Astigmatism Lights: Night Vision And Driving - Healthline

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How Does Astigmatism Affect Your Night Vision?

Medically reviewed by Vicente Diaz, MD, MBA — Written by Jennifer Larson — Updated on August 11, 2025

Effect on vision
Night vision
Astigmatism and lights
What helps?
Night driving glasses
Takeaway

Astigmatism is a common problem that can affect your eyesight. An unusual shape of the cornea or lens affects how you perceive light. It can blur your vision and affect your ability to see well at night.

driving at night — georgeclerk/Getty Images

If you are unable to see well during the darker hours at night, you may live with a common issue known as astigmatism. This is an imperfection in the curvature of the cornea or lens in your eye, and it affects about 1 in 3 people in the United States.

This can affect how you see at night, particularly if you’re behind the wheel trying to drive at night.

How does astigmatism affect your vision?

Astigmatism is a type of “refractive error,” which means your eye doesn’t bend or refract light rays correctly.

There are two main types of astigmatism:

Corneal: Your cornea has more of an oval shape instead of a round shape.
Lenticular: With a lenticular astigmatism, it’s your lens that is misshapen.

The irregular shape of your cornea or lens prevents your eye from being able to focus light correctly on your retina. Your retina is the area at the back of your eye that converts light into signals that are sent to your brain for visual recognition.

You can be nearsighted or farsighted and have astigmatism, too. They’re all considered refractive error conditions.

The most common symptom of astigmatism is blurry or distorted vision, both close up and at a distance. You may also have a harder time seeing clearly at night.

»MORE:Explore more about astigmatism and its affect on your vision.

How does it affect your vision at night?

If you’ve ever noticed problems like glare from the headlights of oncoming cars or halos around streetlights, you’ve experienced some of the ways that astigmatism can affect your eyes at night.

At night and in other low-light situations, your pupil gets larger (dilates) to allow in more light. When this happens, more peripheral light enters your eye. This causes more blurring and glare and makes lights look fuzzier.

You don’t need astigmatism to have trouble seeing well in the dark. Many people have some trouble seeing well at night. In fact, many other eye diseases and disorders contribute to impaired night vision, including:

nearsightedness (myopia)
cataracts
glaucoma
keratoconus, a severe curvature of the cornea

What effect can astigmatism have on lights and night driving?

Because of the way astigmatism can affect your vision at night, driving can be particularly tricky after dark. Some effects you may notice while driving at night include:

lights and other objects may look blurry or fuzzy
lights may have halos around them
lights may appear streaky
increased glare from lights
increased squinting to see more clearly

Be sure to notify your eye doctor if you start having trouble with your night vision, or if you notice any of the symptoms above.

What can help with lights and night driving?

If you’re having trouble seeing lights and objects clearly, especially at night, the first step is to see an eye doctor. They can test your vision and determine if you have astigmatism, and to what degree. Or, they may determine that you have a different eye condition that affects your vision.

If you have mild to moderate astigmatism, your eye doctor may prescribe corrective lenses for you. Options for corrective lenses include:

Eyeglasses: These will have lenses that help correct the way light bends into your eye. The lenses in eyeglasses can also correct other vision issues, like nearsightedness or farsightedness.
Contact lenses: Contact lenses can also correct the way light bends into your eye, allowing you to see more clearly. There are many different types to choose from, including soft disposable lenses, hard gas permeable lenses, extended wear lenses, and bifocal lenses.
Cataract surgery: This is a common procedure that replaces a clouded lens with an artificial one to improve vision. Lens replacement options can include various types of lenses.
Toric lens implant: An option for people with astigmatism and cataracts, this surgical procedure involves replacing your eye’s misshapen lens with a special type of lens that corrects the shape of your eye.
Limbal relaxing incisions: Known as LRIs, this is a refractive surgery procedure that helps correct astigmatism.

If you already wear glasses or contact lenses that correct your astigmatism, your doctor will encourage you to wear those when driving at night. It’s also possible that you may need your prescription slightly adjusted if you’re having more trouble seeing lights and objects clearly at night.

»MORE:Try these contact lenses to help with astigmatism at night.

What about night driving glasses?

You may have heard about night driving glasses, which are advertised all over the internet. These glasses’ yellow-tinted lenses are meant to cut glare and help you see better at night.

This 2019 study suggests they may not be as effective as they’re claimed to be. Although the study had a relatively small number of participants, it found no benefit to wearing night driving glasses.

None of the 22 drivers in the study noticed any improvement in their ability to see pedestrians at night, or any reduction in the glare of oncoming headlights as a result of wearing the glasses.

The takeaway

Astigmatism can blur vision and particularly affect night vision. At night, you may notice that lights look fuzzy, streaky, or surrounded by haloes, which can make driving difficult.

If you do have astigmatism and notice that you’re having trouble seeing lights properly at night, it may be time to chat with an eye doctor. If you have a prescription for glasses or contact lenses, they may need an update. And if you don’t wear corrective lenses, it may be time to start.

Your eye doctor will be able to accurately diagnose your vision and advise you on the best options to correct your eyesight.

How we reviewed this article:

SourcesHistoryHealthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We only use quality, credible sources to ensure content accuracy and integrity. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

About common eye disorders and problems. (2024).https://www.cdc.gov/vision-health/about-eye-disorders/index.html
Gurnani B, et al. (2023). Astigmatism.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35881747/
Hwang AD, et al. (2019). Comparison of pedestrian detection with and without yellow-lens glasses during simulated night driving with and without headlight glare.https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/fullarticle/2740739

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Medically reviewed by Vicente Diaz, MD, MBA — Written by Jennifer Larson — Updated on August 11, 2025

Astigmatism Lights: Night Vision And Driving - Healthline

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Parenthood

How does astigmatism affect your vision?

How does it affect your vision at night?

What effect can astigmatism have on lights and night driving?

What can help with lights and night driving?

What about night driving glasses?

The takeaway

How we reviewed this article:

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