This blog provides information about Nyctalopia and Night Blindness. Firstly it describes what is night blindness. Then we will discuss how we see in the darkness. Then we will discuss the main causes of Night Blindness. Secondly, we will discuss the common symptoms of Night Blindness. Then it will discuss the diagnosis and Treatment of Night Blindness. At the end it will discuss the preventive measures of Night Blindness. This blog contains causes, symptoms, Treatment and Prevention of Night Blindness or Nyctalopia.

What is Nyctalopia?

Night Blindness or Nyctalopia is a health condition in which makes it hard for you to see in dark places or for your eyes to adjust sudden changes between bright light and darkness.

In this condition you feel trouble in seeing in dim light or dark settings. It is the disorder related to the disturbance in adjusting your vision according to the changing light. People with this condition are not able to adjust their vision with the changing light, that is why they can’t see in darkness.

Some forms of night blindness develop in the childhood while some attacks a person in old age. In some cases the symptoms do not show up until you are an adult. This blog contains information about Nyctalopia, causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of Night blindness.

How we see in Darkness?

The ability to see in darkness mainly depends upon the two structures of the eye so these structure and their functions helps us to see at night.

Retina:

The Retina of the eye contains two types of light detecting cells, cones and rods so cones mainly detects the colors. Rods handle the vision in dim light. Rods makes 95% of retina photoreceptors and help you iris to adjust how much they can be widen or narrow so its disturbance can cause night blindness.

Irises:

Irises are the muscles in the eyes that widen or narrow our eye’s pupil that adjusts how much light can enter in the eye so it is responsible to allow the light to enter in the eye to help you see properly in bright light or in darkness. If there is a disturbance in amount of light in different conditions, then it causes light sensitivity. This can cause hard to see in bright light or hard to see in dim light.

Causes of Night Blindness:

Following can be the major causes of Night Blindness:

Cataracts:

Cataracts is called the cloudy area on the lens of the eye. This can be a causes of Night blindness.

Glaucoma:

This is a group of eye diseases that cause vision loss, damage of eye, and blindness. It can damage your eye nerves.

Laser Vision Correction Surgery:

Laser Vision Correction Surgery is the surgery that uses laser to clear the vision by removing dirt and cloudiness from the eye lens.

Genetic Retinal Diseases:

Genetic Retinal Diseases are those diseases that are genetically transmitted to the next generation and effect your eyes causing night blindness.

Vitamin A deficiency:

Vitamin A deficiency is the cause of night blindness in some cases. If you have vitamin A deficiency, you can get Night Blindness easily.

Vitamin A loss related Surgeries:

Surgeries in which vitamin A is lost, can lead to the Night Blindness. This can cause sudden deficiency of vitamin A and end up to cause night Blindness.

Nearsightedness:

The people who have nearsightedness are more likely to have night blindness in future so this can be a great cause of Night blindness.

Diabetes:

Diabetes makes your organs extremely weak and effects your sensitive organs such as eyes. That is why diabetic patients are more likely to get Night Blindness.

All these causes may lead to night blindness.

Night Blindness

Night Blindness

Symptoms of Night Blindness:

Following are the symptoms of Night Blindness:

Disability to see at night or in dim light
Headache
Eye pain
Blurry or cloudy vision
Difficulty to see on a distance
Sensitivity to light
Nausea
Vomiting

All of these symptoms can occur when Night blindness is caused to a person.

Diagnosis of Night Blindness:

Night Blindness can be diagnosed by Blood tests. Health professionals may take your medical history before the start of the treatment to diagnose the actual cause of this condition. They ask you is there any other eye related disorder or disease that can be base of Night Blindness so after knowing the correct cause, we can go towards its treatment.

Treatment of Night Blindness:

Treatment of night blindness can be different according to the condition and the extent of Night Blindness.

Diet rich in vitamin A:

In case of Vitamin A deficiency, a good diet rich in vitamin A can be useful. Foods such as eggs, leafy green vegetable, fortified milk and cereals, orange and yellow vegetables and fruits will help you to get cured in such condition.

Use of Contact Lenses:

You can use special contact lenses or special glasses to have a improved vision at night so use of contact lenses can help you see in improved way at night time.

Medication:

You can also use prescribed drops medication to get cured. These can be in the form of tablets and suspensions. Medications can help to improve night blindness.

You cannot help yourself with the treatment of night blindness. You should take medical help as soon as possible to avoid other vision problems in future and to avoid worst impacts.

In few cases, Night Blindness is not treatable and the only way to treat is to use suitable diet and medication to prevent worst symptoms so different types of surgeries can be used as a cure for night blindness. This blog contains Treatment of Night Blindness and Nyctalopia.

Preventive measures for Night Blindness:

Wearing sunglasses in any of the night blindness conditions can be hard on eyes and damage the retina.

We can prevent night blindness by giving attention to blood sugar levels so keeping them at normal.

Night Blindness may lead because of unhealthy diet and lazy way of living because it is basically weakening of eye muscles that cause this condition.

A healthy lifestyle and suitable diet with certain vitamins and minerals can help to cure night blindness so we should take proper care of our eyes and avoid damaged or cracked lenses and glasses to protect your eyes from such conditions.

By following these preventive measures we can avoid to get Night Blindness or Nyctalopia.

Conclusion:

Night Blindness is the eye disorder that cause the patient hard to see at night i.e. in the darkness. People become completely or partially blind at night. Its causes includes Vitamin A deficiency, other eye diseases, cataracts, diabetes, and many other causes. Symptoms include blurry visions, hard to see at night, nausea, vomiting etc. Its diagnosis can be done by taking thorough medical history related to diseases and disorders that already exist. Treatments include surgeries, proper medications including eye drops, vitamin A rich diet etc. We can prevent night blindness through healthy diet, vitamins intake, taking good care of eye health, avoiding lazy routines etc.

Nyctalopia Treatment

Symptoms of Night Blindness

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