buffy said:

Spiny Norman said:

buffy said:

>>Having sunnies that block UV light is a good thing, as it helps your eyes lenses go longer without needing reading glasses.<<

Sorry, incorrect.

But it might delay the development of cataract and macular changes in old age.

Ah okay thanks for the correction. My dad had cataracts in his late 70’s/early 80’s and I really do wish to avoid getting them.

You will almost certainly get cataract. It is an ageing effect. Embryologically speaking, the lenses in the eyes come from the same place as skin. Skin changes with the dose over lifetime of light and UV, and the lenses do the same. They are somewhat protected by the cornea. However, it is unusual not to have some cataract by the time you are 50, if we look closely for it. It won’t necessarily cause problems with your vision until later, and indeed I have some nonagenarians who have not yet had to have anything done. On the other hand, I have sent people in their 60s for surgery. Mostly it seems to affect function around the mid 70s. My trigger for sending people is if it is getting worse over a 6 month period and they are heading towards me telling them they no longer reach the driving requirements.

I’m getting something in my right eye, and i’m not sure if it’s cataract or not.

It isn’t “cloudiness”, but …

You know the test for macular degeneration. Look at a grid and the centre gets curved or goes black.

For me it’s a case of look at a grid and random points disappear. It started at least 30 years ago. No real problem because moving my head moved location to somewhere where the vision is perfectly sharp.

I’m pretty sure it’s not floaters, because floaters show up easiy when looking at the “blur circle” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_confusion and i have the same number in both eyes.

No optometrist has noticed anything, but it’s starting to get annoying.

The early effect of cataract is to dull the contrast. I often find that people whose distance vision is starting to decline from cataract are still fine for reading. Probably because mostly we use good contrast in printed matter.

I have got no explanation for your symptom.

buffy said:

The early effect of cataract is to dull the contrast. I often find that people whose distance vision is starting to decline from cataract are still fine for reading. Probably because mostly we use good contrast in printed matter.

I have got no explanation for your symptom.

Oh. There’s no dulling of contrast. And the distance vision in my right eye is still fine.

mollwollfumble said:

buffy said:

The early effect of cataract is to dull the contrast. I often find that people whose distance vision is starting to decline from cataract are still fine for reading. Probably because mostly we use good contrast in printed matter.

I have got no explanation for your symptom.

Oh. There’s no dulling of contrast. And the distance vision in my right eye is still fine.

It’s subtle and gradual. You don’t necessarily notice it because functionally in the real world it’s not significant. There are special charts for measuring it.

I’ve got one of Jos Verbaken’s charts in my consulting room, but really, it’s better to just sit and talk to people about how well they are seeing.

https://museum.aco.org.au/archive/2795-nvri-3-metre-hi-lo-logmar-chart

Cataract puts you higher up the low contrast chart than if you didn’t have cataract. I’m trying to remember….because I haven’t used it for years….I think you should be two lines higher on the low contrast. Any more suggests something is amiss.

buffy said:

I’ve got one of Jos Verbaken’s charts in my consulting room, but really, it’s better to just sit and talk to people about how well they are seeing.

https://museum.aco.org.au/archive/2795-nvri-3-metre-hi-lo-logmar-chart

Cataract puts you higher up the low contrast chart than if you didn’t have cataract. I’m trying to remember….because I haven’t used it for years….I think you should be two lines higher on the low contrast. Any more suggests something is amiss.

Thanks for the chart. :-)

With right eye I’m losing the left digit of every line.

I see we have also a thread on UV as well as this on on cataracts or whatever moll’s problem is. I have become more prone to being blinded by the sun reflecting off the newer sloping windscreens of approaching cars and as well by the reflection off the road signs at night.

roughbarked said:

I see we have also a thread on UV as well as this on on cataracts or whatever moll’s problem is. I have become more prone to being blinded by the sun reflecting off the newer sloping windscreens of approaching cars and as well by the reflection off the road signs at night.

