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Night blindness (twilight blindness) is a vision defect, the essence of which are visual disturbances after dusk or in a poorly lit room. Night blindness should not be taken lightly as, if left untreated, it can lead to complete loss of vision. What are the causes and symptoms of night blindness? What is its treatment? How to prevent it?

Night blindness( twilight blindness ,nyctalopia ) is a colloquial term for a visual defect whose the essence is poor vision at dusk or in a poorly lit room. This condition is the result of a malfunction of the rods - one of the elements of the eye's retina. The rods contain one type of pigment, ie visual red - rhodopsin. It is she who is responsible for seeing at dusk. Consequently, the impairment of the function of the rods causestwilight disturbance .

It is worth knowing that most birds (including chickens) have visual impairment in low light conditions, hence the common name of the disease

Night blindness (night blindness) - causes

Night blindness can be congenital. Then it is one of the symptoms ofstationary congenital night blindness- a group of genetically determined diseases, the essence of which is twilight vision disorder from infancy and non-progressive course of the disease.

Twilight blindness can also be one of the symptoms ofretinal dystrophy(e.g.retinitis pigmentosa ), which are hereditary. However, it most often occurs in the course of excessivekeratosis of the conjunctiva and cornea- diseases that are caused by a deficiency of vitamin A. Therefore, the risk of night blindness increases in people who are malnourished, with eating disorders (anorexia , orthorexia) and assimilation. Night blindness can also affect alcoholics. It happens that the disease accompanies people with cataracts and glaucoma.

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Night blindness (night blindness) - symptoms

Night blindness is manifested by impaired vision at dusk. It is a gradual process - the patient's visual acuity deteriorates with each passing day. Problems withvision also appear when moving from a light to a dark room. In addition, eye irritation occurs as a result of dryness. If the cause of the condition is vitamin A deficiency, symptoms of vitamin A deficiency also appear.

Night blindness (night blindness) - diagnosis

In order to diagnose night blindness, ophthalmoscopy is performed, i.e. a fundus examination, electrophysiological tests, as well as visual field tests (perimetry), the purpose of which is to monitor the disease.

Read also: Diseases that can make you blind

Night blindness (night blindness) - treatment

If the cause of the disease is vitamin A deficiency, the patient is given it orally or intramuscularly. In addition, topical eye lubricants are used.

Night blindness (night blindness) - prognosis

The prognosis is not favorable as night blindness is a progressive and irreversible condition, therefore there is a risk of complete blindness.

Read also: Where do visual disturbances come from and why they must not be ignored?

Night blindness (night blindness) - prevention

Due to the fact that the cause of night blindness is most often vitamin A deficiency, you should make sure that you do not run out of vitamin A in your diet. It can be found mainly in dairy products such as cheese, cottage cheese, butter, yoghurt, but also in eggs and fish. In addition, vitamin A is rich in vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, red peppers).

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Eye diseases and vision disorders