Seeing Halos Around Lights? Causes and Warning Signs

Halos around lights are bright rings or a glow around headlights, streetlights and lamps, often noticed at night. A focusing problem is one cause: seeing a glare or halo around bright lights is a symptom of refractive errors such as nearsightedness and astigmatism. A cataract can cause halos too, and so can LASIK while the eye settles. One cause is an emergency: halos or colored rings around lights that come with severe eye pain, sometimes with nausea, a red eye or blurred vision, can be acute angle-closure glaucoma, in which severe vision loss can occur quickly. If halos come with severe eye pain, nausea or a headache, call us right away, or go to an emergency room when we're closed.

Key takeaways

Rings or a glow around lights can come from a focusing problem such as nearsightedness or astigmatism, a cataract, or an eye still healing after LASIK.
The fix for halos depends on the cause: new glasses, dry eye care, scleral lenses for an irregular cornea, time after LASIK, or surgery once a cataract limits your life.
Call us right away, or go to an emergency room when we're closed, if halos come with severe eye pain, nausea or a headache.
Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes, or sudden double vision, means calling 911, even if it goes away.

What's the difference between halos, starbursts and glare?

They often come together, but they look different. A halo is a ring or glow around a light. A starburst is a spray of rays or spikes coming off it. Glare is light that seems too bright to see past, the way lamps, sunlight or headlights can seem too bright with a cataract.

The FDA uses all of these words when it describes what people may notice right after LASIK: sensitivity to light, glare, starbursts or haloes around lights. Whatever you call what you see, tell us when it happens and whether it comes and goes, because the pattern helps point to the cause.

Why am I seeing halos around lights?

Two common eye problems list halos among their symptoms:

Refractive errors, the focusing problems that glasses and contacts correct: nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia. Blurry vision is the most common symptom, and seeing a glare or halo around bright lights is on the list too. A prescription that no longer matches your eyes leaves part of that error uncorrected. Astigmatism, where the cornea or lens has a different shape than normal, can make vision blurry or distorted and cause trouble seeing at night.
A cataract, a cloudy area in the lens of the eye. Besides halos around lights, its symptoms include cloudy or blurry vision, faded colors, trouble seeing at night and frequent changes to your glasses or contacts prescription. A cataract also increases sensitivity to glare from lights, particularly when driving at night.

An irregular cornea can make lights hard to look at as well. In keratoconus, the normally round cornea thins and bulges into a cone shape, and increased sensitivity to glare and light is one of its early signs.

Dry eye means you don't have enough quality tears to lubricate and nourish the eye, and light sensitivity and blurry vision are among its symptoms. Stinging or burning and a scratchy feeling often come with it. When halos come and go along with those feelings, the tear film is one of the things we check.

Our cataract guide explains how a cataract is tracked until surgery is worth it, and our keratoconus center covers irregular corneas in depth.

When are halos around lights an emergency?

When they come on suddenly with eye pain. Acute angle-closure glaucoma happens when the eye's drainage channels are suddenly blocked and pressure builds up rapidly. The American Optometric Association lists these possible symptoms:

Severe eye pain
Nausea
Redness in the eye
Halos or colored rings around lights
Blurred vision

It is an emergency in which severe vision loss can occur quickly; untreated, angle-closure glaucoma can cause blindness in just a few days.

If halos come with severe eye pain, nausea or a headache, call us immediately at 310-828-2010 during office hours (Monday 10 to 5, Tuesday to Friday 8 to 5), or go to an emergency room when we're closed. Going straight to an emergency room is also right: for sudden angle-closure symptoms, the National Eye Institute's advice is the doctor or the emergency room, immediately.

Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes, or sudden double vision, is a different emergency. Either can be a sign of a stroke, so call 911, even if it goes away.

If an eye doctor has told you that your drainage angles are narrow, our page on narrow angles explains how that is monitored.

Halos that appear suddenly without pain still need a same-day exam, or an emergency room when we're closed; if they come with sudden blur that doesn't clear, go to an emergency room.

Why do I see halos after LASIK or cataract surgery?

Right after LASIK you may notice sensitivity to light, glare, starbursts or haloes around lights. It can take up to three to six months for your vision to stabilize, and glare, haloes and trouble driving at night may persist during that time. If you have severe pain, or your vision or other symptoms get worse instead of better, the FDA advises contacting your doctor immediately; if the office is closed, go to an emergency room.

