Night blindness - what is this disease? Types, symptoms, treatment. Night blindness: causes, types, symptoms and treatment

Chicken vision has a distinctive property: birds are well oriented in daylight and distinguish colors, but when darkness sets in, they completely lose orientation in space.

This phenomenon is popularly called night blindness. However, chickens can also develop true blindness, which must be treated.

Night blindness is not a disease, but a symptom that can occur in a number of diseases. Since these birds have poor eyesight, any disease can cause the chicken to go blind.

Most common reason chicken blindness - . This disease is dangerous not only for birds, but also for people, so it is important to understand in time that chickens are infected with salmonella.

Salmonellosis in chicks can be determined by the following signs:

  • Loss of appetite;
  • Weakness and lethargy of the chicks;
  • Loss of feathers;
  • Shortness of breath.

Symptoms of salmonellosis in adult chickens are somewhat different:

  • Lameness appears;
  • The chicken lays less eggs;
  • The comb turns pale, the plumage becomes ruffled;
  • Digestive problems arise;
  • Night blindness appears.

Another common reason is . Lack of vitamin A causes inflammation of the conjunctiva in chickens, which leads to night blindness. In addition, if the chickens are malnourished, their appetite decreases, growth slows down, depression occurs, lethargy and the birds begin to get sick. It is very important to notice eye inflammation in time before the chicken goes blind. The disease can be identified by the presence of such signs as:

  • Redness of the palpebral fissure;
  • The appearance of curdled type eye blockages;
  • Drying of the cornea;
  • Presence of ulcers on the eyes.
Inflammation can be diagnosed by the behavior of the chicken: it will constantly scratch its eyes with its claws, or rub itself against the perch to get rid of the itching.

Congestive runny nose in birds can also lead to night blindness. A runny nose () is caused by a small coccus-shaped bacillus living in chicken droppings. When infected, chickens become lethargic and inactive, wheezing and shortness of breath appear, and discharge can be seen from the nostrils. On late stages runny nose provokes inflammatory processes eyes and, as a result, blindness.

Neurolymphomatosis – dangerous disease that hits everything internal organs birds and is easily transmitted from one individual to another, also manifests itself in blindness. Infection is caused by the herpes virus, which affects the chicken’s immunity and reduces the body’s resistance to infections. When infected with the virus, birds lose their appetite, begin to lose weight, and lay fewer eggs. At chronic form chickens experience lameness, paralysis, and loss of vision. With neurolymphomatosis, the mortality rate in birds is very high.

Additionally, night blindness can be caused by for the following reasons:

  • Chicken typhus;
  • Sinusitis;
  • Chlamydia;
  • Mechanical injuries;
  • High content ammonia in the air.

Treatment

On early stages eye inflammation can be cured by using disinfectant solutions.

If the chicken is already blind, this indicates that the disease has progressed to last stage and it’s too late to save the bird.

Diseases such as salmonellosis and neurolymphomatosis are difficult to treat. Infected chickens are sent to slaughter to protect other birds from the disease. For neurolymphomatosis in chickens, virus strains and vaccines administered intramuscularly are used for treatment.

For inflammation of the conjunctiva, washing the eyes with a mixture of water and vodka helps:

  • Water is mixed with vodka in a 1:1 ratio.
  • The bird's eyes are washed with this solution twice a day until the signs of inflammation disappear.

Sore eyes can be washed with a solution of zinc sulfate (0.5%) or boric acid:

  • Recommended dosage is 1-2 drops.
  • Eyes are injected 4 times a day until complete cure.

Levomycetin can also be used for eye inflammation in birds:

  • The solution is instilled one drop in the morning and evening.
  • The duration of treatment is one week.

You can lubricate sore eyes with an ointment containing antibiotics, such as tetracycline.

