hy·per·o·pi·a
If you can see the tv clearly but the smartphone screen in your hand is blurry, you may have hyperopia. Hyperopia, or farsightedness, can lead to headaches while reading and studying, and if there is significant hyperopia, can also impact our intermediate and distance vision.
When light comes into the eye, it bends (refracts) to focus at a clear distinct point. If the point of focus lands on the retina, the image is clear. In hyperopia, the eye is shorter than the point of focus, so the image does not focus soon enough, and is blurred on the retina.
Most children are born with shorter eyeballs than the average adult length, and thus are born with hyperopia that they may outgrow.
Treating Hyperopia
To help you see more clearly, hyperopia can be treated with glasses and contact lenses and sometimes refractive laser surgery.
Glasses with convex lenses that cause light to focus sooner, such that it reaches the retina clearly, are the easiest remedy for hyperopia.
Contact lenses can also be used to focus images on the retina clearly in hyperopia. Soft lenses are available in daily disposable, biweekly, and monthly replacement options.
Refractive laser surgery, such as LASIK and PRK, are elective surgical options that may help to reduce or eliminate hyperopia by reshaping the cornea using lasers.
In our 40s, 50s and beyond, we all become farsighted due to a different cause, called Presbyopia.
Visit us today to discuss and determine the right option(s) for you!