Night blindness (nyctalopia) is an inability to see well at night or in poor light. It is often associated with an inability to quickly adapt from a well-illuminated to a poorly illuminated environment.

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In order to be able to see well at night, or in low light conditions, your eyes need to adjust appropriately.

The first necessary adjustment involves our pupils. When exposed to a dark or dimly light environment, our pupils will dilate, or become larger, to enable more light to enter our eyes. This light will then move through a series of essential steps in order to be received by the retina.

The retina is the light sensitive tissue in the back of our eye that contains all of the photoreceptor cells, called rods and cones.

• Cone cells provide color vision, enabling us to see during the day, and in bright light.
• Rod cells provide black and white vision, enabling us to see in the dark. For this reason, night vision is all or mostly, black and white.

Decreased night vision or total night blindness can occur when the rods stop working, usually as a result of an eye injury, condition or disease.

In some cases, poor night vision can be a temporary side-effect of another medical condition or even a natural part of the aging process.

Eye conditions that can cause night blindness

Night blindness is generally a symptom of an underlying ocular condition that involves the health of the retina, though it can also result from severe or worsening myopia, or a vitamin A deficiency.

• Vitamin A deficiency is one of the most common causes of night blindness. An insufficient amount of vitamin A in the body affects the production of rhodopsin, the necessary pigment for night vision.
• Cataracts generally develop as part of the natural process, as the proteins that make up the eye’s lens begin to crystallize and harden. Cataracts affect vision clarity, causing blurriness, glare and the presence of halos around bright lights. Decreased night vision and increased difficulty driving at night is typically the first sign of a developing cataract.
• Glaucoma occurs when the pressure within the eye increases and causes progressive damage to the optical nerve. Glaucoma affects both daytime and nighttime vision— first affecting peripheral vision, and then central vision.
• Macular degeneration is an eye disease that affects retinal health and causes blind spots and image distortions in both daytime and nighttime vision.
• Diabetes can affect the shape of the eye’s lens and cause damage to the blood vessels in the eyes— leading to a condition called diabetic retinopathy. One of the first symptoms of diabetic retinopathy is poor night vision.
• Retinitis pigmentosa is a retinal disease that occurs when dark pigment collects in the retina, causing the rod cells to breakdown. This disease makes it difficult to see in low light conditions and can lead to tunnel vision and eventually total vision loss.
• Congenital conditions that cause problems with the eye’s pigmentation can decrease night vision or cause total night blindness. A common congenital disorder associated with night blindness is called Usher Syndrome.
• Nearsightedness (myopia) occurs when distant images and objects appear blurry. If you cannot see clearly during the daytime, or if you need a new optical prescription, your vision in low light will be just as blurry as your daytime vision.
• Refractive surgeries such as Lasik and PRK, change the shape of the cornea to improve vision— but in doing so, can affect the way light bends as it enters the eye. As a result, glare and halos around streetlights and headlights can affect your vision at night.

Signs of Night blindness

Since night blindness can be caused by a number of underlying conditions, symptoms can vary. 

The most common signs of night blindness include:

• Blurry or cloudy vision in low light.
• Photophobia or Sensitivity to light.
• Seeing glare or halos around lights.
• Difficulty seeing distant objects in low light.
• Inability to see stars in the night sky.
• Total loss of vision when entering a dark room (lasting more than a few minutes).
• Trouble seeing objects or faces in low light conditions.

Diagnosis

Ophthalmologists use the Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity chart to detect signs of night blindness. This chart contains numerous rows of letters in different shades of grey, on a white background.

During this test, patient will be asked to identify the letters on the chart. As your eyes move down the chart, the letters will appear in lighter shades of grey, as the contrast to the white background is reduced.

A blood test to determine patient’s vitamin A and glucose levels.

Vitamin A deficiency can directly cause night blindness, while abnormal glucose levels can lead to eye diseases that can affect your retinal health and vision— and many times lead to night blindness.

