Night blindness disease: causes, symptoms, treatment. Night blindness - what kind of disease, why does it occur?

Night blindness is medically called hemeralopia. The condition is characterized by a sharp deterioration of vision in poor lighting. This often happens during twilight or at night, when leaving a lighted room into the darkness. A person’s field of vision narrows and spatial orientation suffers. Sometimes the patient begins to have difficulty distinguishing blue and yellow colors.

Causes of night blindness

Night blindness (hemeralopia) is an eye disease that is characterized by decreased vision of objects in dark conditions. As a result, spatial orientation and light adaptation are disrupted, and color perception changes.

Hemeralopia is popularly called night blindness due to the fact that the symptoms are similar to the visual characteristics of chickens: animals are poorly oriented even in the twilight. A person with this disease notes sharp deterioration visibility in poor lighting, while visual acuity in daytime doesn't change.

The human retina includes rod (110-125 million) and cone (6-7 million) cells that are sensitive to light. Normally the ratio is 18:1. These cells form the receptor apparatus. Rods are responsible for black and white perception at dusk and at night, and cones help a person see color palettes during the daytime.

Vision in conditions poor lighting carried out using rod photoreceptors in the retina. When exposed to bright light, the rods' visual pigment called rhodopsin breaks down. Pigment restoration occurs in the dark and not immediately; the participation of vitamin A is required. Pigment synthesis provokes the release of energy, which is converted into electrical impulses that enter the brain through the optic nerve. This mechanism ensures the activity of rods and, accordingly, vision in the dark.

Night blindness is a consequence of rhodopsin deficiency or its structural changes. It can also be caused by an incorrect ratio of rods and cones.

Night blindness develops equally in men and women. In women over 50 years of age, pathology is diagnosed more often, which is caused by changes in endocrine system during menopause. At other ages, the ratio for men and women is the same.

It is noteworthy that night blindness is not characteristic of the peoples of the far north and the aborigines of Australia. Northerners have evolved to adapt to darkness, as they live in polar night conditions for most of the year. The eyes of Aboriginal Australians have also evolved to see in the dark four times better than Caucasians.

Types of night blindness or hemeralopia

Congenital night blindness is inherited. This type most often appears in childhood or adolescence. The congenital form causes persistent impairment of vision during twilight and poor adaptation to darkness. Often, congenital hemeralopia occurs with Usher syndrome (deaf-blindness), retinitis pigmentosa and other inherited diseases.

Symptomatic night blindness is a consequence of retinal dystrophy, atrophy optic nerve, inflammation of the retina and choroid of the eyeballs (chorioretinitis), glaucoma, cataracts, siderosis, myopia with complications, retinal detachment, radiation burns eye and other eye diseases. With such diseases, hemeralopia will be accompanied by other symptoms.

Essential (functional) hemeralopia develops due to a lack of vitamin A or retinol, as well as when its metabolism is disrupted. The condition is aggravated by a lack of vitamins B2 and PP. Often this type night blindness is the result of starvation, alcoholism, malaria, neurasthenia, liver disease. The essential appearance is most often a temporary symptom that disappears after elimination of hypo- and vitamin deficiency. These conditions can lead to diabetes mellitus, anemia, gastrointestinal diseases, which are characterized by impaired absorption (gastritis, colitis).

Night blindness develops after a long time from the onset of hypovitaminosis, since vitamin A reserves in the body usually last for a year. Night blindness may be a consequence infectious disease(measles, chickenpox, herpes, rubella), menopause, vegetarianism and diet. In most cases, the mechanism of hemeralopia is the same, and consists in a violation of the synthesis of rhodopsin in the rods of the retina.

Clinical picture of hemeralopia

Most often, the congenital form manifests itself in childhood: visual acuity decreases in the evening and at night, and visual discomfort appears. The person cannot distinguish between objects and loses orientation. There is often a feeling of dryness in the eyes, the effect of sand. In young children, hemeralopia provokes a fear of the dark. Alarm signal For parents, the child may cry and become restless at dusk.

With the essential nature of the disease, diagnostics reveals xerotic Iskersky-Bito plaques on the conjunctiva of the eyeball. Plaques are represented by dry spots in the palpebral fissure. With a severe lack of vitamin A, necrosis occurs, that is, the death of the cornea, or its melting. Vitamin deficiency also causes weight loss, dry skin, and increases bleeding gums. In addition to deterioration in visual acuity, dry skin and mucous membranes, hyperkeratosis ( accelerated development stratum corneum of the skin).

When testing visual fields, their narrowing is observed, especially blue and yellow flowers. If hemeralopia has developed as a result of some disease, the fundus of the eye changes characteristically. With essential night blindness, the bottom remains unchanged.

Diagnostics

Methods for diagnosing night blindness:

visometry;
color, achromatic perimetry;
ophthalmoscopy;
biomicroscopy with a Goldmann lens;
adaptometry;
electroretinography;
optical coherence tomography.

If you lose visual acuity in poor lighting, you should contact an ophthalmologist. First necessary research– visometry. The test allows you to determine visual acuity. Achromatic and color perimetry makes it possible to diagnose concentric narrowing of the visual fields, changes in the Purkinje phenomenon (darkening of red compared to green, lightening of blue in poor lighting).

Research results with different types night blindness are different. The congenital form causes the appearance of round foci of degeneration on the retina, which can be detected by ophthalmoscopy.