Have you adjusted your headlights downward?

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

I see we have also a thread on UV as well as this on on cataracts or whatever moll’s problem is. I have become more prone to being blinded by the sun reflecting off the newer sloping windscreens of approaching cars and as well by the reflection off the road signs at night.

Have you adjusted your headlights downward?

It isn’t the headlights. It is the signs. If I drive cars with headlights adjusted down I am driving a death trap.

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

I see we have also a thread on UV as well as this on on cataracts or whatever moll’s problem is. I have become more prone to being blinded by the sun reflecting off the newer sloping windscreens of approaching cars and as well by the reflection off the road signs at night.

Have you adjusted your headlights downward?

It isn’t the headlights. It is the signs. If I drive cars with headlights adjusted down I am driving a death trap.

No you’re not. If you drive with the headlights adjusted down you’re driving properly.

https://museum.aco.org.au/archive/2795-nvri-3-metre-hi-lo-logmar-chart

I can’t read the bottom three lines but that’s probably because the photo is low res rather than my eyesight 😊

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

I see we have also a thread on UV as well as this on on cataracts or whatever moll’s problem is. I have become more prone to being blinded by the sun reflecting off the newer sloping windscreens of approaching cars and as well by the reflection off the road signs at night.

Have you adjusted your headlights downward?

It isn’t the headlights. It is the signs. If I drive cars with headlights adjusted down I am driving a death trap.

country driving is like that.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

Have you adjusted your headlights downward?

It isn’t the headlights. It is the signs. If I drive cars with headlights adjusted down I am driving a death trap.

No you’re not. If you drive with the headlights adjusted down you’re driving properly.

Some of the large road signs are dangerously dazzling at night. It can’t be my headlights as I have driven past a particularly bad one in a variety of vehicles & get the same dazzle in all of them.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

Have you adjusted your headlights downward?

It isn’t the headlights. It is the signs. If I drive cars with headlights adjusted down I am driving a death trap.

No you’re not. If you drive with the headlights adjusted down you’re driving properly.

I left out the words any lower.

ChrispenEvan said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

Have you adjusted your headlights downward?

It isn’t the headlights. It is the signs. If I drive cars with headlights adjusted down I am driving a death trap.

country driving is like that.

That is a fair point.

Tamb said:

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

It isn’t the headlights. It is the signs. If I drive cars with headlights adjusted down I am driving a death trap.

No you’re not. If you drive with the headlights adjusted down you’re driving properly.

Some of the large road signs are dangerously dazzling at night. It can’t be my headlights as I have driven past a particularly bad one in a variety of vehicles & get the same dazzle in all of them.

Accurate point.

the problem isn’t adjustment it is that headlights are far brighter these days than the old 50/55w globes.

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

mollwollfumble said:

No you’re not. If you drive with the headlights adjusted down you’re driving properly.

Some of the large road signs are dangerously dazzling at night. It can’t be my headlights as I have driven past a particularly bad one in a variety of vehicles & get the same dazzle in all of them.

Accurate point.

I suspect that the sign is at an incorrect angle & thus reflects excessive light back at the driver.

ChrispenEvan said:

the problem isn’t adjustment it is that headlights are far brighter these days than the old 50/55w globes.

so, they are 60. The signs weren’t there when they were. 50.

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

Some of the large road signs are dangerously dazzling at night. It can’t be my headlights as I have driven past a particularly bad one in a variety of vehicles & get the same dazzle in all of them.

Accurate point.

I suspect that the sign is at an incorrect angle & thus reflects excessive light back at the driver.

Yes, they could alter the angle on all of them.

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Accurate point.

I suspect that the sign is at an incorrect angle & thus reflects excessive light back at the driver.

Yes, they could alter the angle on all of them.

Some signs don’t dazzle but others do. I’m sticking to my angle theory.

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

I suspect that the sign is at an incorrect angle & thus reflects excessive light back at the driver.

