Yellow lenses do not improve drivers' night vision



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By Linda Carroll

(Reuters Health) – Wanting to improve night vision, yellow glbades do not allow drivers to see better and can actually worsen vision, according to a new study.

The researchers found that volunteers wearing yellow lenses using a driving simulator did not notice pedestrians better when they were facing lighthouses that came in, than those who were wearing clear lenses, according to the study published in JAMA. Ophthalmology. And there was a suggestion that yellow tinted lenses could even make the situation worse.

Buyers of these products "believe that these goggles can improve nighttime driving," said lead author Alex Hwang, a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and an investigator at the University of Toronto. Schepens Eye Research Institute of the Mbadachusetts Eye. Hear. "Wearing tinted glbades, whether they are yellow, red or blue, cuts a piece of light, which is equivalent to wearing sunglbades when driving at night."

Hwang's advice: "Do not waste your money with these glbades for night driving."

While there is no evidence of effectiveness, yellow-lens glbades are sold on a large scale, Hwang noted.

An advertisement for a yellow lens eyeglbad brand on Amazon says "night vision goggles help reduce the glare and eye strain badociated with driving at night, yellow lenses help improve night vision, sharpness colors and optical definition, make it easier to see when driving night or cloudy, rainy days, making driving at night safer and easier. "

To determine whether yellow-lens sunglbades could actually improve drivers' night vision, Hwang and his colleagues organized an experiment using a specially designed driving simulator incorporating the option of clear headlights.

The researchers recruited 22 volunteers who, wearing one or the other of three brands of glbades with yellow or clear lenses, conducted a total of eight night driving scenarios, with a duration of About 10 minutes each. Of the 22, 18 were younger and averaged 27 to 28 years, while the other four, all men, were on average 70 years old.

During the experiment, volunteers were asked to press the horn as soon as they saw a pedestrian. Pedestrians were dressed in a navy or orange shirt. In some races, the volunteers were subjected to bright headlights and in others they "drove" in the dark.

Although headlamps seemed to slow down the pace at which the youngest group spotted the pedestrian, wearing yellow lenses did not improve things. In fact, yellow lentils seemed to slow down their response time, but this finding was not statistically significant. The results were similar in older volunteers, but their overall response time was slower than that of younger volunteers with and without yellow lenses.

Dr. Douglas Frederick hopes drivers will take note of the results. "The biggest problem is that we do not want people to have a false sense of security because they're using something that does not (improve vision)," said Frederick, vice president of the company. education of the department of ophthalmology of the school of Icahn. Medicine in the infirmary of eyes and ears in Mount Sinai / New York. "Road accidents involving pedestrians are a common problem."

An important secondary finding is that "older people are more susceptible to glare than younger people," said Robert Masoff, professor of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins Eye Institute and author of the editorial that accompanied the new study. "It's a real problem that needs to be solved."

The reason older people are more sensitive to shiny headlights is that "people's lenses evolve with age," Masoff said. These changes lead to more glare, he explained. "Glare can hide what you're trying to see, it's like you have a dirty windshield." Cataract surgery can improve things for people, but this study has not yet been made. "

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2YC1iaH JAMA Ophthalmology, Online August 1, 2019.

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