Adaptometry is needed to test adaptation to darkness. Retinal functionality is assessed using electroretinography. The causes of symptomatic night blindness can be identified through biomicroscopy with a Goldmann lens, refractometry, and optical coherence tomography. Sometimes consultation with an endocrinologist and gastroenterologist is required.

How is night blindness treated?

Congenital hemeralopia cannot be cured using modern methods. If the cause of night blindness is a disease in another system of the body, the symptom can be eliminated by treating the underlying disease.

Treatment of night blindness that develops due to a lack of vitamin A is carried out by taking vitamin complexes (vitamins A, B2, PP). A diet enriched with vitamins and minerals is recommended: dairy products, eggs, liver (especially cod), lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, carrots, spinach, peas. Peaches, apricots, and cherries will be useful fruits. Recommended berries are blackberries, gooseberries, black currants, rowan, and blueberries.

A diet for congenital hemeralopia does not produce significant results and can slightly improve visibility in twilight and darkness. The diet for essential hemeralopia should include foods with high concentration retinol and carotene. Recommended vitamins eye drops, taking vitamins orally (riboflavin, nicotinic acid).

For night blindness caused by severe myopia, it is recommended to select glasses and lenses, laser correction, and refractive procedures (lens replacement, scleroplasty). If visual acuity deteriorates due to glaucoma and cataracts, surgery to eliminate these ailments is also required. When retinal detachment is needed.

The prognosis is favorable in the treatment of the essential (functional) type of night blindness. In other cases, success will depend on the severity of the underlying illness.

Traditional methods of treatment

Many years of experience offer a choice of decoctions, infusions and juices for the treatment of hemeralopia. Almost all of them are based on vitamins and natural products that are needed to maintain normal eye functionality. Many of them can be combined with medications.

Folk remedies:

Mix blueberry leaves, linden and dandelion flowers, as well as buckwheat and sea buckthorn leaves in a 2:1 ratio. Dilute a tablespoon of herbs with boiling water and heat in a bathhouse for a quarter of an hour. Leave for half an hour, drink a glass three times a day.
Pour a teaspoon of wildflower into a glass hot water, leave for 10 minutes. Take three times a day after meals.
Pour a glass of hot water over a teaspoon of blue cornflower color, leave for an hour, strain. Drink ¼ glass three times a day.
Pour boiling water over a tablespoon of blueberries, leave for four hours, strain. Drink 0.5 glasses three times a day.
Eat sea buckthorn berries (fresh or frozen) 2 cups per day.
Mix three tablespoons of sea buckthorn fruit with a glass of boiling water, leave for 30 minutes, strain. Drink twice a day after meals. To improve the taste, you can add honey or sugar.
Mix two tablespoons of nettle tops and leaves with a glass of boiling water and leave for an hour. Take 1/3 cup three times a day.
Squeeze juice from carrots. Drink half a glass or a whole glass 2-3 times a day before eating. You can store the juice for only half an hour.
Dilute blueberry juice three times a day before meals. For half a glass of water there is a tablespoon of juice.
Take 0.5 cups of grape juice three times a day.
Grind the sprouted wheat in a meat grinder. Mix the gruel (1 tablespoon) with a glass of boiling water, heat in a bathhouse for half an hour, leave for another 15, strain. Drink 1/3 cup three times a day.
Accept fish oil 30-40 ml three times a day.
Eat lightly fried beef liver daily (small pieces).
Accept sea buckthorn oil a spoon three times a day.

You should use any of these remedies only with your doctor's permission. People often have allergic reactions to natural products, so before taking it you need to test the product in a small dose.

Night blindness: prevention and prognosis

Symptomatic hemeralopia may result in restoration of darkness adaptation or permanent loss of visual function. It all depends on the severity and symptoms of the underlying disease. Functional night blindness almost always responds well to treatment and results in complete restoration of vision. To avoid night blindness, you need to consume enough vitamin A foods and protect your retina. Doctors recommend balancing your diet, using sunglasses, and special protection when working with harmful radiation. If you are night blind, do not use fluorescent lighting.

Patients with night blindness often develop fear of the dark and corresponding phobias, neuroses and mental disorders Therefore, consultations with a psychologist are recommended.

If in the case of congenital night blindness it is almost impossible to help the patient, then its other types can be cured. Therefore, you should not ignore the symptoms and put off visiting an experienced ophthalmologist. Perhaps night blindness will help identify another, more dangerous disease, since it is often a symptom of diseases of other systems.

Night blindness is a disease visual system, in which a person can see poorly only in twilight, at night, or in any low light. This name is of a folk nature; in medicine it is listed as hemeralopia (Russian) or nyctalopia (European).

General information about the disease

Hemeralopia is considered an ancient disease that is directly related to disruption of the retina and its optic nerve. This disease makes life much more difficult for people in the dark, and also creates poor orientation in a darkened space.

During daylight hours or in bright light, hemeralopia does not affect vision in any way, and a person can see the world around us clear and bright. But as soon as you turn off or dim the lights, visibility begins to deteriorate greatly.

The drawing for comparison shows how a person suffering from hemeralopia sees.

Most often, this disease manifests itself in women aged 50-55 years, who experience a noticeable hormonal exacerbation. Men suffer from night blindness less often.

Hemeralopia is not difficult to determine. In a dark space, a person not only begins to see poorly, it is difficult for him to determine general outlines, the colors become incomprehensible and everything begins to merge with each other. Blue not visible at all, only dark silhouettes can be distinguished.