It is also recommended to add more to the chickens’ diet, in particular, saturate it with vitamin A. For this purpose, birds are given clover, alfalfa, peas, nettles, red carrots, pine needles, and grass meal. Fish fat will help quickly replenish the lack of vitamins: 2-5 drops per day are added to food and evenly distributed in the feeder.

When treating severe vitamin deficiency, birds are given vitamins intramuscularly. The dose of the drug is determined by the veterinarian, the duration of injections is 2-5 days.

At mechanical injuries century you need:

  • Extract foreign object from the eye.
  • Rinse the eye with a solution of boric acid or drops containing vitamin A. A glucose solution (5%) or a solution of chloramphenicol is also suitable.
  • Apply hydrocortisone ointment daily until complete healing.

Prevention

To prevent poultry diseases, it is necessary to provide birds with good care and a healthy varied diet. The chicken coop should be regularly cleaned and disinfected. For the prevention of eye diseases, a decoction of chamomile helps well - you can wipe the eyes of healthy birds with it to avoid inflammation.

If there is a suspicion of a bird illness, the chicken should be isolated from its relatives in another room. The first step is to call a veterinarian, who will take swabs or wash out the eyes and determine what is causing the disease. Only a specialist can prescribe adequate treatment, so there is no need to try to cure the bird yourself.

Blindness in chickens is easier to prevent than to treat. By following the rules for keeping and caring for chickens, the breeder will maintain the bird population without loss.

Most often the development night blindness- This is a consequence of disturbances in the functioning of the retina and optic nerve. It significantly affects the patient’s quality of life and can pose a serious threat to his life and health.

The essence of the disease

Many people wonder what it is - night blindness? In short, this is a decrease in visual acuity in poor lighting conditions. That is, during the day a person has an excellent ability to distinguish objects and there are no complaints, but at dusk or in a room with insufficient light, symptoms make themselves felt, blurring the outlines of objects, muting colors.

The disease night blindness does not have any stages of development; it is equally common among both men and women. In women during menopause, pathology is diagnosed somewhat more often, which is caused by disruptions in hormonal regulation body.

Kinds

The disease night blindness has several subtypes, depending on what prompted its development. All types are united by a single symptom that comes to the fore - loss of vision in low light conditions.

Congenital

A congenital disease in humans is characterized by classic symptoms. Moreover, it is inherited, and complaints of decreased vision at dusk are present in several generations in the same family.

Congenital pathology can also be a symptom of certain diseases, such as hereditary retinitis pigmentosa or Usher syndrome.

Essential

Many people are accustomed to thinking that night blindness is caused by a lack of vitamins. What exactly useful substance is the body lacking if corresponding complaints appear? Most often we are talking about a deficiency of vitamin A. Additionally, the appearance of corresponding symptoms can be explained by a lack of zinc, vitamins PP and B2.

If the main reason is a shortage useful substances, we are talking about the essential nature of pathology.

Symptomatic

A symptomatic type of night blindness is said to exist if its symptoms appear against the background of any other existing diseases eye.

It can be:

  • taperetinal dystrophy;
  • advanced myopia;
  • siderose;
  • chorioretinitis;
  • atrophic changes in the structure of the optic nerve;

False

False night blindness is not inherently a disease. It develops when a person overstrains his vision, being in poor lighting conditions, working for a long time with a computer monitor or other similar devices, performing small painstaking work that requires significant visual strain.

False type pathology is amenable to full treatment. All a person needs to do is give the eyes the opportunity to take a proper rest from stress, and vision will be completely restored. If you neglect the recommendations regarding the regimen, visual impairment can become persistent and irreversible.

Causes

The causes of hemeralopia are varied.

These include:

  • lack of vitamins;
  • many eye diseases, both congenital and acquired during life;
  • hereditary factors;
  • overexertion and stress;
  • weakening of the body due to exposure to infectious agents;
  • prolonged hunger;
  • psychosomatic defect;
  • anemia;
  • liver and kidney pathologies;
  • intoxication with various substances;
  • long-term use medical supplies, affecting the absorption of vitamin A, etc.

