Haziness around lights at night (when driving)

[karatenerd]

I have recently started having some haziness and glow around light sources at night. I must note that this only happens at night, and only happens around the lights. Everything else (signs, street, cars, etc) are perfectly clear. I got a full eye exam a few days ago by an Ophthalmologist, dilated pupil exam, pressure check, etc.. all fine. I had to go to him anyway because I needed to renew my prescription (which hasn't changed). It seems like its gotten worse since I got a new brand of contacts (Bausch & Lomb Purevision). Doctor seemed uninterested when I told him the symptoms. He said my eyes may have just been "swollen". I had until recently been wearing my contacts (Acuvue Oasys) to sleep and during the day for 3 straight weeks, then started taking them out at night. Could it be that I need to take a break from contacts for a couple of weeks and wear glasses? These contacts are SUPPOSED to reduce effects of "spherical abberation" including halos but seems to make it worse. I am really starting to get annoyed by this. Any info would be great.

[Lunchbox16]

My name is drew and i am 16 years old. For the last 4 or 5 months i have been having problems with my eyes. They get blurry and I see double vision sort of if it is light. But the main thing is brightness to light. When i drive at night its relly hard because the car light are so bright and have a hazy halo around them. I have been to many doctors and had many test and went to 2 or 3 eye doctors and they cant find any thign wrong. I have 20/20 vision and everything but it makes normal things hard to do now.

[karatenerd]

Thanks for the advice!

[James J Salz, M.D.]

If your night pupils are unusally large, then some of the light entering your eye can come in around the optical zone of the contact lens and this can cause the glow you are expereiencing.  A simple test of this is to cover one eye with your hand but take a small penlight and shine it into the pupil of the eye behind your hand.  this will constrict both of your pupils.  So at night, look at a point of light like a streetlight with one eye and then shine the light into your other eye behind your hand.  If this dramatically reduces the glow, then its likely related to your large night time pupils,  You also won't usually see it as much if you are wearing glasses.  You can also get this type of glow from swelling, or edema of your cornea from overwearing your contact lenses.  You should think twice about sleeping in contacts as that increases the swelling but more importantly it significantly increases your risk of developing a serious corneal infection, a corneal ulcer.