Pupil size plays a part. The FDA notes that large pupils, which younger patients and people on certain medications are particularly prone to in dim light, can cause glare, halos, starbursts and ghost images (double vision) after surgery, which is why pupil size should be checked in a dark room beforehand.

The lens implants used in cataract surgery can cause halos too. In a Cochrane review, halos were more common with multifocal implants than with standard single-focus (monofocal) implants.

After cataract surgery, the National Eye Institute says to call your eye doctor right away for vision loss, severe pain that doesn't go away with medicine, very red eyes, or flashes of light and many new floaters; when the office is closed, go to an emergency room. If you suddenly lose vision in the eye that had surgery, even if it comes back, call your surgeon right away; if you can't reach the surgeon, call 911. Call 911 right away for sudden loss of vision in your other eye or both eyes, sudden double vision, or any change in vision with face drooping, arm weakness or trouble speaking. Halos that are getting worse, or that arrive with any of those problems, are worth a call to your eye doctor too.

We don't perform surgery. We care for you before and after it alongside your surgeon: LASIK co-management includes evaluation of night glare and halos, and cataract co-management covers your checks after cataract surgery.

Can halos around lights go away?

That depends on the cause, and each one has its own fix:

An outdated prescription: new glasses or contacts, sometimes night-driving glasses with anti-reflective lenses.
Dry eye: treatment through our dry eye program.
Cataract: monitoring at first, then a referral for surgery once it starts to limit your life.
Keratoconus and other irregular corneas: scleral lenses, large lenses that vault over the cornea on a layer of saline and give light a smooth surface to pass through.
After LASIK: time while the eye heals, treatment for dryness, and corneal imaging if your vision keeps changing.

Some eyes have naturally large pupils, and we choose lens designs and coatings with that in mind.

How we find the cause of halos at Cohenmehr Optometry

One exam usually sorts out the cause. Our Los Angeles eye doctors refine your prescription, examine the tear film, cornea and lens at the slit lamp, grade any cataract and measure eye pressure. When the cornea may be irregular, corneal topography maps its shape. Our night vision and glare page walks through the full work-up.

Bring your current glasses or contacts, and note when the halos started, whether they come and go, and any eye surgery you've had. If halos or glare make you unsure behind the wheel, let someone else drive at night until you've been examined.

Questions patients ask

What are the risks of LASIK?

Risks the FDA lists include lost vision, night vision problems, severe dry eye and an imperfect correction. Some patients lose lines on the eye chart that glasses, contact lenses or more surgery cannot restore. Some develop glare, halos or double vision that can seriously affect nighttime vision, or dry eye that may be permanent. You may be undertreated or overtreated, and for some farsighted patients the results may diminish with age. Screening before surgery looks for the eyes most at risk; ours is part of LASIK co-management.

What are the symptoms of keratoconus?

Early keratoconus causes slight blurring and distortion of vision and increased sensitivity to glare and light, and these symptoms usually appear in the late teens or early 20s. As the cornea thins and bulges further, vision may become more distorted. Glasses or soft contact lenses can correct the mild early stage, carefully fitted rigid gas permeable lenses are used later on, and corneal cross-linking halts or slows progression. For moderate to advanced keratoconus, our first choice is usually scleral lenses. Our keratoconus center maps the cornea to track it.

What does glaucoma look like?

Early on, the common type usually looks like nothing at all. Primary open-angle glaucoma often develops slowly and painlessly, with no early warning signs. It affects side (peripheral) vision first and can advance to central vision loss, people can lose a large portion of their vision before they notice a problem, and vision already lost can't be restored. If you're at higher risk, the National Eye Institute advises a comprehensive dilated eye exam every 1 to 2 years; our glaucoma page describes the tests we use.

How is glaucoma treated?

With treatment that lowers the pressure in the eye, started right away. Prescription eye drops are the most common treatment: they lower eye pressure and prevent damage to the optic nerve. Doctors can also use lasers to help fluid drain out of the eye, and surgery is an option if medicines and laser treatment don't work. Treatment won't undo any damage to your vision, but it can stop it from getting worse. Our glaucoma testing and management page explains how we follow it.

Sources

Written by

Dr. Kevin Cohenmehr, OD

Medical eye care: glaucoma, diabetic eye exams, macular degeneration and eye infections, plus vision therapy for children. A graduate of UCLA and SUNY College of Optometry.

About Dr. Kevin →

Halos Around Lights: Why They Happen and When to Worry