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Starbursts/Glare and Flying at Night

Concorde98

New Member
So, I got my Medical Class 1, 3 months ago. Doctor asked me if I had problems seeing/driving at night (I said no) and if I have been seeing more halos/starbursts around lights after the LASIK surgery (I said that I didn't believe so). However, after I got my Class 1 I realised that yes, I can definitely see them.
Despite the fact that I can drive at night without any problem, I am seeing some starbursts around street lights and car headlights. I can still read the registration plates (between the headlights) without any problems. Cars tail lights look fine (I can see the details and everything). Moon, stars and distant city lights are absolutely perfect aswell.
Example (it can vary between f/4 and f/22, depending on the light intensity, color and distance):
r/flying - Starbursts/Halos and Flying at Night
Yesterday I checked the runway lights at the local airport and it looked like this:
r/flying - Starbursts/Halos and Flying at Night
r/flying - Starbursts/Halos and Flying at Night
As you can see, the nearest lights have some glare and starbursts, however I can see through them.
Do you think it could be a problem during night time flying? The last thing I want is to ask for a loan, pay for the training and in the end realize I can't really fly at night.

And btw, do you guys see street lights and car headlights (medium distance, as I don't see starbursts when they are close nor when they are too distant) without any kind of glare/starburst? I can't really remember how I used to see them...
 

croakerfish

Well-Known Member
pilot
I got out of the car to check it. It looked the same.

As long as you don’t have any structural issues with your eyes that are out of limits and your visual performance meets standards, you should be fine. I have mild astigmatism that is within limits and see a little bit of this at night. I’ve been flying helos at night for some time now with no issue.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
I had a pretty noticeable issue for many months after LASIK. I would say after about 9-12 months, it calmed down and isn't really an issue any more. I'm at about 18 months post-surgery now. I still have about .5 diopter astigmatism after surgery (it moves around depending on how tired I am), but it's not enough for glasses to help. If I was a f/16 after surgery, I'm probably a F/4 now on a bad day, if that helps.
 

Concorde98

New Member
I had a pretty noticeable issue for many months after LASIK. I would say after about 9-12 months, it calmed down and isn't really an issue any more. I'm at about 18 months post-surgery now. I still have about .5 diopter astigmatism after surgery (it moves around depending on how tired I am), but it's not enough for glasses to help. If I was a f/16 after surgery, I'm probably a F/4 now on a bad day, if that helps.

Well I had -1.5 diopters (both eyes), I'm seeing above average now (so a little bit better than 20/20 without correction). I don't have astigmatism (at least my ophtalmologist didn't mention it). It has been 28 months since surgery so I believe it wont get any better.

I'm an F/4 (the absolute best, i would say a medium to low intensity street light, 80 to 100 feet away) and an F/22 (probably a little bit more sometimes, if the light is medium to high intensity and I'm 150 to 200 feet away)...

Can go as bad as this (left pic, so ignore the one on the right):

32118

Can "count them" and see through but its really annoying
 
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