Yes, they could alter the angle on all of them.

Some signs don’t dazzle but others do. I’m sticking to my angle theory.

Maybe your country isn’t as flat as mine.

mollwollfumble said:

buffy said:

I’ve got one of Jos Verbaken’s charts in my consulting room, but really, it’s better to just sit and talk to people about how well they are seeing.

https://museum.aco.org.au/archive/2795-nvri-3-metre-hi-lo-logmar-chart

Cataract puts you higher up the low contrast chart than if you didn’t have cataract. I’m trying to remember….because I haven’t used it for years….I think you should be two lines higher on the low contrast. Any more suggests something is amiss.

Thanks for the chart. :-)

With right eye I’m losing the left digit of every line.

Moll, you can’t judge anything from that picture. It is just a photo of the chart they have in the museum. You need the proper chart, read from the proper distance of 3m.

Tamb said:

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

It isn’t the headlights. It is the signs. If I drive cars with headlights adjusted down I am driving a death trap.

No you’re not. If you drive with the headlights adjusted down you’re driving properly.

Some of the large road signs are dangerously dazzling at night. It can’t be my headlights as I have driven past a particularly bad one in a variety of vehicles & get the same dazzle in all of them.

Road signs reflect back 10% of the incident light. So if the road signs are bright for you then you’re subjecting all oncoming drivers to ten times that light intensity – enough to burn out their retinal cells.

I’m passionate about this for the exact reason I started this thread.

The problem started 25 years ago when I had to regularly catch a bus in North Ryde. The badly-adjusted headlights of oncoming cars – like yours – caused considerable eye pain while waiting at the bus stop. Because of the pain it was impossible to sit down where even more headlights would hurt me, and even standing I had to put up with considerable eye pain from about one car in fifteen. Why not the left eye? Because attempting to minimise the pain forced me to keep the left eye closed all the time while looking for the bus, and forced me to look to the right with my right eye so only the left part of the right eye vision was damaged.

I still have to occasionally close an eye when driving due to badly adjusted headlights, both during the night and sometimes during the day.

So fix your bloody headlights.

mollwollfumble said:

Tamb said:

mollwollfumble said:

No you’re not. If you drive with the headlights adjusted down you’re driving properly.

Some of the large road signs are dangerously dazzling at night. It can’t be my headlights as I have driven past a particularly bad one in a variety of vehicles & get the same dazzle in all of them.

Road signs reflect back 10% of the incident light. So if the road signs are bright for you then you’re subjecting all oncoming drivers to ten times that light intensity – enough to burn out their retinal cells.

I’m passionate about this for the exact reason I started this thread.

The problem started 25 years ago when I had to regularly catch a bus in North Ryde. The badly-adjusted headlights of oncoming cars – like yours – caused considerable eye pain while waiting at the bus stop. Because of the pain it was impossible to sit down where even more headlights would hurt me, and even standing I had to put up with considerable eye pain from about one car in fifteen. Why not the left eye? Because attempting to minimise the pain forced me to keep the left eye closed all the time while looking for the bus, and forced me to look to the right with my right eye so only the left part of the right eye vision was damaged.

I still have to occasionally close an eye when driving due to badly adjusted headlights, both during the night and sometimes during the day.

So fix your bloody headlights.

Well it isn’t my headlights. I have had people drive my car at night and have to listen to them complain about how scheissenhausen my headlights were.

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Yes, they could alter the angle on all of them.

Some signs don’t dazzle but others do. I’m sticking to my angle theory.

Maybe your country isn’t as flat as mine.

True. The Tableland is anything but flat. 900m at my place, over 1100m on the way to Cairns.

mollwollfumble said:

Tamb said:

mollwollfumble said:

No you’re not. If you drive with the headlights adjusted down you’re driving properly.

Some of the large road signs are dangerously dazzling at night. It can’t be my headlights as I have driven past a particularly bad one in a variety of vehicles & get the same dazzle in all of them.