Many doctors believe that psychosomatics can play a role in the formation of night blindness. This defect is typical for people prone to hysterics and exaggeration. various kinds. It is also popularly called hysterical blindness.

Symptoms

The symptoms of night blindness are exactly the same in people, regardless of the cause of the pathology.

A person consults a doctor with complaints that evening time he began to see much worse than he had seen before. When checking your vision, you will find that the retina has become less responsive to light exposure.

Additional symptoms:

  • decreased color perception, especially poorly patients begin to distinguish between simple blue color and its combinations;
  • narrowing of visual fields - the patient sees this as the formation of incomprehensible spots on the sides of normal viewing angles; some patients are able to remember horse blinders and draw appropriate analogies.

Why is the disease dangerous?

Regardless of the causes of night blindness, the disease is considered dangerous.

Firstly, it may hide other pathologies, such as glaucoma or myopia. They are without timely medical care can lead to complete loss of vision.

Secondly, drivers with night blindness can create dangerous situations on the roads at dusk. They stop distinguishing well road signs and signs that could cause an accident.

Thirdly, night blindness often causes internal discomfort, significantly reducing the patient’s quality of life. In adult patients, there is a fear of sooner or later going completely blind. Children develop a persistent fear of the dark, which over time can transform into mental disorder, if night blindness is not treated promptly.

Which doctor treats night blindness?

The disease is treated by an ophthalmologist. Depending on the concomitant diseases, it is possible to attract specialists of other profiles.

Diagnostics

The diagnosis is made based on the patient's complaints and a number of additional diagnostic tests.

  • examination of the fundus to determine whether there is a connection between night blindness and another eye disease;
  • determining the presence of plaques on the surface of the conjunctiva of the eye;
  • identifying narrowing of visual fields using perimetry;
  • adaptometry, in which a person, after viewing a brightly lit background, must see an object placed on it in a second;
  • refractometry, which allows you to determine the refraction of light.

Treatment

Treatment methods for night blindness depend on the type of pathology. The congenital form is very poorly amenable to therapeutic effects, but to improve the patient’s condition it is possible to use the same methods that are used if night blindness is a consequence of a lack of vitamins.

In case of essential type pathology, the patient is recommended additional use vitamin complexes, which include vitamins A, PP and B2.

It is worth following a diet that will include:

  • egg yolks;
  • carrot;
  • berries;
  • millet;
  • cod liver, beef.

These products will replenish the depot of vitamins and compensate for their deficiency. Additionally, doctors advise following correct mode day. The presence of vitamin E in the body can improve the absorption of vitamin A, and therefore it is additionally recommended to consume nuts, potatoes, seeds, and broccoli. Can also be used eye drops Riboflavin taken twice daily.

If night blindness is of symptomatic origin, then it is necessary to treat the underlying pathology. Choice therapeutic methods will depend on the nature of the underlying disease, and therefore in each case it is selected individually.

False night blindness does not require special treatment. The only thing the patient needs is good rest.

Prevention

Prevention of hemeralopia is not difficult. A person is advised to eat right and visit an ophthalmologist for preventive purposes in order to promptly diagnose and treat eye pathologies. If your work involves a computer, then it is important to maintain a simple work and rest schedule so that your eyes can rest from the light of the monitor. In bright sunshine or in areas with heavy snow cover, the use of dark glasses is recommended.

Night blindness, if it is not congenital, is most often treatable. All that is necessary is to follow the doctor’s recommendations and, if the pathology is symptomatic, engage in treatment for the underlying disease.

If night blindness has developed and there is every reason to suspect that it is not false, it is recommended to consult an ophthalmologist. Timely detection causes and eliminating their influence will help cope with the disease so that the person’s quality of life does not suffer.