What is night blindness (video)

In this video, a specialist tells everything about night blindness: why it has this name, where it came from, what methods of treating this disease exist.

Types of night blindness and their characteristics

Considering the causes of occurrence, hemeralopia is divided into several types:

Symptomatic– occurs due to complications of other eye diseases that negatively affect the retina and optic nerve. It appears against the background of glaucoma, myopia, siderosis and optic nerve atrophy.
Congenital- manifests itself in childhood, can be transmitted through genes. Sometimes it occurs due to genetic abnormalities or complications.
Essential– occurs in case of deficiency of vitamin PP, B2 and A. In this case, hemeralopia manifests itself due to a violation of the proper functioning of the retina. Reasons may be poor nutrition, strict diets, starvation, alcoholism, severe poisoning.
False- in fact, this is not hemeralopia, but simple eye fatigue, due to which a person sometimes sees poorly in the dark. Staying at the computer for a long time, reading books in poor lighting - all this will cause a reaction on the retina of the eyes, and it will become difficult to see in a darkened space. This is a temporary phenomenon that does not pose a risk to vision, but only if the eyes are given regular rest.

Reasons

The main cause of night blindness is considered to be a malfunction of the retinal cells called “rods” - these are the visual receptors that are responsible for vision in low light conditions. In addition to them, there are also “cones”, which are responsible for visibility in brightly lit places.

With hemeralopia, the rods begin to function poorly, which is why twilight vision decreases significantly. In a healthy eye, the number of rods is many times greater than the number of cones. This is due to the constant presence of a person in dimly lit places and even simple daylight cannot provide the necessary bright lighting. This is how nature dictates that the eyes perceive twilight more habitually and softly.

So why do chopsticks lose their functionality? The cause of this phenomenon is considered to be a disruption in the production of rhodopsin or its partial decay. This happens due to a lack of vitamin A, which saturates the eyes with the necessary pigment.

Congenital night blindness is caused by genetic abnormalities that cannot be tracked or prevented during pregnancy. But this is not a death sentence for a child; with such a diagnosis one can live a full life.

In the case of symptomatic hemeralopia, the causes of the disease are complications or serious eye diseases that affect the retina of the eyes.

How does night blindness occur (video)

In the presented video, Elena Malysheva talks in detail in her program about hemeralopia, the causes of its occurrence and methods for its effective treatment.

Symptoms

Main hallmark hemeralopia is good eyesight in daylight and poor in twilight. Light adaptation is also disrupted during a sharp transition from a dark space to a light one, and back. For example, if a person with night blindness comes out of a darkened room into an open bright space, then in the first minute it will be difficult for him to see the surroundings; glare, clouding, and difficulty focusing will appear in his eyes.

With hemeralopia, it is difficult to see colors in a darkened space. Red shades mix with blue, dark becomes light, and light becomes dark. In poor lighting, a person suffering from hemeralopia will not be able to read anything, even if the darkness is slight. This will require ideally bright lighting, in which a person’s vision begins to work to the maximum.

Diagnostics

Diagnosing this disease is not at all difficult; you can independently identify the first symptoms and promptly seek help from an ophthalmologist to confirm the diagnosis of night blindness.

Tests carried out to detect hemeralopia:

perimetry;
refractometry;
fundus examination;
adaptometry.

Thanks to modern ophthalmological research, specialists can make a final diagnosis and prescribe effective treatment in the shortest possible time.

Treatment

Treatment of hemeralopia depends entirely on its type of origin:

With congenital Treatment for night blindness is useless. To this day, experts are conducting a number of studies, and still cannot find effective method restoration of vision in congenital genetic eye abnormalities.
For symptomatic hemeralopia specialists primarily treat the disease that caused the disease to develop.
For essential For night blindness, the treatment procedure is carried out with synthetic vitamin complexes containing an increased concentration of vitamins A, PP and B2, and following a diet. This type Hemeralopia is much more common than others and is easier to treat, but it takes a lot of time (on average 3-6 months).

During the treatment of night blindness, the patient must follow a number of recommendations that will help:

limit vision from bright light rays;
try not to suddenly enter a brightly lit room or, conversely, a very dark one;
Avoid shining car headlights.

Folk remedies

Treatment of hemeralopia folk remedies involves regular use of various herbs, natural preparations, decoctions of plants, berries and other products that contain vitamins A, PP and B2.

The most effective folk remedies in the fight against night blindness are:

Ripe sea buckthorn berries. Can be in the form of jam, compote or jam.
Blueberry. You can simply eat it, make jam, compotes.
Carrot. Drink 2 glasses of freshly squeezed water daily carrot juice.
Ripe grapes. Good to drink natural juice. You can sometimes drink homemade grape wine (do not abuse it).
Take 1 tablespoon of fish oil daily with meals.
Eat beef liver once a week.

These simple folk remedies will help restore vision in case of night blindness, and will also serve as prevention against other diseases of the human visual system.

Prevention

To avoid night blindness, you need to take care of your eyes:

do eye exercises every day;
if there is a lot of strain on the eyes (reading, computer), give your eyes a rest every 1.5 hours;
eat right and eat extra

A visual disorder in which a person begins to see worse as darkness falls is called “night blindness,” or hemeralopia. In this case, even a slight decrease in the brightness of the light source is sufficient. A sharp drop in vision can be observed at dusk or when moving from a strongly lit room to a darker one. Dysfunction can be congenital or acquired.