How is Night blindness treated? 

Since night blindness can be caused by a number of underlying conditions, treatments can vary from patient to patient.

Cataract (Allopathically)

In allopathic treatment, night blindness caused by cataracts can be treated by surgically removing the cataracts themselves. Cataract surgery involves replacing your eye’s cloudy lens with a new and clear artificial lens.

Cataract (Homeopathically)

D Eye drops

Cataract, Keratitis with intense chemises of ocular conjunctiva, Sclera raised in patches, Stys and tarsal tumors, Suppurative inflammation of eyes, Photophobia, Spots before the vision, Blurred vision, acrid lachrymation, Sticky mucus on cornea, Opacities, Catarrhal conjunctivitis, Pterygium. Thrombosis of retinal vessels and degenerative changes in retinal cells.

Magnesia Carbonica

Inflammation of eyes, with redness, shootings, sensation of burning, and confused sight. (Drawing pain across eyes, feels as if each half of head were being drawn together). Graves’s disease, prominent eyeballs (improved). Distension of ball of eye. Agglutination of eyelids in morning. Dryness of eyes, or violent lachrymation. Opacity of cornea. Black spots before sight. Obscuration of crystalline lens (cataract).

Silicea Terra

Pain in eyes in morning, as if arising from the great dryness, or from the presence of sand. Pressure and smarting in eyes and lids. Tearing shooting pains in eyes on pressing them together. Shootings, which seem to pass out through eyes. Itching, smarting, and burning in the eyes. Redness of eyes, with smarting pain in canthi. Inflammation of eyes. Affections appearing in angles of eyes, in region of tear ducts. Swelling of lachrymal gland. Lachrymal fistula. Lachrymation, especially in open air.

Agglutination of lids, at night. Fungus haematodes and ulcers in cornea. Cornea thick, rough, warty, as if it were a mass of hypertrophied tissue, scaled off leaving cornea clear. Specks and scars in cornea. Weakness; heat; quivering of eyes. Spasmodic closing of lid. Presbyopia. The letters and Objects seem to be pale. Confused sight, as if directed through a greyish veil. Blackness before eyes after headache. Momentary attacks of sudden blindness. Cloudiness of crystalline lens. Cloudiness of the sight, as from amaurosis. Sparks, and black spots before sight. Photophobia, and dazzling in broad daylight.

Natrum Sulphuricum

Heaviness of eyelids, as if weights were on them. Itching on edges of lids mornings. Aching in eyes, especially in evening, when reading by candlelight. Tearing pain rounds eye. Burning in eyes with great dryness, or profuse lachrymation (with discharge of burning water, with dimness of sight). Dimness of sight, from weakness of eyes. Confused sight. Sparks before eyes, after blowing nose. Photophobia.

Psoronium

Eyes: gummy; surrounded by blue rings; glassy, with pain in them; agglutination in morning. Swelling of lids and of face. Pain in eye as if it would burst, Ophthalmia, with pain as from sand in eyes, and lacrimation at night. Pain as from sand, or foreign body, Biting in eyes. Tired in evening as from much reading by candlelight. Lachrymation: towards evening; on looking long at one object.

Pimples: like hordeola on upper lid; red, like fresh hordeola on margin of upper lids, and sensation as if something were moving before the eyes, as if one were playing with his fingers before them. Itching of lid from one side to other; of canthi; inner canthi, with heat. Vision of sparks. All objects in room appear to tremble. Dazzling in evening when walking in street. Vision blurred suddenly.

Calcarea Florica

Flickering and sparks before eyes. Spots on cornea. Cataract. Eyeballs ache. Conjunctivitis. Strumous phlyctenular keratitis. Subcutaneous palpebral cysts.

Carbo Animalis

Sensation as if the ball of the eye were detached from the socket, with weakness of sight. Presbyopia with dilatation of the pupils. A net seems to swim before the eyes.

