# Glasses for night driving for a 61 year old **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 27, 2024, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses-for-night-driving-for-a-61-year-old/996731 "2024-01-27T08:15:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2024, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses-for-night-driving-for-a-61-year-old/996731/21 "2024-01-27T23:46:14Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > If you’re in a similar boat, would it make sense to bite the bullet and scrounge up the funds for the IOL, knowing that you wouldn’t need much in the way of eyeglass expenses for the rest of your life? > [@CairoCarol](#): > > Sorry to keep pestering you with questions! It’s a good question which I’ve considered often. While my eyeglasses are expensive, I reuse the frames (I have 2 pairs which I alternate) and have reasonably good insurance, so it’s not too awful. Each pair lasts about 2 - 3 years. This latest prescription, I got the best, clearest vision I’ve had in 30 years (after 3 redo’s - I’m a hard fit). Getting cataract surgery, while usually working well, occasionally doesn’t. So it’s not guaranteed that my vision would be improved. My boss has had continuing problems with his. Also, if either lens needs to be redone, as it did with my sister last year, I’d have to pay that out of pocket, too. I just googled: RLE surgery is around $8k per eyeball in my area. Also, I had RK surgery in my 30s, which has made my corneas weird (and given me massive astigmatism and farsightedness with the advent of typical presbyopia). My optometrist and my ophthalmologist both say it’s possible I’d end up with less precise vision afterward, so I’ll just wait until the cataracts become enough of an issue, or my stock options become worth something. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses-for-night-driving-for-a-61-year-old/996731/22 "2024-01-28T01:40:27Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Your eyes must have looked like raisins through the old-tech lenses. > > Mine looked like footballs LOL. You got it. I think I would have preferred footballs to raisins, although as a teen girl worried about my looks, I probably would have been pretty upset no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses-for-night-driving-for-a-61-year-old/996731/23 "2024-01-28T01:42:24Z")
Whew - you have a lot of issues to deal with. Sorry the RK results weren’t better. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses-for-night-driving-for-a-61-year-old/996731/24 "2024-01-28T02:02:48Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > And I’ll add my voice to people who loathe those LED headlights. They’re an abomination. Here is an article that I read recently. It explains why that is the case, [Why LEDs are uniquely unsuitable for vehicle headlights](https://lightaware.org/blog/why-leds-are-uniquely-unsuitable-for-vehicle-headlights). > When drivers are exposed to the centre of a LED headlight beam their pupils quickly constrict to adjust to the bright light. But the dilation of the drivers’ pupils to readjust to darkness happens more slowly, meaning people ‘drive blind’ for a time. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says: “Between the ages of 15 and 65, the time it takes to recover from glare increases from one to nine seconds.” A vehicle traveling at sixty miles an hour can travel over 250 yards in this time. This headlight-caused night-blindness is one reason many older people choose not to drive at night. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses-for-night-driving-for-a-61-year-old/996731/25 "2024-01-28T13:15:13Z")
Echoing many others who recommend seeing an ophthalmologist. I have the trifecta of glaucoma, macular degeneration, and (surgically treated) cataracts. Despite all this, my distance vision is 20/20. I see my ophthalmologist every 6 months. mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses-for-night-driving-for-a-61-year-old/996731.md?page=1)