Some of us will probably recognize it, during the day you drive through the whole country, but rather not in the dark if you are not familiar with the route. Your eyes always have to get used to the dark, but what if they don't? Once it's dark you can't see where the road leads, it's hard to orientate yourself in traffic and you have to put in a lot of effort to focus. What exactly is night blindness and is there anything that can be done about it?
Night blindness and traffic are a bad combination and cause accidents with, for example, other road users. Night blindness is the ability to see poorly or not at all in low light or darkness. This can be in the evening or at night, but also indoors with weak lighting. It is very annoying that someone with night blindness always needs some time to see during the transition from light to dark. It can take up to about an hour for night vision to be optimal. It is therefore not wise to drive a car because someone who is night blind is a danger on the road in the dark. A night blind person cannot see the sides of the road.
There are two types of cells in the retina: cones and rods. We use the cones when it is light. They ensure that we see clearly and can distinguish colors. In the dark, the cones do almost nothing and we use the rods. We cannot distinguish colors with the rods. That's why we see everything gray in the dark. The rods capture as much light as possible in order to be able to see as much as possible. Night blindness occurs when the light-sensitive rods in the retina don't work properly, it says eye fund.
According to the eye fund, night blindness always occurs in both eyes. It can be hereditary or caused by glaucoma or cataracts, optic nerve disorders and untreated myopia. But you can also get it due to too little vitamin A. It is very important that we also regularly give our eyes a rest from artificial light, we are of course at the office or school all day. If you still want to drive or cycle in the dark, you can try the special glasses for night blindness, it works for some, but not for others. These night vision goggles have yellow lenses, which makes the vision sharper, contrasts clearer and bright light from oncoming traffic is dimmed, for example.
