by Joel Harrison
13. December 2010 15:27
A new study suggests that older people who wear multifocal lenses to correct presbyopia may have more problems driving at night than those who use glasses.
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science has recently published an article, which states that the users of multifocal contact lenses drive significantly more slowly at night than the users of progressive eyeglasses. The article also reveals that multifocal lens users recognise road signs at a distance shorter than people wearing glasses, which gives them less time to react to the signs.
The author of the article, Byoung Sun Chu, PhD, formerly of the School of Optometry, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, believes that ophthalmologists should carefully choose the best vision correction for patients who often drive at night. One of the options they should consider is prescribing multifocal contact lenses for use during the day and glasses for use when driving at night.
The researchers carried out an experiment with 11 older adults, who drove on a closed circuit track at night. Now, they are planning to confirm the results by conducting a large-scale study.
Subscribe