Conium Maculatum

Aching of the eyes when reading. Itching below the eyes, with burning and smarting pain when they are rubbed. Sensation of cold, or burning, in the eyes, when walking in the open air. Inflammation and redness of the sclerotic. Hordeolum. (Specks in the cornea). Cataract from contusion. Short sightedness. Yellow color of the sclerotic. Eyes dull. Eyes prominent.

Momentary blindness by day in the brightness of the sun. Myopia. Presbyopia.                                 Diplopia. The lines seem to move while reading. Black spots and colored bands before the sight, in a room. Red appearance of objects. Dazzling of the sight by the daylight. Aversion to light without inflammation of the eyes. Photophobia, with pale red color of the ball of the eyes.

Antimuonium Tartaricum

Eyes fatigued, requiring sleep, and to be firmly closed. Pain, as of a bruise in the eyeball, on touching it.  Shootings, burning sensation, and smarting in the internal canthi, with redness of the conjunctiva. Eyes confused, swimming in tears; sunken, surrounded by dark circles. In pneumonia when the edges of the lids are covered with mucus. Rheumatic ophthalmia or from gonorrhea. Incipient amaurosis. Confused sight, with sparkling before the eyes, especially on rising from a seat.

Pulsatilla

Affections in general appearing on the cornea; margins of the eyelids; dim-sightedness, with a sensation as though there were something over the eye which the patient wishes to rub away; amaurosis; cataract. Pain in eyes as if scratched with a knife. Burning sensation, pressive pain as if caused by sand; or sharp or shooting pain in eyes, or else boring and incisive pain. Burning itching in eyes, chiefly in evening (inducing rubbing and scratching).

Inflammation in eyes and margins of lids (and Meibomian glands), with redness of the sclerotic and conjunctiva, and copious secretion of (thick) mucus (and nightly agglutination). Swelling and redness of eyelids. Trichiasis in eyelid. Stys, esp. on upper lid. Crystalline lens clouded and of a greyish color. Stye with inflammation of sclerotic, and tensive drawing pains on moving the muscles of the face. Dryness of eyes and lids, especially during sleep.

Profuse lachrymation, principally in the wind, as well as in open air, in the cold, and in clear, bright daylight. Acrid and corrosive tears. Abscess near angle of eye, like a lachrymal fistula (discharging pus on pressing it). Nocturnal agglutination of lids. Pupils contracted or dilated. Amaurosis; paralysis of optic nerve. Look fixed and stupid. Dimness of sight, especially or, getting warm from exercise.

Cloudiness of eyes and loss of sight, sometimes with paleness of face and inclination to vomit; (all objects present a sickly hue). Loss of sight in twilight, with sensation as if eyes were covered with a band. Sight confused, as if directed through a mist, or as if caused by something removable by rubbing, principally in open air, in evening, in morning, or on waking. Incipient cataract. Diplopia. Luminous circles before eyes, and diffusion of light of candles. Great sensibility of eyes to light, which causes lancinating pains (and in sunshine).

China Officinalis

Blue color around eyes. Hollow eyes. Yellowish sclerotic. Black specks, bright dazzling illusions; night blindness in anemic retina. Spots before eyes. Photophobia. Distortion of eyeballs. Intermittent ciliary neuralgia. Pressure in eyes. Amaurosis; scalding lachrymation.

Tellurium Metallicum

Lids thickened, inflamed, itching. Pterygium; pustular conjunctivitis. Cataract, following ocular lesions; aids the absorption of infiltrations in iris and choroid.

Senega

Hyperphoria, better by bending head backwards. Acts on the rectus superior. Blepharitis; lids dry and crusty (Graph). Dryness, with sensation as if too large for orbits. Starting. Lachrymation. Flickering; must wipe eyes frequently. Objects look shaded. Muscular asthenopia (Caust). Double vision; better only by bending head backward. Opacities of the vitreous humor. Promotes absorption of fragments of lens, after operation.

