Article Text
Letter
Nyctalopia and hemeralopia: the current usage trend in the literature
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Nyctalopia and hemeralopia are the rare examples of words that may lead to a good deal of controversy and confusion among doctors of different linguistic backgrounds, because of different definitions and meanings. Nyctalopia is a word from the Greek medical antiquity, defined as “night blindness” or defective dark adaptation.1 Hemeralopia is a word that originated in the 18th century, which means “day blindness” or visual defect characterised by the inability to see as clearly in bright light as in dim light.2,3 Standard English dictionaries also conform with the meanings of nyctalopia and hemeralopia as night blindness and day blindness, respectively. However, …
Footnotes
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Competing interests: None declared.