Useful video about night blindness

Night blindness refers to a visual impairment in which a person sees poorly in the dark, in poorly lit rooms or on the street in the evening. In young people, the disease is diagnosed regardless of gender. However, after the age of fifty, night blindness is more often found in women.

With sufficient daily or artificial lighting the patient sees fully, but at dusk the vision suddenly deteriorates and the person sees poorly. This condition is medically referred to as hemeralopia. Non-specialists call this disease night blindness.

Interestingly, the disease is not found in the indigenous inhabitants of the Arctic. People in this territory are genetically adapted to living in conditions of prolonged twilight (polar night).

Responsible for vision in the dark or twilight in humans special cells retina of the eye, called rods. They contain the pigment substance rhodopsin, which allows a person to see normally when there is insufficient light rays hitting the retina.

The appearance of night blindness is explained by several processes:

  • a small amount of rhodopsin or its incorrect structure;
  • changing the structure of the sticks themselves;
  • reduction in the number of rods in retina.

A person can be born with such conditions or acquire them during life. The process of night blindness can be triggered by acute herpetic infections, vegetarianism, in women - menopause.

Watch the video where Alexander Boyko reflects on the topic of night blindness and its connection with myopia:

Causes and classification

Night blindness can develop for several reasons. Taking this into account, a classification of the disease is constructed - three types are distinguished.

In the congenital form, disturbances occur in the human genome. In disease transmission main role burdened heredity plays a role. Twilight blindness is already detected in young children. The most frequent illnesses accompanied by this symptom is Usher syndrome, hereditary chorioretinitis.

Essential night blindness is a primary dysfunction of the organ of vision, or rather the retina. Night blindness in in this case causes a lack of vitamins A, B2, PP, that is, those that are necessary for the full maturation of receptive cells in the retina. The following pathological processes can cause vitamin deficiency:

  • poor nutrition or starvation;
  • destruction of liver cells;
  • alcohol intoxication;
  • rubella;
  • severe poisoning with neurotropic poisons.

The symptomatic type of the disease develops against the background of physical damage to the structures that perceive light. The causes of night blindness in this case are:

  • severe myopia;
  • high pressure glaucoma;
  • dystrophic changes in the retina;
  • inflammatory process in the retina;
  • cataract;
  • eye injury;
  • tumor pressing on the optic nerve;
  • storage diseases - deposition of iron or copper in the retina.

In addition to these forms, false hemeralopia is distinguished. Deterioration of twilight vision occurs due to long hours of working with modern gadgets and fatigue and eye strain. After good rest visual function is normalized.

Characteristic manifestations

In night blindness, the main symptoms are characterized by a change visual function:

  • the outlines of objects become blurry for the patient;
  • the world looks foggy;
  • loss of color perception, mainly blue and yellow;
  • the volume of the field of view decreases.

A person with such disorders feels extremely insecure when it gets to dusk or enters a dark room and may be injured.

There is no connection between the clinic and the form of the disease; the main symptoms for any of them will be the same. A person needs very bright light to read, otherwise the letters will be blurry. With prolonged hemeralopia, myopia develops, which worsens in poor lighting conditions.

Vitamin A deficiency can be suspected based on additional signs:

  • dry skin;
  • hair loss;
  • fragility of the nail plate;
  • formation of cracks in the corners of the mouth - jams;
  • increased bleeding from the nose and gums;
  • skin itching;
  • peeling of lips.

With symptomatic hemeralopia, symptoms of the causative disease appear.

Diagnostics

To identify the disease, the ophthalmologist only needs specific complaints from the patient. But since night blindness in humans can be caused various conditions, confirmatory diagnostics are required:

  • fundus examination;
  • detection of specific dry spots on the conjunctiva;
  • perimetry – assessment of vision in the periphery;
  • determination of visual acuity;
  • adaptometry – assessment of the switchability of visual function.

With the help of these examinations, the doctor suggests possible reason, if necessary, sends the patient for consultation with specialists.

How to treat night blindness?

