Glaucoma - dealing with glare.

[Quiet_Lin]

Hello, I was diagnosed several years ago. I use Monoprost drops in my right eye and had a trab in my left a few years ago. Left is getting worse slowly, right is quietly developing a cataract. I'm also bothered by blepharitis, dry eye and being aged 73 - lol. In other words, nothing unusual going on.

As I'm also disabled and depend on my car, I'm mad keen to keep my drivers licence. I wear a peaked cap to help with glare, but now feel the need to do more.

The RNIB have them with amber, green, grey, orange or yellow tints. They also do fit-over eyeshields, which might suit me as I need to change my prescriptions regularly.

So I'm asking for your experience about using tinted filters. Any good? Who helped you choose?

Thanks everybody. You are a great bunch.

Lin from Harrow.

[Iona57]

Hi Lin, I suspect there is no substitute for trying out different tints yourself. It will probably depend on what is causing the problem. I wonder if the cataract is more of an issue than you realise. About 20 years ago I had terrible problems with bright lights and glare. I used to use dark grey prescription glasses with wrap round dark grey sunglasses on top of that. Also a full brimmed hat to cut off glare and light from above , the sides and the back . I found that cutting out peripheral glare was just as important as sunglasses. The diagnosis was cataract and keratoconus in my left eye which was cured with a corneal graft and lens removal.

Last year I was diagnosed with glaucoma and worsening cataract in my right eye. The glare issue wasn't so bad in bright sunlight, but much worse at night and in misty grey weather. I tried my dark grey sunglasses but found they didn't help as they cut out too much light. I didn't think the cataract was so bad, but have been surprised at how much my sight has improved so much since cataract op two months ago. I haven't been driving as glaucoma has unfortunately damaged my peripheral visual field, but I'm sure the grey glare problem will have greatly reduced.

Good luck with finding something which works for you.

[norfolkblade]

You could try polarised night driving glasses. Ignore the name, they work perfectly well in daylight as well and don't reduce as much light as conventional sunglasses. £25 or so on line through Amazon and others.

[Weva]

Hi, I would also recommend trying night driving clip-on glasses available from Amazon. I have a long history of being troubled by glare. Cataracts (which I have had) can cause a problem but also glaucoma. I have had the glaucoma for over 20 years now and tried yellow clip ons first and now have tinted prescription glasses. These help me a lot as even watching television van be a problem.

[whitedog]

I was searching myself as I have similar issues and really struggle with glare now due to cataract and dry eye.

I've stopped driving at night, partly due to the lights and partly due to the darkness and shadows. I read an article that suggested tinted lenses for night don't allow enough light through so that put me off trying them. I also read something about Zeiss anti glare glasses that you could buy without prescription but again, I'm not sure how effective they would be. I've attached the link to the article about tinted lenses.

allaboutvision.com/en-gb/ey...

[Quiet_Lin]

Thanks everybody for your comments. I've decided to try the yellow tinted clip-ons and also some blue light blocking clip-ons which don't have much colour at all. Obvious problem seems to be that cutting down the glare also cuts down the detail of what you see. Not a problem in the day, but bad news at night. The blue light blockers are meant to work well with computer screens, televisions, etc. but though I'd give them a try.

And thanks to Iona57 for mentioning her cataracts. I'm waiting for mine to be bad enough to do. I can fully understand why I don't really know how much they affect my sight - they creep along so slowly don't they, like Ninjas - lol.

And a word for Whitedog. I've got those Zeiss anti-glare lenses. They did make an improvement to glare. However, I don't have them at the moment, and I don't miss them.

Thanks once again to everybody. May your roads be smooth. XXX