glasses for the night blind...

December 1, 2006 1:33 PM

I need new glasses, and need a little help with choosing lenses.

I have bad night vision, and using my 4 year old prescription helps a lot while driving, as far as reading street signs and judging distance and such, but other car's headlights still screw me up. Lately I've felt like every other car has their brights on all the time. Would a little bit of tinting help me out, or would it just bring my vision back to where it is without glasses? Maybe there's a color tint that would lower the intensity of headlights? Or should I just trust that my new prescription will help me out?

posted by gally99 to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

An Anti-reflective coating is what you want. It is well worth the cost.
posted by lee at 1:47 PM on December 1, 2006

I had problems pretty close to what you described. Anti-reflective coating resolved it. It's really, truly da bomb.
posted by horseblind at 1:53 PM on December 1, 2006

Check out the OAKLEY frames for your new prescription
posted by winks007 at 2:14 PM on December 1, 2006

Get anti-reflective coating. Pay extra for any sort of scratch warranty, or whatever they offer you. Anti-reflective coating doesn't wear very well and if you're just an occasional glasses wearer you'll probably be throwing them around a bit. Make sure you get good anti-reflective coating, though. The bad stuff is worse than none at all. Zeiss and Crizal are two good ones I remember, but there are probably others.
posted by underer at 2:18 PM on December 1, 2006

Maybe what you're experiencing is the glare scattered by the minute scratches on your lenses. Anti-reflective coating helps, but the biggest improvement will just be from new (unscratched) lenses.

How you clean your glasses makes a big difference to how long they stay smooth. Using a paper towel on my specs reduced them to rubbish very fast, so now I buy the special cleaning cloths from the optician. My latest specs (which do have A-R coating) have lasted four years, but are starting to show glare even though I've taken care of them.
posted by anadem at 2:43 PM on December 1, 2006

You did not mention age. But is it possible you have cataracts? Your description of bright lights fits one of the prime characteristics of cataracts. The cataract difuses the light source and spreads it all over your eye instead of a pinpoint.
posted by JayRwv at 3:00 PM on December 1, 2006

Response by poster: I should have mentioned before- lights at night are blinding, even without glasses, but my old prescription helps cut it down a little. So my current glasses without anti-glare are certainly not the cause of the problem.

Also, I'm only 25, and when I got my new prescription a few weeks ago, the optometrist checked me out for cataracts and a bunch of other stuff too. I'm all clear apparently.

Thanks for all the help so far!
posted by gally99 at 4:30 PM on December 1, 2006

Have you tried cleaning the inside of your windshield? It isn't going to overcome Medical Issues, but it might help out a little bit.
posted by soma lkzx at 3:36 AM on December 2, 2006