How to treat and how to cure night blindness is determined by the ophthalmologist depending on the causative factor:

  • the congenital form is incurable;
  • Essential blindness is difficult to treat, the effect is not always observed;
  • in the symptomatic form, it is necessary to treat the underlying disease.

Treatment includes medications and non-drug methods. When myopia develops, a person is given appropriate glasses or lenses.

Nutrition

For any type of disease positive effect provide vitamins - retinol, riboflavin. They are contained in the following products:

  • all types of greens;
  • Cod liver;
  • dairy products;
  • eggs;
  • vegetables;
  • fruits;
  • berries;
  • millet.

The daily menu must contain at least two products from this list.



Medicines

For night blindness drug treatment consists of taking vitamins:

  • A (retinol acetate) – 50–100 thousand IU per day;
  • B2 (riboflavin) – 20 mg per day.

Other drugs are prescribed according to the underlying disease. If necessary, vitamins are prescribed in the form eye drops"Taufon".

Folk recipes

Treatment traditional methods also aims to saturate the body with vitamins. For this purpose, decoctions and infusions prepared from medicinal plants, which contain vitamins A, B, PP.

  1. Take equal quantities of blueberry, buckwheat and sea buckthorn leaves, dandelion and linden flowers. Mix, take 20 grams of the mixture and pour a glass of boiling water over it. Keep in a water bath for 15 minutes, without bringing to a boil. Strain and take a glass of decoction after meals.
  2. Grind blue cornflower flowers, take them in the amount of a teaspoon. Brew a glass of boiling water and let stand for 60 minutes. Drink 50 ml before meals.
  3. Take 10 grams of washed blueberries. Add 200 ml of boiling water. Leave for at least 4 hours. Drink 100 ml 3 times a day.
  4. Take 60 grams of washed sea buckthorn berries. Add 200 ml hot boiled water, let stand for 60 minutes. Drink fresh brewed infusion before meals. Eat the berries from the infusion.
  5. Grind the leaves and tops of the nettles. Take 20 grams of raw materials, add a glass of boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes, remove leaves. Drink 50 ml before meals.
  6. Grate fresh carrots on a fine grater. Squeeze the juice and drink 50 ml before meals. Prepare fresh juice for each use.
  7. It is recommended to eat carrots, blueberries and sea buckthorn daily. It is best to eat these foods fresh and raw.

Apply any folk remedies It is permissible after consultation with a doctor, in the absence of allergies to the constituent components.

And a few more secrets for improving night vision from Lyudmila Lazareva:

If a driver can’t see well while driving in the dark at night, he’s most likely overexerted. In this case, a short rest is recommended to avoid getting into an accident.

Operation

Indicated if the patient has glaucoma or cataracts, retinal detachment:

  • laser coagulation of the retina;
  • expansion of the chambers of the eye;
  • cataract extraction;
  • placement of an artificial lens;
  • operations on the cornea.

Surgical treatment is carried out according to strict indications. It does not guarantee a complete cure for night blindness.

Complications and prognosis

Night blindness can cause the following complications:

  • injury to a person due to insufficient orientation in space;
  • psychological problems;
  • The vision of a patient with night blindness deteriorates until it is completely lost.

The most unfavorable prognosis is for congenital night blindness; this condition cannot be cured. In the symptomatic form, the effectiveness of therapy depends on the characteristics of the underlying disease and at what stage treatment was started.

The essential form responds well to therapy with initial stages. How longer person If night blindness is left untreated, the worse the prognosis.

Prevention

For the congenital form of night blindness there is no preventive measures. To avoid the development of acquired forms of night blindness, it is recommended to follow the following rules:

  • eat well;
  • Avoid exposure of eyes to sunlight;
  • limit computer use;
  • avoid prolonged eye strain;
  • use protective screens when working with harmful factors;
  • consult an ophthalmologist at least once every two years;
  • promptly identify and treat other diseases that can lead to the development of this pathology.