With twilight vision, not only vision acuity deteriorates, but also orientation in space is disrupted. Despite the fact that during the daytime patients with hemeralopia see well, with the onset of dusk their eyes seem to be enveloped in a veil of fog. The danger of this pathology lies in high risks getting injured. In this article, we will discuss in detail all the features of night blindness and find out whether it can be combated.

What is it?

Night blindness is most often caused by a lack of retinol in the body. Vitamin A is contained in the structure of visual purple, a light-sensitive substance in the retina. Its presence ensures high-quality vision in the dark.

At low levels of illumination, the rod receptors of the retina are responsible for the quality of vision. When exposed to light, the pigment disintegrates. The regeneration process takes place for some time with the obligatory participation of vitamin A. That is why we can say with confidence that pathological process develops due to structural changes in rods or due to Not sufficient quantity ridopsin.

ATTENTION! Night blindness in humans is a sharp deterioration of vision in low light conditions. If you do not see a doctor in time and do not receive treatment, you can irreversibly lose the ability to see in the dark.

But why is hemeralopia called night blindness? Chicken vision has a distinctive feature: birds are remarkably oriented in the light during the day and distinguish colors, but when darkness falls they cannot navigate in space.

Scientists compared the retina damaged by the disease with the visual apparatus of chickens. In birds, the retina consists exclusively of cones, with the help of which they distinguish the shape and color of objects. But they do not have rods, which should increase the sensitivity of the eye. Therefore, birds cannot see in the dark at all.

Reasons

Depending on the origin, hemeralopia, or nyctalopia, can be congenital or acquired. In the first case pathological changes in the visual apparatus are associated with heredity. Unfortunately, not even the most experienced and qualified doctor or medicine can correct the situation.

ATTENTION! Impaired twilight vision has nothing to do with physical changes in the tissues of the eye.

The reasons for the development of the acquired form are associated with a decrease in the number of rods in the retina and a disruption of the regeneration process of rhodopsin, a substance found in these rods. The following factors can provoke the activation of such changes:

ophthalmological diseases: myopia, glaucoma, retinal dystrophy, cataracts, uveitis, retinal detachment;
poor nutrition, which contains meager quantity food containing retinol (primarily this applies to vegetarians);
head injury, which resulted in disturbances in the functioning of the visual center of the brain;
exhaustion of the body;
anemia;
period of bearing a child;
use of drugs that are retinol antagonists, for example, quinine;
liver pathologies;
infectious processes, for example, measles, rubella, herpes, chicken pox;
alcoholism;
neurasthenia;
menopause;
age-related changes;
prolonged exposure to bright light on unprotected eyes;
poor lighting of the workplace.

In most cases, night blindness is caused by vitamin deficiency. Retinol deficiency leads to dryness and inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye, clouding of the cornea and decreased production of tear fluid.

Nyctalopia should not be confused with scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C. This dangerous illness, which manifests itself in the form of loose and bleeding gums, loosening and loss of teeth, as well as the appearance of small hematomas on the body.

The disease can occur not only due to insufficient consumption of ascorbic acid in food, but also due to a disruption in the absorption of vitamin C in the intestine. Treatment and prevention of scurvy is to provide the body ascorbic acid in the required doses.

Night blindness occurs due to a lack of vitamin A

IMPORTANT! Since the occurrence of nyctalopia may be related to genetics, it is important to know the mode of inheritance.

Blindness in chickens is most often associated with salmonellosis. This disease is dangerous not only for birds, but also for people. That is why it should be identified in a timely manner. With salmonellosis, chicks develop weakness, lethargy, shortness of breath, they refuse to eat and lose feathers. In adults infectious pathology causes lameness and digestive problems. The bird lays fewer eggs, the comb darkens, and the plumage becomes ruffled.

With a lack of vitamin A, the palpebral fissure turns red in chickens. Blockages of a cheesy nature appear before our eyes. The cornea dries out. On visual organs sores appear. The chicken constantly scratches its eyes with its claws or rubs itself against the perch.

Classification

The international classifier distinguishes four types of hemeralopia:

Congenital.
Symptomatic.
Essential.
False.

Congenital

Pathology occurs in childhood or early adolescence. Its appearance is due genetic factors. Congenital night blindness can occur due to the following diseases:

hereditary pigmentary rhinitis;
Usher syndrome.

Children experience progressive deterioration of vision in the dark and poor spatial orientation at dusk. Visual dysfunction is persistent.

Symptomatic

Develops under the influence external factors or pathologies present in the body. Most often, the causes of the disease are associated with ophthalmological disorders, causing damage retina of the eye.

Symptomatic hemeralopia is the most unpredictable. As a result, a person may develop an adaptation to low light levels or may permanently lose vision.

Essential

It develops against the background of retinol deficiency or when its metabolism is disrupted. Night blindness can be caused by constant dieting, starvation, poor nutrition, chronic alcoholism or malaria. The reason also sometimes lies in liver disease, anemia or severe exhaustion body. This type of hemeralopia is temporary and is the easiest to treat.

False

And it is also worth noting such a phenomenon as false night blindness. What does it mean? A person experiences slight deviations in vision at dusk due to eye fatigue, for example, when long work at the computer or constantly watching TV. This type of hemeralopia cannot be treated and goes away on its own after rest.

