Led shop lights/overcast days glaucoma

[Jtansey1]

Hello everyone. I’m 36 male with advanced juvenile glaucoma. So Iv recently noticed that lighting in shops and overcast days cause a nightmare for my glaucoma and really making me feel my peripheral vision is terrible! It’s not great as it is but it’s just something that Iv really noticed recently and it’s getting worse with strong lights and particularly shops. Does anybody else have this?

[Rainyday2024]

Hello Jtansey1,

I also find the artificial lighting in shops usually affects my eyes, as does very bright sunlight, so I always try to wear sunglasses. I am not sure whether I am worse on dull days, but my night-time vision is terrible - it always has been for as long as I can remember, plus being very short-sighted doesn’t help! My eyes are just generally blurry, especially my right eye! I have very little peripheral vision left in it now. Unfortunately I don’t feel my reply is very helpful, other than to say you are not alone with regards these problems. I hope you get some more feedback from other readers. Kind regards, Gill

[Beecalmed]

Hi! My glaucoma I’m told is not at an advanced stage, it is in both eyes and now moderate in one eye, but as vision loss is paracentral I am noticing issues. Strip lights are an issue, particularly the ones that use the metal reflectors and I cannot be underneath those without a peaked cap on and sunglasses. Very bright light from directly above now blinds me.

I don’t know about overcast days, but my vision is poorer in the dark. I choose not to drive at night now.

In the daytime I wear a peaked cap outside and have reactolite lenses in my glasses with filters for glare otherwise my vision is blurry. I add Polaroid clip ons for driving in sunshine, but have noticed that even if the sun becomes overcast a little I see better for the polaroid addition. I’m due to see my optician next week and was going to ask about why this might be.

I’m not sure my reply is helpful, but I do empathise with you. My consultant doesn’t acknowledge all of my vision changes as glaucoma. A slight cateract developing and mild astigmatism in one eye are the suggested cause, but I think there’s more to it and I noticed it only as my vision loss developed with glaucoma and I commenced regular eyedrop use and had SLT procedures.

[Julunder]

Dear Jtansey 1, You have all my sympathy as I know what its like to go into a supermarket and see misty clouds blurring my vision. I was also told to wear a visor but, at the moment, I just grin and squint. Dark (sun) glasses can help, but is not a solution. I have seen two layered tinted glasses and I am pursuing this in the hope that it will help. We should start a petition for supermarkets to improve their lighting for us glaucoma sufferers. You are not alone.

[Bellamolly60]

Hi there

Same here I had the symptoms in the right eye

Very frustrating and it’s getting worse

My left eye sight is gone . Awaiting third graft

Also off work and future is looking bleak

So you are not alone

Good luck 👍🇳🇱

[Sorshup]

JTansey, you have raised a very important topic: the symptoms and disability caused by glaucoma. There is very little on the net or even in textbooks., just the expectation to "lose peripheral vision".Partly because researchers want to find causes and doctors concentrate on treatment. That leaves us in the middle! I do not know if juvenile G. causes particular symptoms but I experience yours, and those reported in other repliers, NGT apparently causes more paracentral and inferior losses, which my POAG has matured into.

I would commend anyone who has not already become involved in the Bradford University study on symptoms. Contact Igra Yousaf at for information.

Agreeing with the need for tints and peaks, I would add a frustration that everything appears faint, "washed out" and hazy; worse with bright ambient light whether indoor or just the sky (I have had my implant lenses cleared by laser so lens haze is not reponsible). So although I know I am not seeing well in the street at night it feels better because the in the absence of sky light the haziness is reduced ! I experience an annoying slight haze induced by spec lenses both for near and far, whether or not antireflection coated, is, more obvious than before my vision became more affected. I am curious to know whether others make the same observations.

[USME]

Ditto to all I've read here. I like to say everyday is a new adventure regarding my eyesite. Most stores here in the US are awful. I hate to shop or go in any store. Bright, sunny days are the worse. However, gray, cloudy days are almost as bad. I've experimented with different tints, anti-glare coatings, ongoing. Pretty much blind after dark. Lots of hazy, blurry vision. Stopped driving many years ago and still struggling with that. Every individual case is different! Everyday a new, not exciting but difficult, new adventure. Good luck to all.

[NewSh0e]

this is such an interesting post and an important one. I’ve had glaucoma for quite some time and in the last few years it has coincided with age related sight deterioration. This has meant I’ve been unable to pinpoint the exact reasons for my now daily struggles.

A particular bugbear is flat light in or outside and, in my local supermarket, their insistence on leaving all but a few key lights off till 10am, presumably to save on energy. It’s an old store and the lighting is mainly strip so it’s a nightmare to shop in. I don’t have anything like the same issues with the new supermarket (further away) that opened a few years ago.

So, all that to say, I recognise some of what you’ve identified, along with what I explain to my husband is an almost constant glare or bloom of light around images on the TV and text in particular. There are certain days when this bloom develops almost into flashing and those are the scariest times.

Not fun, that’s for sure!

[Cocomolyneux]

hi, yes I get this too. I started to be aware that my vision was not good on cloudy days, when there was glare, before I found out I had NTG. I wear a baseball cap if I am out hiking and that does the trick for me. Recently I became aware that some shop lighting was causing the same issue.