Road signs reflect back 10% of the incident light. So if the road signs are bright for you then you’re subjecting all oncoming drivers to ten times that light intensity – enough to burn out their retinal cells.

I’m passionate about this for the exact reason I started this thread.

The problem started 25 years ago when I had to regularly catch a bus in North Ryde. The badly-adjusted headlights of oncoming cars – like yours – caused considerable eye pain while waiting at the bus stop. Because of the pain it was impossible to sit down where even more headlights would hurt me, and even standing I had to put up with considerable eye pain from about one car in fifteen. Why not the left eye? Because attempting to minimise the pain forced me to keep the left eye closed all the time while looking for the bus, and forced me to look to the right with my right eye so only the left part of the right eye vision was damaged.

I still have to occasionally close an eye when driving due to badly adjusted headlights, both during the night and sometimes during the day.

So fix your bloody headlights.

Link to a reference on the 10%

It isn’t the adjustment of headlight and quit giving anecdotal evidence as proof.

angling the sign wont help as they are retroreflective.

ChrispenEvan said:

angling the sign wont help as they are retroreflective.

Egads, Boris has made himself useful.

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

angling the sign wont help as they are retroreflective.

Egads, Boris has made himself useful.

don’t worry i’m not about to make a habit of it.

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

angling the sign wont help as they are retroreflective.

Egads, Boris has made himself useful.

don’t worry i’m not about to make a habit of it.

phew

ChrispenEvan said:

mollwollfumble said:

Tamb said:

Some of the large road signs are dangerously dazzling at night. It can’t be my headlights as I have driven past a particularly bad one in a variety of vehicles & get the same dazzle in all of them.

Road signs reflect back 10% of the incident light. So if the road signs are bright for you then you’re subjecting all oncoming drivers to ten times that light intensity – enough to burn out their retinal cells.

I’m passionate about this for the exact reason I started this thread.

The problem started 25 years ago when I had to regularly catch a bus in North Ryde. The badly-adjusted headlights of oncoming cars – like yours – caused considerable eye pain while waiting at the bus stop. Because of the pain it was impossible to sit down where even more headlights would hurt me, and even standing I had to put up with considerable eye pain from about one car in fifteen. Why not the left eye? Because attempting to minimise the pain forced me to keep the left eye closed all the time while looking for the bus, and forced me to look to the right with my right eye so only the left part of the right eye vision was damaged.

I still have to occasionally close an eye when driving due to badly adjusted headlights, both during the night and sometimes during the day.

So fix your bloody headlights.

Link to a reference on the 10%

It isn’t the adjustment of headlight and quit giving anecdotal evidence as proof.

Find the correct % yourself, then tell me if I’m not right.

I also don’t like strong headlights facing me when I’m driving, but I found a simple but effective solution – I realised that I’m most likely not a moth and so can choose not to look at them. :)
When driving at night, to avoid getting blinded by the oncoming lights I just left down and left, at the line on the side of the road.

Spiny Norman said:

I also don’t like strong headlights facing me when I’m driving, but I found a simple but effective solution – I realised that I’m most likely not a moth and so can choose not to look at them. :)
When driving at night, to avoid getting blinded by the oncoming lights I just left down and left, at the line on the side of the road.

This is the one thing that has saved my life. My father taught me where to look to stay on my side of the road and then someone came along and started painting white lines there.

Spiny Norman said:

I also don’t like strong headlights facing me when I’m driving, but I found a simple but effective solution – I realised that I’m most likely not a moth and so can choose not to look at them. :)
When driving at night, to avoid getting blinded by the oncoming lights I just left down and left, at the line on the side of the road.

What you are describing is the recommended action.