If you suspect this disease, if you have trouble seeing in the dark, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Night blindness is a visual disorder associated with impaired ability to see at dusk. A person who sees well in daylight practically goes blind even in slight darkness. Only the form of the disease acquired during life can be treated. Examination and treatment are carried out by an ophthalmologist.

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Some people see almost nothing at all at dusk or later in the day. However, others can clearly distinguish objects in low light conditions. It's all about disruption of the structure of the eye. Let's take a closer look at what this disease is, how to identify it, and what treatment methods are the most effective.

Definition of disease

The scientific name for this disease is hemeralopia. Most people's eyes are designed in such a way that there are eighteen times more rods, which are used for night vision, than cones, which are responsible for daytime vision. If this natural relationship is violated, the structure of the eye changes, which inevitably leads to the loss of distinguishing objects in dark time days. Less common are specific disturbances in the functioning of the rods when their relationship with the cones is normal.

Night blindness is a consequence of poor functioning of the visual organs.

Types and classifications

There are four main types of hemeralopia. Each of them has its own characteristics, specifics and classifications.

Congenital

This type of disease is transmitted hereditarily and its symptoms can be seen in quite early age. The following factors can provoke this:

  • Genetic diseases;

Essential (with a lack of vitamins)

It provokes failures in . This can be caused by a deficiency of vitamins A, PP, B2, and less commonly, zinc. This malaise can be caused by a disruption in the flow of these substances into the body. useful compounds. Poor nutrition, lack of food, liver failure or stomach disease - all this can lead to hemeralopia.

One of the functions of the retina is the timely enrichment of the vitreous body and adjacent tissues essential vitamins and minerals. With chronic local vitamin deficiency, the ability of the corneal elements to perceive not only colors and shades is lost, but also loss of orientation at night.

Symptomatic

This type of hemeralopia is possible in the presence of eye diseases that affect the retina or optic nerve.

False

It can be provoked by: glaucoma, taperetinal dystrophy, siderosis. Caused by ordinary eye fatigue - this includes constant watching TV, working at the computer

. In this case, this is not really a disease, but a signal that the eyes need rest and rest.

The course of treatment depends on the type of disease.

Causes


There are a number of factors that can cause hemeralopia. These include:

Symptoms

In most situations, the patient is able to function and live quite normally with this diagnosis.


The disease can be signaled by the following symptoms:

If you have at least one symptom, you should immediately consult an ophthalmologist.

Possible complications Night blindness itself does not cause any serious threats for human life. However, it is worth considering that basically this disease is a consequence of other, much more dangerous and unpleasant diseases. Also, a lack of vitamins leads to depletion of the structural components of the eye ( vitreous , cornea, retina, optic nerve), which gives

complications in the form of other difficult-to-treat diseases. Complications are that other serious illnesses

Diagnostics

. Also, not all types of hemeralopia can be cured. It all depends on the type and severity of the problem. Install accurate diagnosis only an ophthalmologist can

based on the patient's complaints and problems. The main method of diagnosis is electroradiography. , allowing you to see all the anomalies in the retina. capable of responding to special electrical impulses; data is recorded using an oscilloscope.

Carrying out electroradiography

In addition to this method, optical coherence tomography, refractometry, and sometimes tonography are also used.

A correct and timely diagnosis can increase the chances of recovery.

Treatment

Before you begin treatment for night blindness, you should know that the congenital form cannot be treated at all. There are three main ways to get rid of this trouble– medicinal, surgical and folk. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Medication method

An excellent medicine for getting rid of this disease is. It contains mass useful vitamins and components that allow you to normalize all processes in the organs of vision. After taking the drug, the tissues are saturated with oxygen, and nerve impulses are better conducted.

The dosage of the medication is as follows: Place a drop twice a day in each eye. The duration of the course is set individually for each patient. You need to know that the drug has complications in the form of allergies to certain components.