False night blindness can occur due to visual fatigue

Symptoms

Let us highlight the main symptoms of night blindness in humans:

problems with spatial orientation;
dry eyes;
Difficulty perceiving yellow and blue colors.

A person ceases to fully distinguish objects in the twilight. He feels discomfort in the twilight. And dry skin and the formation of dry flat spots within the palpebral fissure are also noted.

In people old age on eyeball Gray spots may appear. Against the backdrop of all these unpleasant symptoms Nervous disorders often develop.

IMPORTANT! The main symptom of hemeralopia is decreased visual acuity in twilight, darkness or poor lighting conditions. Along with this, the field of view narrows.

In some cases, one eye may see worse than the other, and during the day this difference is absolutely invisible. This situation usually occurs against the background of traumatic brain injury or cerebral circulatory disorders.

What is the reason for the fact that many drivers have difficulty seeing while driving at night? This may be caused by constant eye strain while driving. Glasses will help correct this. And also the reason in some cases is poor nutrition.

Diagnostic measures

For staging accurate diagnosis you should consult an ophthalmologist. The doctor will conduct visual inspection and will find out whether there are concomitant ophthalmological pathologies that could potentially lead to hemeralopia.

IMPORTANT! To identify a deficiency of vitamin A, the ophthalmologist may refer the patient for a consultation with a gastroenterologist.

For full examination The ophthalmologist performs a number of procedures on the patient:

Perimetry will help determine the angle of the field of view;
adaptometry is a test for color perception;
fundus ophthalmoscopy;
determination of visual acuity using the Sivtsev table;
tonometry – determination of intraocular pressure indicators;
electroretinography is a study that allows you to identify abnormalities in the structure and function of the retina.

To detect night blindness in a timely manner at home, you can perform one simple test. On the black square, glue small squares of red, blue, yellow and green. In the dark, place the square twenty centimeters from your eyes and look at it for one minute. If you do not see the blue figure, and the yellow square looks like a bright spot, rush to the ophthalmologist.

Treatment

In each individual case, treatment results may vary. One person may experience minimal effect, while another will be able to completely get rid of the disease. To obtain the desired results, it is recommended to combine several treatment methods.

ATTENTION! Except congenital form, hemeralopia is treatable, although difficult.

If night blindness has developed due to glaucoma or cataracts, only replacing the lens can correct the situation. Level modern medicine allows you to get by with the correction of retinal or corneal defects. This procedure is called “refractive surgery.”

In some cases, surgical intervention will be required to normalize the condition.

Treatment directly depends on the type of hemeralopia and the cause of its occurrence. So, with the essential form, patients are prescribed special diet, including a balanced and high-calorie diet.

For good work visual apparatus It is recommended to take fish oil, which contains vitamins A and D. Include hazelnuts in your diet. Hazelnuts are famous high content vitamin E, which protects the retina from destruction. You need to eat eight nuts a day. Don’t forget about vitamin C, which strengthens vascular system eyes.

Eating fatty fish, such as salmon, will be of great benefit for night blindness. It contains B vitamins, which improve energy metabolism, including improving retinol metabolism.

Sources of vitamin A are dairy products, liver, carrots, blueberries, black currants, and blackberries. This element belongs to the group of fat-soluble substances, so fats are needed to convert beta-carotene into retinol. For example, vegetable fats can be added to vegetable and fruit salads.

The basis of treatment is vitamin therapy. The ophthalmologist prescribes vitamins BB, B2 and A. Vitamin complexes also prescribed in the form of eye drops. This will help deliver useful microelements directly to the retina.

Riboflavin drops are used to maintain vision. The drug saturates the organ of vision with oxygen and improves conductivity nerve impulses. A useful addition to medicines is visual gymnastics which can be performed at any time of the day.

IMPORTANT! In general, the prognosis for hemeralopia is favorable.

Hemeralopia itself is not dangerous. However, it may be one of the manifestations of other pathologies. If the patient does not treat night blindness, it may result in loss of vision. Adults suffering from twilight vision impairment may be involved in a traffic accident. It is also worth considering that a deficiency of vitamins can lead to depletion of the visual system, causing the development of glaucoma, cataracts or other processes that are difficult to treat.

If you want to avoid the development of an ophthalmic disease, you should healthy image life and eating right. Don't let your eyes become overstrained. Stick to a work-rest schedule. Never sit in front of a TV or computer screen in the dark. In sunny weather, wear sunglasses. Visit your ophthalmologist every year to help identify dangerous diseases at an early stage.

Can be used as an aid for night blindness unconventional recipes. Let's talk about the most proven recommendations of the populists:

Millet decoction. A glass of the product should be filled with two liters of water. The millet should be cooked until it is completely dissolved. The strained solution should be taken half a glass thirty minutes before meals for three weeks.
Carrot juice. Every day in morning time half an hour before meals, drink a quarter glass of freshly squeezed carrot juice. Add a teaspoon to it vegetable oil. Treatment course lasts two weeks.
Rose hip decoction. Pour three tablespoons of dried fruit into 500 ml of water and cook for ten minutes. The cooled and strained liquid should be taken one third of a glass three times a day for four weeks.
Sea buckthorn. Eat a glass of fresh or frozen berries a day.
Blueberry. During the season, eat a glass fresh berries daily.
Herbal collection. Take lingonberry, blackberry, raspberry, black currant, viburnum, lemon balm leaves and roots in equal proportions snake mountaineer. Pour a tablespoon of raw material into a glass of boiling water and leave. Take the strained liquid throughout the day. The course of treatment is one month.

