Night vision disturbances following refractive surgery: Causes, prevention, and treatment

Abstract

Night vision disturbances are among the most important complaints after refractive surgery. They vary from patient to patient, limiting normal activities such as night driving. No established gold standard clinical test exists to quantify night vision disturbances. Subjective questionnaires are the most commonly used method. Night vision disturbances are multifactorial caused by different factors. The existence of significant levels of higher-order aberrations after refractive surgery is one of these key factors. The use of optimized aspherical ablations may prevent, or reduce, spherical aberration after keratorefractive surgery. The topography-guided refractive surgery is the best method for minimizing higher-order aberrations that occur in symptomatic post-refractive surgery patients. Fortunately, most NVDs decrease with time, thus observation is the best therapeutical primary option.