| Do you suffer from diminished night vision? It is not | | | | rhodopsin, which absorbs photons and perceives light. |
| uncommon to have fantastic vision during daylight | | | | The retinal rhodopsin in the human eye is derived from |
| hours only to be reduced to squinting once the sun | | | | vitamin A. So in turn, if your diet is low in Vitamin A, |
| goes down. | | | | there is a good chance your night vision is being |
| Fortunately for you, there are a couple of things you | | | | compromised. |
| have control over to improve your night vision. | | | | Start eating more fruits and vegetables that are yellow |
| As you probably know, your pupil is the aperture that | | | | and orange in color as they are great sources of |
| controls how much light reaches your retina. in bright | | | | vitamin A. So bugs bunny was right, eat more carrots. |
| light conditions you pupil constricts and becomes small. | | | | Another source of blurred night vision may be your |
| The visual effect is less peripheral blur, and sharper | | | | contact lenses. If you wear lenses with a small optic |
| focus directly ahead. In dark light your pupil opens | | | | zone, they might be inducing peripheral blur. For most |
| wider, allowing more peripheral image in. That will | | | | eyes, the best type of contact lens at night is one with |
| inherently cause more blur all by itself. The natural way | | | | front aspheric optics. This means there is gradual |
| we combat that is by squinting, it is an attempt to use | | | | decrease of power as the optics taper towards the |
| our lids as a secondary light aperture. | | | | periphery. For most, this means the peripheral image |
| But night vision goes far beyond pupil size and light | | | | will be more in focus. This is not true 100% of the time, |
| apertures. The part of the eye that receives and | | | | but it works for many. |
| interprets the image is most important. That is the | | | | As you can see, night and day vision can be perceived |
| retina, and in dim light, the rods on the retina perceive | | | | very differently. So start eating you yellow and orange |
| black and white images and work best in low light (ie. | | | | fruits or vegetables. And if you think your contact |
| night vision). | | | | lenses are to blame, ask your eye care provider about |
| Your retinal rods rely on a chemical known as | | | | front aspheric optics. |