So, night blindness is a pathological process in which a person cannot see and navigate in the dark. The disease can be congenital or acquired. Hemeralopia in childhood is often associated with genetic abnormalities. The development of the acquired form may be due to a lack of vitamin A. False night blindness occurs due to visual fatigue.

Hemeralopia can be effectively treated, but only if it is a non-congenital form. Patients are advised to lead a healthy lifestyle, eat right and follow preventive measures. If you notice a deterioration in your twilight vision, do not self-medicate, consult a doctor immediately. Hemeralopia may conceal more dangerous diseases that can negatively affect visual function.

Night blindness refers to a visual impairment in which a person sees poorly in the dark, in poorly lit rooms or on the street in the evening. In young people, the disease is diagnosed regardless of gender. However, after the age of fifty, night blindness is more often found in women.

With sufficient daylight or artificial light, the patient sees fully, but when dusk sets in, vision suddenly deteriorates and the person sees poorly. This condition is medically referred to as hemeralopia. Non-specialists call this disease night blindness.

Interestingly, the disease is not found in the indigenous inhabitants of the Arctic. People in this territory are genetically adapted to living in conditions of prolonged twilight (polar night).

Special cells in the retina, called rods, are responsible for vision in the dark or twilight in humans. They contain the pigment substance rhodopsin, which allows a person to see normally when there is insufficient light rays hitting the retina.

The appearance of night blindness is explained by several processes:

a small amount of rhodopsin or its incorrect structure;
changing the structure of the sticks themselves;
reduction in the number of rods in retina.

A person can be born with such conditions or acquire them during life. The process of night blindness can be triggered by acute herpetic infections, vegetarianism, in women - menopause.

Watch the video where Alexander Boyko reflects on the topic of night blindness and its connection with myopia:

Causes and classification

Night blindness can develop for several reasons. Taking this into account, a classification of the disease is constructed - three types are distinguished.

In the congenital form, disturbances occur in the human genome. Family history plays a major role in the transmission of the disease. Twilight blindness is already detected in young children. The most frequent illnesses accompanied by this symptom is Usher syndrome, hereditary chorioretinitis.

Essential night blindness is a primary dysfunction of the organ of vision, or rather the retina. Night blindness in this case is caused by a lack of vitamins A, B2, PP, that is, those that are necessary for the full maturation of perceptive cells in the retina. The following pathological processes can cause vitamin deficiency:

poor nutrition or starvation;
destruction of liver cells;
alcohol intoxication;
rubella;
severe poisoning with neurotropic poisons.

The symptomatic type of the disease develops against the background of physical damage to the structures that perceive light. The causes of night blindness in this case are:

severe myopia;
high pressure glaucoma;
dystrophic changes in the retina;
inflammatory process in the retina;
cataract;
eye injury;
tumor pressing on the optic nerve;
storage diseases - deposition of iron or copper in the retina.

In addition to these forms, false hemeralopia is distinguished. Deterioration of twilight vision occurs due to long work behind modern gadgets and fatigue, eye strain. After good rest visual function is normalized.

Characteristic manifestations

In night blindness, the main symptoms are characterized by changes in visual function:

the outlines of objects become blurry for the patient;
the world around us looks foggy;
loss of color perception, mainly blue and yellow;
the volume of the field of view decreases.

A person with such disorders feels extremely insecure when it gets to dusk or enters a dark room and may be injured.

There is no connection between the clinic and the form of the disease; the main symptoms for any of them will be the same. A person needs very bright light to read, otherwise the letters will be blurry. With prolonged hemeralopia, myopia develops, which worsens in poor lighting conditions.

Vitamin A deficiency can be suspected based on additional signs:

dry skin;
hair loss;
fragility of the nail plate;
formation of cracks in the corners of the mouth - jams;
increased bleeding from the nose and gums;
skin itching;
peeling of lips.

With symptomatic hemeralopia, symptoms of the causative disease appear.

Diagnostics

To identify the disease, the ophthalmologist only needs specific complaints from the patient. But since night blindness in humans can be caused various conditions, confirmatory diagnostics are required:

fundus examination;
detection of specific dry spots on the conjunctiva;
perimetry – assessment of vision in the periphery;
determination of visual acuity;
adaptometry – assessment of the switchability of visual function.

With the help of these examinations, the doctor suggests possible reason, if necessary, sends the patient for consultation with specialists.

How to treat night blindness?

How to treat and how to cure night blindness is determined by the ophthalmologist depending on the causative factor:

the congenital form is incurable;
Essential blindness is difficult to treat, the effect is not always observed;
in the symptomatic form, it is necessary to treat the underlying disease.

Treatment includes medications and non-drug methods. When myopia develops, a person is given appropriate glasses or lenses.

Nutrition

For any type of disease positive effect provide vitamins - retinol, riboflavin. They are contained in the following products:

all types of greens;
cod liver;
dairy products;
eggs;
vegetables;
fruits;
berries;
millet.

The daily menu must contain at least two products from this list.

Medicines

For night blindness, drug treatment consists of taking vitamins:

A (retinol acetate) – 50–100 thousand IU per day;
B2 (riboflavin) – 20 mg per day.

Other drugs are prescribed according to the underlying disease. If necessary, vitamins are prescribed in the form of Taufon eye drops.

Folk recipes

Treatment traditional methods also aims to saturate the body with vitamins. For this purpose, decoctions and infusions prepared from medicinal plants, which contain vitamins A, B, PP.