Arnica Montana

Diplopia from traumatism, muscular paralysis, retinal hemorrhage. Bruised, sore feeling in eyes after close work. Must keep eyes open. Dizzy on closing them. Feel tired and weary after sightseeing, moving pictures, etc.

Glaucoma (Allopathically)

If glaucoma is the cause of your night blindness, treating the disease itself through medicated eye drops, laser treatments, or surgery may help to relieve your night vision difficulties.

However, certain glaucoma medications called meiotic, cause the pupils to become smaller in size, which can also result in reduced night vision.

Glaucoma (Homeopathically)

D Eye drops

Cataract, Keratitis with intense chemises of ocular conjunctiva, Sclera raised in patches, Stys and tarsal tumors, Suppurative inflammation of eyes, Photophobia, Spots before the vision, Blurred vision, acrid lachrymation, Sticky mucus on cornea, Opacities, Catarrhal conjunctivitis, Pterygium. Thrombosis of retinal vessels and degenerative changes in retinal cells.

Phosphorus

Cataract. Sensation as if everything were covered with a mist or veil, or dust, or something pulled tightly over eyes. Black points seem to float before the eyes. Patient sees better by shading eyes with hand. Fatigue of eyes and head even without much use of eyes. Green halo about the candlelight. Letters appear red. Atrophy of optic nerve.

Edema of lids and about e eyes. Pearly white conjunctiva and long curved lashes. Partial loss of vision from abuse of tobacco, Pain in orbital bones. Paresis of extrinsic muscles. Diplopia, due to deviation of the visual axis. Amaurosis from sexual excess. Glaucoma. Thrombosis of retinal vessels and degenerative changes in retinal cells. Degenerative changes where soreness and curved lines are seen in old people. Retinal trouble with lights and hallucination of vision.

Comocladia Dentata

Ciliary neuralgia with eyes feeling large and protruded, especially right. Worse, near warm stove; feels as if pressed outward. Sees only glimmer of light with left eye. Glaucoma, sense of fullness; eyeball feels too large. Motion of eyes aggravates.

Belladonna

Throbbing deep in eyes on lying down. Pupils dilated (Agnus Castus). Eyes feel swollen and protruding, staring, brilliant; conjunctiva red; dry, burning; photophobia; shooting in eyes. Exophthalmos. Ocular illusions; fiery appearance. Diplopia, squinting, spasms of lids. Sensation as if eyes were half closed. Eyelids swollen. Fundus congested.

Ocimum

Glaucoma; with iridescent vision. Violent supra and infraorbital neuralgia; violent pains and lachrymation. Green colors surround light/lamp/bulb. Conjunctivitis. Increase in intraocular tension, dim sight, photophobia.

Physostigma

Eyes inflamed, sclerotic dry, red, and swollen; eyeballs pain and smart; lids feel sore. Eyes bloodshot all the forenoon, with burning pain on attempting to use binocular vision, as in reading, so that one eye must be closed. pressure; with muscae volitantes, dark and light long worms or snakes, also tremulous vision. Bright marks when looking at an object; dark yellowish spots covering one or two letters when reading. Sharp, shooting pains, and drawing, twisting sensation in eyes. Eyes sore and painful when moved from side to side. Eyes convulsed. Sight blurred, hazy, or misty, film over eyes; objects mixed; after which dull pain over the eyes and between the eyes.

Aching in posterior part of orbit, extending back into the brain, heavy; cannot bear to raise them; twitching of lids. Contracted sensation in lids with difficulty in opening them and lacrimation when wide open, difficulty in keeping left eye open. Lids immovable. Tight feeling in ciliary region as if something were creeping about in it, with sharp pain, better when reading. Contraction of pupils; in morning; by small and rapid jerks, with sensitiveness to light; then mydriasis.