In Victoria we had a police surgeon by the name of John Birrell. At one time during his career there was a “thing” called “Birrell’s blowfly reflex”. It was when the driver stared at the oncoming lights and drove into them. I heard about when I was in St John Ambulance in the 1970s. Mr buffy knew John Birrell. Apparently he was quite a character…

This seems like a reasonable essay.

https://candowisdom.com/wisdom/candowisdom-com/john-birrell-change-instigator

roughbarked said:

Spiny Norman said:

I also don’t like strong headlights facing me when I’m driving, but I found a simple but effective solution – I realised that I’m most likely not a moth and so can choose not to look at them. :)
When driving at night, to avoid getting blinded by the oncoming lights I just left down and left, at the line on the side of the road.

This is the one thing that has saved my life. My father taught me where to look to stay on my side of the road and then someone came along and started painting white lines there.

Foglines on country roads. I don’t know when they started putting them on.

buffy said:

roughbarked said:

Spiny Norman said:

I also don’t like strong headlights facing me when I’m driving, but I found a simple but effective solution – I realised that I’m most likely not a moth and so can choose not to look at them. :)
When driving at night, to avoid getting blinded by the oncoming lights I just left down and left, at the line on the side of the road.

This is the one thing that has saved my life. My father taught me where to look to stay on my side of the road and then someone came along and started painting white lines there.

Foglines on country roads. I don’t know when they started putting them on.

In NSW, they started working their way along the Hume Highway in the late sixties.

Bright reflections from cars bother me in the daytime more than any sign reflections at night.

The biggest problem with the sign reflections is that I cannot see what is behind them. A camel could walk out and I’d run right into it.

roughbarked said:

buffy said:

roughbarked said:

This is the one thing that has saved my life. My father taught me where to look to stay on my side of the road and then someone came along and started painting white lines there.

Foglines on country roads. I don’t know when they started putting them on.

In NSW, they started working their way along the Hume Highway in the late sixties.

Near the new Harwood Island bridge on a section of improved highway (or somewhat improved until it’s fixed properly) they’re trialing yellow road markings instead of white to see if there are gains in safety to be had.. as if that wasn’t fkn obvious.

RMS in its infinite wisdom has put up signage on the approach to this section saying “Observe Yellow Lines”.

mollwollfumble said:

buffy said:

I’ve got one of Jos Verbaken’s charts in my consulting room, but really, it’s better to just sit and talk to people about how well they are seeing.

https://museum.aco.org.au/archive/2795-nvri-3-metre-hi-lo-logmar-chart

Cataract puts you higher up the low contrast chart than if you didn’t have cataract. I’m trying to remember….because I haven’t used it for years….I think you should be two lines higher on the low contrast. Any more suggests something is amiss.

Thanks for the chart. :-)

With right eye I’m losing the left digit of every line.

buffy, is there a test for loss of peripheral vision?

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

buffy said:

I’ve got one of Jos Verbaken’s charts in my consulting room, but really, it’s better to just sit and talk to people about how well they are seeing.

https://museum.aco.org.au/archive/2795-nvri-3-metre-hi-lo-logmar-chart

Cataract puts you higher up the low contrast chart than if you didn’t have cataract. I’m trying to remember….because I haven’t used it for years….I think you should be two lines higher on the low contrast. Any more suggests something is amiss.

Thanks for the chart. :-)

With right eye I’m losing the left digit of every line.

buffy, is there a test for loss of peripheral vision?

You need to ask for a field test at an optometrist. It can’t be done online.

cataract (n.)
early 15c., “a waterfall, floodgate, furious rush of water,” from Latin cataracta “waterfall,” from Greek katarhaktes “waterfall, broken water; a kind of portcullis,” noun use of an adjective compound meaning “swooping, down-rushing,” from kata “down” (see cata-). The second element is traced either to arhattein “to strike hard” (in which case the compound is kat-arrhattein), or to rhattein “to dash, break.”

Its alternative sense in Latin of “portcullis” probably passed through French and gave English the meaning “eye disease characterized by opacity of the lens” (early 15c.), on the notion of “obstruction” (to eyesight). Related: Cataractous.