TO side effects include loss of normal visual acuity while taking this product.

Riboflavin is used in the treatment of hemeralopia

As excellent remedy Medications containing vitamins A, B2, PP are suitable.

Surgically

This method takes place if hemeralopia was caused

  • Cod liver;
  • Dairy products;
  • Cheese;
  • Eggs;
  • Milk;
  • Blackberries, black currants, blueberries, peaches, gooseberries, cherries, rowan berries, apricots.
  • Eat more greens and vegetables.

Traditional methods have high efficiency only in case of combined use with drugs.

Prevention

To avoid night blindness, you should healthy image life and eating right. You need to create a schedule for work and rest, and not let your eyes become overstrained. It is not recommended to sit in front of a computer monitor or TV in the dark. At permanent job with the computer, rest every 40 minutes.

During daylight hours you should wear sunglasses. If you are a fan of ski resorts, then a mask will help protect your retina from snow that reflects light.

You need to know that a lot depends on the age of the person. The larger it is, the less chance of a complete cure.

Follow preventive measures mandatory. This will not only reduce risks, but will improve your overall well-being and give you strength and energy.

Video

conclusions

The disease “night blindness” in humans is very unusual disease, which manifests itself in . It can be cured if it is not congenital. To do this, you need to lead a healthy lifestyle, consume more vitamins and follow preventive measures. If you are able to independently discover night blindness in yourself, immediately consult a doctor to investigate the cause of its occurrence.

Sometimes it can hide behind itself more serious diseases, which, if ignored, can reduce the quality of vision.

Night blindness is a disease of the visual system in which a person can see poorly only in twilight, at night, or in any low light. This name is of a folk nature; in medicine it is listed as hemeralopia (Russian) or nyctalopia (European).

General information about the disease

Hemeralopia is considered an ancient disease that is directly related to disruption of the retina and its optic nerve. This disease makes life much more difficult for people in the dark, and also creates poor orientation in a darkened space.

During daylight hours or in bright light, hemeralopia does not affect vision in any way, and a person can see the world around him clearly and brightly. But as soon as you turn off or dim the lights, visibility begins to deteriorate greatly.


The drawing for comparison shows how a person suffering from hemeralopia sees.

Most often, this disease manifests itself in women aged 50-55 years, who experience a noticeable hormonal exacerbation. Men suffer from night blindness less often. Hemeralopia is not difficult to determine. In a dark space, a person not only begins to see poorly, it is difficult for him to determine general outlines, the colors become incomprehensible and everything begins to merge with each other. Blue color

not visible at all, only dark silhouettes can be distinguished.


What is night blindness (video)

In this video, a specialist tells everything about night blindness: why it has this name, where it came from, what methods of treating this disease exist.

Types of night blindness and their characteristics
  • Considering the causes of occurrence, hemeralopia is divided into several types: Symptomatic – occurs due to complications of other eye diseases that negatively affect the retina and optic nerve
  • . It appears against the background of glaucoma, myopia, siderosis and optic nerve atrophy. Congenital - manifests itself in childhood
  • , can be transmitted through genes. Sometimes it occurs due to genetic abnormalities or complications.– occurs in case of deficiency of vitamin PP, B2 and A. In this case, hemeralopia manifests itself due to a violation of the proper functioning of the retina. Reasons may be poor nutrition, strict diets, starvation, alcoholism, severe poisoning.
  • False- in fact, this is not hemeralopia, but simple eye fatigue, due to which a person sometimes sees poorly in the dark. Staying at the computer for a long time, reading books in poor lighting - all this will cause a reaction on the retina of the eyes, and it will become difficult to see in a darkened space. This is a temporary phenomenon that does not pose a risk to vision, but only if the eyes are given regular rest.

Causes

The main cause of night blindness is considered to be a malfunction of the retinal cells called “rods” - these are visual receptors, which are responsible for vision in low light conditions. In addition to them, there are also “cones”, which are responsible for visibility in brightly lit places.