Pupils dilated. Pupils contracted when asleep, dilated when aroused. Disturbed accommodation; approximation of far point (myopia) and also of near point (the accommodation recovers before the pupil). Vision abnormally acute; double; dim and indistinct; blurred, hazy, misty. Lens dislocated by blow.

Prunus Spinosa

Pains in the eyes, as if the balls were torn out. Glaucoma. Ciliary neuralgia; pain in eyeball as if crushed or pressed asunder; sharp shooting pain extending through eye back into brain, or above eye extending into, around it, or over corresponding side of head; pain commences behind ear and shoots forward to eye; pains occasionally periodic, may be better at night.-Pain in eye as if inner portion would be torn out. Itching in corners of eyes and in edges of lids.

Cedron

Severe shooting pains over l. eye. Tic-like pain over left eye, only after coitus. Objects seem red at night, yellow by day (Bell. cured). Vision dim. Flashes of light before eyes. Loss of sight with dizziness.

Retinitis Pigmentosa (Allopathically)

Allopathic scientists have yet to discover a treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, as it is a genetic condition and does not respond to corrective lenses or retinal surgery.

Retinitis Pigmentosa (Homeopathically)

Lycopodium Clavatum:

Aching in the eyes. Gnawing, burning, and shooting pains in eyes (and lids), especially in evening, by candle-light. Smarting in eyes. Sensation of coldness in eyes, evening. Dryness of eyes; and lids; as if dust in them; difficult to open. Smarting and burning. Swelling and painfulness of lids. Inflammation of the eyes and lids.

Stys on the internal canthus. Agglutination of eyelids, especially at night, and lachrymation, better by day, and in a cold wind. Twitching of the eyelids. Troubled sight, as from feather-down before the eyes. Photophobia. Itching in canthi. Dim, hot eyes. The eyes are wide open, insensible to light, fixed.

Dryness of eyes, in evening. Sparks before the eyes, in the dark. Must wipe mucus from eye in order to see clearly. Purulent mucus. Myopia or presbyopia. Hemiopia perpendiculars sees only eft half of objects, esp. with right eye. The characters are confused when reading. Obscurity, black spots, glittering, and sparks before eyes. Eyes dazzled and irritated by candle-light in evening.

Magnesium Phos

Double vision (horizontal); sparks; rainbow colors; photophobia. Pupils contracted. Dark spots before eyes on attempting to read. Dull vision from weakness of optic nerve. Nystagmus; strabismus, spasmodic; ptosis. Neuralgia: supra-orbital or orbital; intermittent, darting, lightning-like pains, exquisitely sensitive to touch; with increased lacrimation. Itching and heat in lower lid.

Phosphorus

Cataract. Sensation as if everything were covered with a mist or veil, or dust, or something pulled tightly over eyes. Black points seem to float before the eyes. Patient sees better by shading eyes with hand. Fatigue of eyes and head even without much use of eyes. Green halo about the candlelight. Letters appear red. Atrophy of optic nerve.

Edema of lids and about e eyes. Pearly white conjunctiva and long curved lashes. Partial loss of vision from abuse of tobacco, Pain in orbital bones. Paresis of extrinsic muscles. Diplopia, due to deviation of the visual axis. Amaurosis from sexual excess. Glaucoma. Thrombosis of retinal vessels and degenerative changes in retinal cells. Degenerative changes where soreness and curved lines are seen in old people. Retinal trouble with lights and hallucination of vision.

Myopia (Allopathically)

Night blindness that is caused by nearsightedness and/or astigmatism can be treated with corrective lenses, such as eyeglasses or contact lenses that contain an updated and appropriate optical prescription.

Myopia (Homeopathically)

Ruta graveolens

Eyes-strain followed by headache. Eyes red, hot, and painful from sewing or reading fine print (Nat mur; Arg nit). Disturbances of accommodation. Weary pain while reading. Pressure deep in orbits. Tarsal cartilage feels bruised. Pressure over eyebrow. Asthenopia.