Take equal quantities of blueberry, buckwheat and sea buckthorn leaves, dandelion and linden flowers. Mix, take 20 grams of the mixture and pour a glass of boiling water over it. Keep in a water bath for 15 minutes, without bringing to a boil. Strain and take a glass of decoction after meals.
Grind blue cornflower flowers, take them in the amount of a teaspoon. Brew a glass of boiling water and let stand for 60 minutes. Drink 50 ml before meals.
Take 10 grams of washed blueberries. Add 200 ml of boiling water. Leave for at least 4 hours. Drink 100 ml 3 times a day.
Take 60 grams of washed sea buckthorn berries. Add 200 ml hot boiled water, let stand for 60 minutes. Drink fresh brewed infusion before meals. Eat the berries from the infusion.
Grind the leaves and tops of the nettles. Take 20 grams of raw materials, add a glass of boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes, remove leaves. Drink 50 ml before meals.
Grate fresh carrots on a fine grater. Squeeze the juice and drink 50 ml before meals. Prepare fresh juice for each use.
It is recommended to eat carrots, blueberries and sea buckthorn daily. It is best to eat these foods fresh and raw.

It is permissible to use any folk remedies after consultation with a doctor, in the absence of allergies to the constituent components.

And a few more secrets for improving night vision from Lyudmila Lazareva:

If a driver has difficulty seeing while driving in the dark at night, he is most likely overexerted. In this case, a short rest is recommended to avoid getting into an accident.

Operation

Indicated if the patient has glaucoma or cataracts, retinal detachment:

laser coagulation of the retina;
expansion of the chambers of the eye;
cataract extraction;
placement of an artificial lens;
operations on the cornea.

Surgical treatment is carried out according to strict indications. It does not guarantee a complete cure for night blindness.

Complications and prognosis

Night blindness can cause the following complications:

injury to a person due to insufficient orientation in space;
psychological problems;
The vision of a patient with night blindness deteriorates until it is completely lost.

The most unfavorable prognosis is for congenital night blindness; this condition cannot be cured. In the symptomatic form, the effectiveness of therapy depends on the characteristics of the underlying disease and at what stage treatment was started.

The essential form responds well to therapy with initial stages. The longer a person goes without treatment for night blindness, the worse the prognosis.

Prevention

For the congenital form of night blindness there is no preventive measures. To avoid the development of acquired forms of night blindness, it is recommended to follow the following rules:

eat well;
Avoid exposure of eyes to sunlight;
limit computer use;
avoid long-term stress eye;
use protective screens when working with harmful factors;
consult an ophthalmologist at least once every two years;
promptly identify and treat other diseases that can lead to the development of this pathology.

If you suspect this disease, if you have trouble seeing in the dark, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Night blindness is a visual disorder associated with impaired ability to see at dusk. A person who sees well in daylight practically goes blind even in slight darkness. Only the form of the disease acquired during life can be treated. Examination and treatment are carried out by an ophthalmologist.

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Night blindness is quite common, but not all patients are aware that they suffer from such a disorder, or simply do not know what it is called.

This disease is a direct consequence of a lack of vitamin A in the body. Much less often it manifests itself due to some other primary sources. But in some cases, such a nuisance can indicate the onset of serious irreversible processes in the body, acting as a symptom of dangerous ailments.

IN medical terminology This syndrome is called hemeralopia. Her clinical manifestations expressed in the inability to see well at dusk, or when moving from a brightly lit room to a dark one. The main reason for sharp fall the quality of vision here is a deterioration in the functionality of the retina, which is designed to recognize light sensitivity.

Scientific classification of night blindness

This disease, either as an independent syndrome or as part of multicomponent symptoms, is divided into several categories, each of which has its own characteristics.

Adding to the problems for patients is the fact that hemeralopia not only affects the deterioration of visibility when darkness falls, but also the inability to navigate normally in the twilight. In most cases, this is explained by the fact that the anomaly provokes a narrowing of the field of view with subsequent problematic recognition of blue and yellow colors.

Schematically, hemeralopia is divided into three camps: congenital, symptomatic and essential. In the first case, the reason lies not in the fact that the body does not receive enough vitamins, but in a bad genetic predisposition. This type includes a persistent decrease in visibility and the inability to navigate in space as soon as it starts to get dark.

The symptomatic category is a direct consequence of tissue dystrophy. She's capable of expressing herself. inflammatory processes in the eyeballs. It is this version of night blindness that is not a separate disease that exists on its own, but a symptom that speaks of some specific pathology with localization in the organs of vision.

No less often among those who applied for qualified help fix the essential format of the lesion. Its cause is considered to be a lack of vital important vitamin A. As soon as the body senses it acute shortage, immediately begins to signal a decrease in the quality of vision.

Poor nutrition, as well as abuse of alcohol-containing drinks, can affect the lack of a sufficient amount of a useful component. Occasionally, those people who suffer from hemeralopia of this type can develop chronic diseases liver, stomach, or with a general imbalance of forces.

The only good thing here is that the essential format can be neutralized over time if you pay attention quality treatment. When you consult a doctor, you can count on the specialist to tell you which vitamin and mineral complex is suitable for a particular patient. The doctor will also help you build the right weekly menu to help you cope with the unpleasant symptom.

This is the only way to restore former visual acuity, as well as restore sensitivity to bright light with a decrease in color perception.