With hemeralopia, the rods begin to function poorly, which is why twilight vision decreases significantly. IN healthy eye the number of rods is many times greater than the number of cones. This is due to the constant presence of a person in dimly lit places, and even simple daylight cannot provide the necessary bright illumination. This is how nature dictates that the eyes perceive twilight more habitually and softly.

So why do chopsticks lose their functionality? The cause of this phenomenon is considered to be a disruption in the production of rhodopsin or its partial decay. This happens due to a lack of vitamin A, which saturates the eyes with the necessary pigment.

Congenital night blindness is caused by genetic abnormalities that cannot be tracked or prevented during pregnancy. But this is not a death sentence for a child; with such a diagnosis one can live a full life.

In the case of symptomatic hemeralopia, the causes of the disease are complications or serious eye diseases that affect the retina of the eyes.

How does night blindness occur (video)

In the presented video, Elena Malysheva talks in detail in her program about hemeralopia, the causes of its occurrence and methods for its effective treatment.

Symptoms

Main hallmark hemeralopia is good vision at daylight and bad during twilight hours. Also violated light adaptation with a sharp transition from a dark space to a light one, and back. For example, if a person with night blindness comes out of a darkened room into an open bright space, then in the first minute it will be difficult for him to see environment, your eyes will experience glare, cloudiness, and difficulty focusing.

With hemeralopia, it is difficult to see colors in a darkened space. Red shades mix with blue, dark becomes light, and light becomes dark. In poor lighting, a person suffering from hemeralopia will not be able to read anything, even if the darkness is slight. This will require ideally bright lighting, in which a person’s vision begins to work to the maximum.

Diagnostics

Diagnosing this disease is not at all difficult; you can independently identify the first symptoms and promptly seek help from an ophthalmologist to confirm the diagnosis of night blindness.

Tests carried out to detect hemeralopia:

  • perimetry;
  • refractometry;
  • fundus examination;
  • adaptometry.



Thanks to modern ophthalmological research, specialists can as soon as possible make a final diagnosis and prescribe effective treatment.

Treatment

Treatment of hemeralopia depends entirely on its type of origin:
  • With congenital Treatment for night blindness is useless. To this day, experts are conducting a number of studies, and still cannot find effective method restoration of vision in congenital genetic abnormalities eye.
  • For symptomatic hemeralopia specialists primarily treat the disease that caused the disease to develop.
  • For essential night blindness, the treatment procedure is carried out with synthetic vitamin complexes containing increased concentration vitamins A, PP and B2, and diet. This type Hemeralopia is much more common than others and is easier to treat, but it takes a lot of time (on average 3-6 months).
During the treatment of night blindness, the patient must follow a number of recommendations that will help:
  • limit vision from bright light rays;
  • try not to suddenly enter a brightly lit room or, conversely, a very dark one;
  • Avoid shining car headlights.

Folk remedies

Treatment of hemeralopia with folk remedies involves the regular use of various herbs, natural preparations, decoctions of plants, berries and other products that contain vitamins A, PP and B2.

The most effective folk remedies in the fight against night blindness are:

  • Ripe sea buckthorn berries. Can be in the form of jam, compote or jam.
  • Blueberry. You can simply eat it, make jam, compotes.
  • Carrot. Drink 2 glasses of freshly squeezed carrot juice daily.
  • Ripe grapes. Good to drink natural juice. You can sometimes drink homemade grape wine (do not abuse it).
  • Take 1 tablespoon of fish oil daily with meals.
  • Eat beef liver once a week.
These simple folk remedies will help restore vision in case of night blindness, and will also serve as prevention against other diseases of the human visual system.

Prevention

To avoid night blindness, you need to take care of your eyes:
  • do eye exercises every day;
  • at heavy load on the eyes (reading, computer) give the eyes a rest every 1.5 hours;
  • eat right and eat extra