Night vision

[Jeff]

I am curious as to how many LASIK patients have good night vision? Was the night vision better or the same before the surgery? Do you wear glasses, contacts or some other device to drive at night. How bad is your vision when your eyes are dialated for eye exams.
Thanks, Jeff

[Kyle]

Hi Jeff,
I have posted about this on the website before (you might want to go back and look at some of the old threads), but I can not drive at all at night now because of my lasik surgery. I had no problem driving with my contacts in prior to the surgery, but now the halos and star bursts and cars driving towards me freak me out so much I can't do it. I have seen several doctors regarding this and most of them tell me that it is a common side affect of the surgery and usually happens to people who have big pupils (which I do). Some have said to wear lightly tinted sunglasses, some suggested contacts (which I tried, but irritated my already dry eyes) and some suggested I use Alphagan (I think that's how it's spelled) to dialate my pupils so I can see at night. I have never tried it because so many people tell me it will also irritate my already horribly dry eyes and I'm not willing to take the risk. I simply don't drive at night anymore.
Hope this helps.
Kyle

[dianat]

I'm one of the lucky ones. Due to my dry eyes, I often opt out of driving day or night if my hubby is there to do it instead. But, I can see fine. I'd say my nighttime vision might be just a bit compromised, but it's not likely I'd care if I'd not gotten dry eyes.

D

[Jeff]

Hi Kyle,

What is you current corrected vision? Have you had an actual eye test? Not the Snellen 20/20 chart but the real deal? I was having the same problem for quite some time post-LASIK (2 1/2 years) they kept telling me I was 20/15 and that I was JUST dealing with dry eyes (of course this part is true). Well I decided to get to the bottom of it. I finally was told that I was under corrected in one eye. I then asked to get a pair of glasses made up to correct my under corrected vision. This helped immensely. It cleaned up the "bad" vision. The "streams are much better now. It is my belief that at night in the dark or dim lite clubs, we expirience vision problems due to the refractive errors of the pupil, that, when it is small (dayight, bright rooms) we don't because of the area that was zapped. I am guessing it is not a large enough area that is corrected and that is why people with large pupils are not good candidates. They are trying to sell me bi-focals now, right back where I started this game.
Thanks for the response,
Jeff

[Kyle]

Jeff,
I'm honestly not sure what my vision is right now. I go back to the eye docs next Wednesday so I'll find out. I know I was legally blind prior to the operation and couldn't even see the nose on my face. I think my right eye is corrected to 20/20, but I still have problems seeing with my left eye (which is my "problem eye" anyway). The flap of that eye had folded backwards the night of my surgery and I had to be rushed in for another operation on that eye the next day. I'm sure that didn't help things. I'll see my doctor and get back to you on that, okay?

[Safari78]

My situation is similar to Kyles. I haven't been able to drive at night since my Lasik surgery either. That was about 9 months ago. I have horrible haloes and starbursting. My vision also gets blurry in dim light. I'm in the process (long process) of being fitted with RGPs.

[kaypeeoh]

I had LASIK seven years ago and have had poor night vision ever since. I don't drive after sunset. In poor light I have faint ghosts that blur the edges of things, making for poor contrast sensitivity. At night I see huge starbursts radiating from every light source: headlights, neon lights, streetlights, they all meld together making my night vision dangerously poor. I can drive at night if I use drops to constrict the pupils. I have RGP contacts that solve most of the starburst problems but I can only tolerate the lenses for about two hours a day.

[homes]

my night vision is much worse, but i still have the ability to drive during night time. i too experience halos and star bursts, even 3 years post surgery. a circus has nothing on the spectacle of light and colors i see - 70's psychedelic baby (without the "acid").

im with diana however, dry eye just annihilates any other condition i might suffer from.