Astigmatism Lights: Tips for Night Driving

Astigmatism is a common eye condition that changes how your eye perceives light.

For people with untreated astigmatism, lights that are meant to be helpful can pose danger, especially when driving at night. Traffic lights, headlights, and even reflective street signs can appear distorted and distracting.

This article explains how astigmatism affects the way you see lights and provides tips for safe night driving.

How Do Lights Look With Astigmatism?

Astigmatism may distort the appearance of lights. This can make driving at night difficult.

Visual distortions caused by astigmatism include:

Blurriness
Glare
Streaking
Starburst
Halo effect

Here are some examples of how lights may look with astigmatism:

Glares or a halo appearance around lights do not necessarily indicate astigmatism. This can also be caused by other vision conditions, like nearsightedness (myopia) or cataracts.

How Does Astigmatism Affect Night Driving & Vision?

Astigmatism can impair vision at night and make driving difficult.

People with astigmatism may notice:

Blurring or fuzziness around lights and other objects
Halos around lights
Lights appearing ‘streaky’
Increased glare from lights
Increased squinting to see more clearly

Driving at night with untreated astigmatism can be dangerous. Streetlights and headlights can also look distorted, increasing the chance of an accident.

If you have trouble with your night vision or notice any of these symptoms, immediately schedule an exam with your eye doctor.

Tips for Driving at Night with Astigmatism

The best way to reduce light distortions from night driving is to address your underlying astigmatism. Your eye doctor can recommend the most appropriate solution for you.

Depending on your needs, this may include:

Eyeglasses

Prescription eyeglasses can correct your astigmatism. Glasses can also treat other vision issues, such as nearsightedness or farsightedness.

An anti-reflective on the lenses will help reduce streaks and blurriness around lights at night.

Contact Lenses

Contacts are corrective lenses that sit directly on your eye. Your doctor may recommend toric contact lenses to help your night driving with astigmatism.

Orthokeratology

Also known as ortho-k, this treatment involves wearing special contact lenses overnight. The rigid contact lenses temporarily reshape your corneas while you sleep.

Surgical Treatments

Eye surgeries that correct astigmatism include:

LASIK. This highly successful laser eye surgery involves making a flap in your cornea. Then, your eye surgeon reshapes the corneal tissue.
PRK. Like LASIK, this laser eye surgery corrects astigmatism by reshaping your cornea. However, the procedure doesn’t use a corneal flap.
Toric lens implant. People who need cataract surgery may receive a toric lens implant. This special lens implant corrects your eye’s shape.

Other Eye Care Tips

Your doctor may recommend additional eye care tips you can use at home. Depending on your eye health, these may include:

Use eye drops to relieve dry eye
Keep your eyeglass lenses clean

Avoid wearing night driving glasses with yellow-tinted lenses. A 2019 study shows that these glasses don’t improve the ability to see at night.⁸

Driving Habits to Help Night Vision

Techniques to improve your night driving include:

Keep your windshield clean
Use the night setting on your rearview mirror
Dim your car’s display lights

What is Astigmatism?

Astigmatism is a common and treatable eye problem that causes blurry or distorted vision. In the United States, one in every three people has astigmatism.⁴

Astigmatism occurs when your cornea or lens curvature is abnormal. This causes blurred vision at all distances.

The two types of astigmatism are:

Corneal astigmatism. The cornea is more oval-shaped than round.
Lenticular astigmatism. The lens is misshapen.

In a normal eye, each of these elements is almost perfectly round.

diagram showing eye with normal vision vs astigmatism

An irregular cornea or lens prevents the eye from focusing light correctly on the retina. The area in the eye converts light into signals sent to the brain for visual recognition.

Astigmatism occurs naturally or is caused by an eye injury, eye disease, or eye surgery.

Symptoms of Astigmatism

The most common symptoms of astigmatism are:

Blurry vision
Needing to squint to see clearly
Headaches
Eyestrain
Difficulty seeing at night

If you have mild astigmatism, you might not notice any symptoms. That’s why it’s essential to get regular eye exams.

An optometrist or ophthalmologist can diagnose astigmatism even if you don't notice it. All children should visit a pediatric optometrist at least once a year.

How is Astigmatism Diagnosed?

An optometrist can diagnose astigmatism during a regular eye exam.

A typical eye exam includes:

A visual acuity test to check the ability to discern shapes and details.
A refraction to determine your refractive error (including astigmatism). The eye doctor bases your eyeglass prescription on the results of this test.
A visual field test to check the peripheral (side) vision.
An eye muscle function test to check for issues with the muscles around the eyeballs.
A pupil response test to check how your pupils respond to light and viewing objects at near.
A tonometry test to measure eye pressure.
Dilation to check for problems with the inner parts of the eyes.

Treatment for Astigmatism

Many treatment options are available to help you see better.

The most common treatments include:

If you have glasses or contacts for astigmatism, wear them when driving at night. If you still have trouble with night vision, see your eye doctor. You may need to have your prescription adjusted or find an underlying cause.

Summary

Astigmatism can cause problems with night vision, especially when looking at bright lights.
People with astigmatism see different visual effects around lights, such as halos, streaks, and starbursts.
Driving at night with untreated astigmatism can be distracting and dangerous.
An eye doctor can diagnose and treat astigmatism so you can see clearly while night driving.

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