(Newbie) starbursting, ghosting, night driving probl.

[dubfriedrice]

Hi, I'm kinda new here, so here goes....   I'm 24yrs old with extreme nearsightedness and a little astigmatism.  I've always had thick glasses and started to wear contacts at age 16.  I've always had starburst effect at nighttime only with contacts in use.  I'm -12.75 in right eye and approx. -11.?? in left eye. I noticed around age 17 or so that when driving at night, i would have little ghost images from lights, but learned to live with it.  I'm now 25. still wearing soft contacts with astigmatism correction.  Within the last 8 months or so, I've had extreme difficulty driving at night, and went to see an eye specialist.  We found out that because I have extremely large pupils and a high Rx, that vision during the day is fine, but at night my pupils get bigger and are larger than the optical center in my contact lens, thus causing the starburst effect from the tops of oncoming lights. I verified this by driving at night and shining a bright light in my face, and the starbursting goes away.  No big deal, I've dealt with this ever since I started to drive but the ghosting in both eyes is getting worse.  More my right than my left.  At night time, I will cover my left eye and see,for example a headlight, a ghost image of the light up and to the right AND a ghost image far underneath with a streak, or ray of light leading to it.  Ive never had ghosting when wearing glasses, but recently my right eye has ghost images even with glasses.  
       Has anyone heard of this severe of a case of ghosting? Is there anything I can do about it?  Is it going to keep getting worse?  Should i be worried?                Any input is welcomed.    Thanks very much       -josh

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

-

[Rosemarion]

Did you ever find out what the problem was and is it any better?

[John C Hagan]

Your problem is not rare and big pupils cause problems with contact lens as well as LASIK surgery. Other causes of ghosting include cataracts, uncorrected astigmatism, corneal dystrophies and a few other less common problems.

If you not had a recent examination by an ophthalmologist (Eye Physician & Surgeon, Eye MD). I would schedule a comprehensive eye examination to exclude these other causes.

JCH Eye Physician & Surgeon