Depending on what type of anomaly is detected in the victim, the associated symptoms. The most common general sign of the disease is spots that “dance” in front of the eyes. They make themselves felt when there is a sudden change in lighting.

In order to correctly prescribe further therapy, an experienced specialist will first conduct a test on a person to find out whether night blindness is genetic in nature. If the suspicions are confirmed, then it will be necessary to further find out what specific type of genetic inheritance is characteristic of a particular victim.

In most cases, doctors have to deal with recessive hemeralopia, which means direct linkage to the X chromosome. The autosomal dominant version is much less common. The occurrence of a deviation is caused by problematic metabolism or fermentopathy.

Typical auxiliary symptom, which is characteristic of the essential type, are listed flat spots with localization on the eyeball. If there is a lack of vitamin A in the body, then even the death of corneal tissue is possible. In hereditary and symptomatic formats, changes in the fundus of the eye are noted.

Causes of dangerous pathology

If you notice signs of night blindness, in order to save your vision, you will have to stick to the basics complex treatment. Otherwise, the therapy will not give the desired long-term effect.

This is explained by the fact that the human retina consists of two types of cells:

sticks;
cones.

The former are responsible for the ability to see in poor lighting conditions, while the responsibilities of the cones include the ability to recognize colors and control overall visual acuity. As soon as even minor deterioration begins in the retinal cells, this immediately affects the rapid deterioration of well-being, because the patient develops night blindness.

Physiologically, the mechanism is explained by the fact that rods are formed from rhodopsin, which is obtained through cooperation with vitamin A. If light hits the retina, then rhodopsin disintegrates. To regenerate the component, a new vitamin dose is required, which the body simply has nowhere to take from. This makes it clear why the deficiency of useful components is so destructive.

If we consider the general primary sources of pathology without taking into account poor heredity and lack of minerals, then there will still be many other variations due to which hemeralopia is observed:

liver failure;
anemia;
exhaustion of the body against the background weak immunity, which is an ideal environment for the development of many other ailments, including scurvy;
treatment with vitamin A antagonists.

Various atypical retinal pigment pathologies, retinal detachment, dysfunction of the optic nerve, inflammation, glaucoma, myopia and many other eye diseases can also act as a catalyst for deviation.

IN recent years cases have become more frequent when danger signs began to show themselves even among healthy people, who did not have night blindness in their family, and the visit to them did not reveal any specialized eye diseases.

Because of this, many patients begin to panic, asking: what is happening to them? In fact, the reason should be sought in prolonged work at the computer. Getting worse clinical picture due to poor lighting. Suffer from repeated irritation nerve endings, which then signal a problem with the classic symptoms of hemeralopia.

In order not to reach such a deplorable state, experts recommend doing gymnastics, using drops, the name of which will be suggested by the doctor, and also periodically taking a break from the monitor during the working day.

Diagnosis and subsequent treatment

If the victim is struck by an illness due to a lack of a vitamin necessary for a healthy retina, then correcting the violation will allow balanced diet. But if problems with visibility during the twilight period signal a serious damage to the eye, then the program on how to treat the patient will be more complicated.

Recognize when people have mild degree anomalies, and when it is necessary to deal with it comprehensively, only an experienced doctor can. The ophthalmologist will conduct initial examination, having studied the medical history of the applicant, and will also prescribe testing to exclude the possibility of retinal dystrophy. If the need arises, the patient will be asked to undergo the two most popular tests:

perimetry;
adaptometry.

The first option allows you to estimate the size of the field of view. Adaptometry is aimed at testing light perception. This type of testing is painless, so they are performed even on children. In some cases, victims are sent for additional tests.

At the appointment, the ophthalmologist will tell you how the disease is inherited, and also explain what causes such an unusual deviation. But those who are carriers of the problematic gene will have to come to terms with the fact that nothing at all can get rid of it. The doctor will only try to improve the current situation by working to eliminate unpleasant symptoms.

The assistance algorithm is similar to the one that veterinarians prescribe for animal owners. We are talking about the need to correct the diet of chickens, dogs, and other pets.

Scientifically speaking, the principle of therapy involves saturating the body with retinol. To put it briefly, without medical terms, That we're talking about about the need to add to daily menu foods high in a number of beneficial minerals.

For disorders, not only carrots are extremely useful, but also cabbage, fish liver, citrus juices, dairy products, blackberries, blueberries, peaches and greens. All of the above is also suitable for those who are simply prescribed prevention in order to work proactively.

When the disease is caused by myopia, then only surgery. Glasses will improve the quality of life only temporarily, because they will not be able to restore the natural balance of rods and cones.

Treatment with folk remedies with the permission of a doctor can be an auxiliary, but not the main therapy. Moreover, here it will be necessary to additionally exclude the factor of the presence of allergens. Not many people understand what this term means, deciding to use unverified recipes without the approval of an ophthalmologist, which often leads to extensive allergic reactions. It would be useful to first clarify whether the components of the medicine are allowed for other possible chronic ailments of the victim.

The simplest therapeutic assistant is fish oil. It is taken according to the instructions three times a day. Another popular method is a decoction of millet, which is prepared at the rate of 200 grams of cereal per 2 liters of water until the grains are boiled.

Having understood how night blindness manifests itself and what it can signal, you should not think that the alarming symptoms will go away on their own. If you notice the first signs of a deviation, you should immediately make an appointment with an ophthalmologist.