes and cause problems such as cataracts, macular degeneration and glaucoma. To prevent this, it is recommended to wear sunglasses, especially in sunny weather. The sunglasses to be preferred are; It must protect the eye from all angles, block at least 99% of UVA and UVB rays and filter 75-90% of visible blue light.
• Consuming antioxidant-rich foods: Consuming plenty of antioxidant vitamins and eating antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables helps protect eye health.
• Exercising regularly:Regular activity contributes to eye health by both regulating blood sugar and reducing eye pressure.
• Having regular eye examinations: In order to closely monitor eye health, it is necessary to have an eye examination every 1-2 years. Thanks to these checks, a possible health problem in the eyes can be detected early and treated immediately.

Night blindness is one of dozens of eye-related problems. Nowadays, situations such as increased screen time and changes in nutrition patterns have also negatively affected eye health. It will be useful to have regular eye checks to protect eye health and to diagnose and treat possible problems such as night blindness at an early stage.