Seeing halos around lights at night can be both concerning and frustrating. These glowing rings that appear around streetlights, car headlights, and other light sources can make nighttime driving difficult and impact your quality of life.
The Eye Center’s experienced eye care professionals specialize in diagnosing and treating the underlying conditions that cause visual disturbances, such as halos. Keep reading to learn more about why you may be seeing halos around lights at night, and the treatment options available to improve your vision.
What Does It Mean When I See Halos Around Lights at Night?
Halos around lights typically occur when light entering your eye is scattered rather than focused properly on the retina. This scattering creates the appearance of bright rings or circles around light sources, particularly noticeable in low-light conditions.
Cataracts are the most common cause of halos around lights, particularly in adults over 50 years of age. As the natural lens of your eye becomes cloudy due to protein clumping, it disrupts the normal passage of light, creating these visual disturbances.
However, cataracts aren’t the only potential cause. Dry eye syndrome can create temporary halos as insufficient tear production affects the eye’s surface.
When your eyes lack adequate lubrication, light may scatter irregularly across the cornea, producing halo effects around bright lights. Certain eye conditions, like glaucoma, corneal swelling, or refractive errors, can also produce similar symptoms.
Some medications, particularly those that dilate the pupils, may temporarily increase your perception of halos around lights. While halos around lights often indicate cataracts, only a comprehensive eye examination can determine the exact cause of your symptoms.
Early diagnosis allows for more treatment options and can prevent further vision deterioration.
What Are Cataracts?
Cataracts develop when the natural lens of your eye becomes cloudy over time. Located behind the iris and pupil, it helps focus light onto the retina for clear vision.
As you age, proteins within the natural lens can clump together, forming cloudy areas that scatter light and create visual disturbances. The progression of cataracts typically occurs gradually.
In the early stages, you might notice slight vision changes that can be managed with updated prescriptions or brighter lighting. However, as cataracts advance, they create more significant visual challenges, including blurry vision, increased light sensitivity, and the characteristic halos around lights.
Colors may also appear dull or yellowed as the cloudy lens filters light differently. Many patients report that whites look more yellow or brown, and vibrant colors lose their intensity.
Difficulty with night vision becomes increasingly problematic, making activities such as driving after dark challenging or even unsafe.
How Cataract Surgery Can Improve Your Symptoms
Cataract surgery effectively eliminates halos around lights by replacing your clouded natural lens with a clear intraocular lens (IOL). This outpatient procedure has a high success rate and can dramatically improve your nighttime vision and overall quality of life.
The surgical process involves removing the clouded natural lens through a small incision using advanced phacoemulsification technology. This technique utilizes ultrasound waves to break the cataract into tiny fragments, which are then gently removed from the eye.
The Eye Center’s skilled cataract surgeons then insert your chosen intraocular lens (IOL) to restore clear vision. Immediate and long-term benefits of cataract surgery include the elimination of halos around lights in most cases.
Patients often report significantly improved night vision, making driving after dark safer and more comfortable. Colors appear more vibrant and true-to-life, and overall vision clarity is restored.
Most patients notice improved vision within days of surgery, with halos around lights significantly reduced or eliminated entirely. The procedure usually takes less than thirty minutes, and you can return to most normal activities within a few days.
Will I Still See Halos After Cataract Surgery?
Most patients experience a significant reduction or complete elimination of halos around lights following cataract surgery. However, the likelihood of continued halos depends largely on your choice of intraocular lens and individual healing factors.
Standard monofocal lenses typically provide the clearest night vision with minimal halos. These lenses focus light at a single distance, typically for distant vision, which reduces the optical complexity that can create halos.
Patients who choose monofocal lenses typically experience minimal to no persistent halos after complete healing. Advanced multifocal lenses may produce mild halos as a trade-off for reduced dependence on glasses.
These lenses split light to provide vision at multiple distances, which can create subtle rings around bright lights, especially during the initial adjustment period. Extended depth of focus (EDOF) lenses offer patients a compromise between monofocal and multifocal lenses by stretching light rather than splitting it for a wider range of vision across distances and reduced visual disturbances.
Factors affecting halo perception after cataract surgery also include your pupil size, overall eye health, and adaptation period. Larger pupils may increase halo visibility with certain premium lenses, while smaller pupils typically experience fewer visual disturbances. Most patients adapt to any residual halos within a few months as their brain adjusts to the new lens.
At The Eye Center, your cataract surgeon will discuss your lifestyle needs, visual priorities, and tolerance for potential side effects when recommending the most appropriate lens option. Some patients prioritize complete independence from glasses and accept minimal halos, while others prefer the clearest possible night vision.
Don’t let visual disturbances like halos around lights affect your quality of life any longer. Schedule a comprehensive eye examination with The Eye Center in Greenfield or Athol, MA, today to get to the root cause of your halos and discover how our ophthalmologists can help you achieve the clear, comfortable vision you deserve.