Ghosting vision at night

Hello,

I am in my mid 20's and my eyes are a very important part of my career. Over the last few years I have noticed some problems with my night vision, but at first it was hardly noticeable. Now (within the last 6-9 months) it has become quite noticeable and worrisome to me. I am still able to pass a vision test without glasses, although with some difficulty. Daytime vision is still good.

So here are my problems. At night when I look at bright objects such as lights there is a ghost image below it (this also happens when looking at subtitles on a movie in a dark room and is most pronounced with white letters on a black screen). It has gotten progressively worse and it is now distracting. If I look through a small hole or hold a finger in front of the bottom of my eyes the ghost images disappear. My glasses make the image a bit sharper but don't really get rid of the ghost images.

Another problem, which seems to be related is when I look through glass the effect is much worse. For instance if I am standing outside looking at a street light at night I will see the light clearly with some mild ghosting. However, if I get in my car and then look at the light again through the glass of the windshield there is a separate image (or sometimes multiples as if looking through a prism) of the light floating next to or below it (which shifts in space as I shift my prospective). This is only the case for bright lights though, and the rest of my vision is still quite good, even at night. I have also noticed it in the day with very bright reflections on cars or buildings or such, produces this same effect. Wearing glasses only serves to sharpen my vision, and the effect still remains. That is the part which most concerns me. Why do my glasses not fix this problem, and if looking through glass such as a windshield makes it worse what am I to do, glasses are made of glass after all!

I had my eyes checked in June and I have glasses, although I only wear them at night since I don't need them in the day. The eye doctor did a full inspection of my eyes and said nothing was wrong other than a slight astigmatism. I did not really do a good job telling the doctor about my problems.

Here are two pictures if my explaination was not easy to understand, the first is normal, the second is what it looks like to look at the same thing through glass:

Normal:
[IMG]http://i30.tinypic.com/2rfevz7.jpg[/IMG]
http://tinypic.com/r/2rfevz7/3

Through glass:
[IMG]http://i26.tinypic.com/1zdxmdh.jpg[/IMG]
http://tinypic.com/r/1zdxmdh/3

Thank you in advance.

[kjelltp]

Weird effect, are they fixed, or do they move? (the ghosted images).

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

You are describing an optical problem as your eyes dilate.  Your glasses are either incorrect or you have some higher order aberrations that the glasses do not correct.

See an ophthalmologist.

[Ed167]

Thank you for the reply.

kjelltp, they move as I move my head.

[amado86]

I have exactly the same problem................i cant tell how it looks without my glasses as i cant see well without my glasses, but when putting the glasses i see exactly as u described but my ghost image is above the bright object not below or beside it..............

it is really annoying, especially at night with all these stores with bright writings on them, and all the cars in the street...

the effect is reduced by moving my eyelids , but i cant get rid of it.......
i went to more than 5 ophthalmologists, and all saying that my glasses fits exactly my eyes.

also, it is so bad when u watch tv or just seeing a white writings on a dark background.

if u come up with any solution or anything, just let me know.

thanks,
       ahmad

[brucey5]

hello, did you ever find out what was up with the ghosting at night with your eyes, i have the same problem.

[DG45]

You have what is known as "Nighttime Myopia" and can be corrected with a specific type of aspheric optics provided in Bausch + Lomb's PureVision contact lenses.  Ask your Optometrist about them.

It is a condition that is most notible in your 20's.  I had the same thing.

DG