Halos and glare, 18 years old?

[sprinter922]

I'm an 18 year old male in good standing health on a healthy diet and very fit.

A few years ago I started experiencing vague and barely noticeable halos around VERY bright lights. This was so unnoticeable that I brushed it off. Over the years it got worse but it has progressed so slow I started to convince myself you are supposed to see those halos and fog at night. Now, it's very bad, I can seen light rainbows as well with street and car lights. In the day my vision is 20/20 with no abnormalities, and at night it's very good with the exception of this light source thing. I'm trying to get back into the Army on a special operations contract and I'm very afraid to go get a diagnosis that could disqualify me after all my hard work. Please help! What could be wrong!? Should I wait just long enough to go back in, or see an Opthamologist immediately?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Only an exam by an Eye MD can determine what the problem is and if its fixable.

JCH MD

[sprinter922]

I apologize for wasting any time or continuing this, sir.

But what you're saying is this really messed up halo vision and rainbows might be fixable? As soon as I said "halos" people starting screaming Glaucoma, if I have Glaucoma I'm done for. I'm so afraid of this! I can live with a vision problem, I don't mind that, we all have problems. But I've worked SO hard to get into the military and already overcame scoliosis to get a waiver.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Common causes of problems like this include very small refractive errors such as low amounts of myopia or astigmatism. See an Ophthalmologist Eye MD. Know also that the  US Armed Forces now allow all braches of services including pilots to have refractive surgery to meet their visual requirements.

JCH MD