Physostigma

Eyes inflamed, sclerotic dry, red, and swollen; eyeballs pain and smart; lids feel sore. Eyes bloodshot all the forenoon, with burning in them. Pain on attempting to use binocular vision, as in reading, so that one eye must be closed. Pressure; with muscae volitantes, dark and light long worms or snakes, also tremulous vision. Bright marks when looking at an object; dark yellowish spots covering one or two letters when reading.

Sharp, shooting pains, and drawing, twisting sensation in eyes. Eyes sore and painful when moved from side to side. Pain deep in, over top of eyeball. Sharp stitches in eyeball feels better in open air. The muscularis internus seems not to do its work rightly, and the axis of the eyes differs in each; eyes feel weak, with lachrymation. Eyes convulsed. Sight blurred, hazy, or misty, film over eyes; objects mixed; after which dull pain over the eyes and between the eyes.

Aching in posterior part of orbit, extending back into the brain causing nausea.-Lids heavy; cannot bear to raise them; twitching of lids. Contracted sensation in lids with difficulty in opening them and lachrymation when wide open, difficulty in keeping eye open. Tight feeling in ciliary region as if something were creeping about in it, with sharp pain. Contraction of pupils; in morning; by small and rapid jerks, with sensitiveness to light; then mydriasis feels better in morning, seeming to depend on fatigue of sphincter, which was worse during day by reflex stimulus of light. Pupils dilated. Pupils contracted when asleep, dilated when aroused. Disturbed accommodation; approximation of far point (myopia) and also of near point (the accommodation recovers before the pupil). Vision abnormally acute; double; dim and indistinct; blurred, hazy, misty. Lens dislocated by blow.

Viola Odorata

Heaviness of lids. Eyeball feels compressed. Flames before eyes. Myopia. Choroiditis. Illusions of vision; fiery, serpentine circles.

Oleum Animale Aethereum

Smarting in eyes; misty vision. Glistening bodies before eyes. Lachrymation when eating. Short-sighted. Twitching of lids (Agar).

Phosphorus

Cataract. Sensation as if everything were covered with a mist or veil, or dust, or something pulled tightly over eyes. Black points seem to float before the eyes. Patient sees better by shading eyes with hand. Fatigue of eyes and head even without much use of eyes. Green halo about the candlelight. Letters appear red. Atrophy of optic nerve.

Edema of lids and about e eyes. Pearly white conjunctiva and long curved lashes. Partial loss of vision from abuse of tobacco, Pain in orbital bones. Paresis of extrinsic muscles. Diplopia, due to deviation of the visual axis. Amaurosis from sexual excess. Glaucoma. Thrombosis of retinal vessels and degenerative changes in retinal cells. Degenerative changes where soreness and curved lines are seen in old people. Retinal trouble with lights and hallucination of vision.

Refractive laser surgery (Allopathically)

If you are experiencing night blindness following a refractive eye surgery, such as LASIK or PRK, speak with your eye doctor about adding an anti-reflective coating to your eyeglasses to reduce glare and halos.

Refractive laser surgery (Homeopathically)

D Eye drops

Cataract, Keratitis with intense chemises of ocular conjunctiva, Sclera raised in patches, Stys and tarsal tumors, Suppurative inflammation of eyes, Photophobia, Spots before the vision, Blurred vision, acrid lachrymation, Sticky mucus on cornea, Opacities, Catarrhal conjunctivitis, Pterygium. Thrombosis of retinal vessels and degenerative changes in retinal cells.

Diabetes (Allopathically)

If you have diabetes and are experiencing night vision difficulties, it is important to see your eye doctor to determine if diabetic retinopathy is the cause. Treating diabetic retinopathy with anti-VEGF medication, laser treatments, or surgery and controlling your diabetes can help to relieve your night vision problems.

Diabetes (Homeopathically)

Advise all those medicines explained in Retinitis Pigmentosa Homeopathic treatment (Retinitis Pigmentosa Homeopathically).