Eye Health Resources

Astigmatism: The impact of lights and driving at night

What does driving at night with uncorrected astigmatism look like?

Picture this: You drive up to a red traffic light at night and there’s a car on the other side with its bright headlights on. To a person with normal vision, the lights might be annoying. To you, the lights seem streaky and smudged, obscuring your vision and making it hard to see if there are any hazards around you. When the light turns green, you have to wait until the other car passes you to be able to see well enough to drive away. This example highlights the challenges—and dangers—that lights could present to people with severe, uncorrected astigmatism at night. Bright lights can be a distraction at best, and at worst, dangerous.

Is It Safe?

Your safety depends on your astigmatism

When it comes to your ability to see clearly enough to drive safely, it may come down to how severe your astigmatism is and whether or not your vision is corrected. For example, driving with severe, uncorrected astigmatism can be dangerous due to vision blur and distortion. But driving with glasses or contact lenses that correct astigmatism may be similar to driving with ‘20/20’ vision. Ultimately, only you and your Optician can determine how safe it is for you to drive at night.

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Understanding the basics of astigmatism

To understand how astigmatism affects the way you see lights, especially while driving, it helps to understand the fundamentals of astigmatism. Astigmatism is when the front surface of the eye (cornea) or lens inside the eye isn’t perfectly round like a football. Instead, it’s shaped more like a rugby ball. This shape, when uncorrected, makes it difficult for light to focus correctly within the eye, causing images to appear blurry or distorted.

Explore Astigmatism Causes, Symptoms, Corrections

Astigmatism and Night Vision

More light, more challenges

Your pupils are the gatekeepers for how much light gets into your eyes. When it’s bright, they shrink so that you aren’t blinded by light. When it’s dark, the pupils get bigger to let more light in and help you see better. For a person with uncorrected (or under-corrected) astigmatism, bright lights like headlights, combined with a dark environment, can be particularly challenging since the eyes already struggle to focus light properly.

Astigmatism Symptoms

What do lights look like with uncorrected astigmatism?

When a person with uncorrected astigmatism sees lights at night, they may experience any of these difficulties:

Blurry vision
Distorted or squashed images
Streaky or haloed lights
Light beams emanating from light sources
Starburst effects

Tips for driving at night

What to do when you have uncorrected astigmatism

When you consider the science of how astigmatism works and how bright lights can impact people with uncorrected (or even under-corrected) astigmatism, it’s easy to understand why driving at night can be challenging—if not dangerous. Streetlights, headlights, emergency lights and more can all impact the ability to see, increasing the chances of an accident. Here are two tips that can help.

Get your vision prescription checked

If you have astigmatism, the number one thing you can do to make it easier to drive at night is to visit your Optician and get an up-to-date prescription for glasses or contact lenses. This can help reduce or eliminate things like blurry vision, distortions and starbursts that make driving challenging. Even if you already have a prescription, your vision may have changed or the prescription may not correct your astigmatism completely, so it’s still worth checking in with your Optician.

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Until that time, control what you can as you drive

The little things add up, so take steps to make yourself more safe, comfortable and confident while behind the wheel at night.

Leave early so you have time to go slowly
Limit the distractions inside your car
Don’t drive with the interior lights on
Try not to look directly at headlights or streetlights
Use the night setting on your rear-view mirror
Stick to familiar areas
Keep all reflective surfaces clean and smudge-free. That includes any glasses that you wear.

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Consult your Eye Care Professional for more information. Johnson & Johnson does not provide medical advice; this information is for educational purposes only.

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