Nearsightedness (myopia) is a condition in which
near objects are seen clearly, but distant ones cannot be brought
into focus. Myopia occurs when either the eye is too long, or
the cornea has too much curvature. Either way, light entering
the eye is focused not at the retina, but before it.
Treatment
for myopia includes prescription glasses, contact lenses, refractive
laser surgery such as LASIK,
or Corneal Refractive
Therapy.
Farsightedness (hyperopia) is a condition in
which the eyes focus system has to work all the time, even to
view distant objects,
but much more to view near objects. Therefore, the most common
symptom is blur or headaches when viewing objects close to you
such as when reading a book. Farsightedness occurs when either
the eye is too short, or the cornea has too little curvature,
causing light entering the eye to be focused past the retina.
It is treated with prescription glasses, contact lenses or refractive
laser surgery such as LASIK.
Astigmatism occurs when the cornea is slightly irregular in shape.
This shape prevents light from properly focusing on the retina.
Astigmatism can cause headaches, eye strain, fatigue, and blurred
vision at any distance. Astigmatism can be corrected with glasses
or contact lenses - including special soft contact lenses called
toric contact lenses. It can
also be treated with refractive laser surgery such as LASIK.
Presbyopia is a vision condition in which the lens of the eye
loses its flexibility, which makes it difficult to focus on close
objects. It usually becomes noticeable in the early to mid-forties.
Some signs of presbyopia include the tendency to hold reading
materials at arm's length, blurred vision at a normal reading
distance and eye fatigue along with headaches when doing close
work.
Presbyopia is a natural part of the aging process of the eye.
It is not a disease and it cannot be prevented, but it can be
compensated for with reading glasses, bifocals, trifocals, or
bifocal contact lenses.
Amblyopia occurs when light is not clearly focused in one eye
either due to a large difference in prescription between the
eyes or the eyes do not line up together in the same direction.
In order to avoid seeing double when the eyes don’t line
up, the brain compensates by ignoring the image sent by one eye.
If the image is ignored during the developmental years (birth
to about 6 years old), blurred vision will be experienced in
this eye even when the original problem is fixed. This is amblyopia,
or lazy eye. Symptoms include blur in one eye, double vision,
fatigue, and difficulty reading or concentrating.
Lazy eye is commonly treated with a combination of prescription
lenses, prisms, eye patches, and vision
therapy.
It usually develops before the age of six, and early detection
increases the chances of complete recovery.
Crossed-eyes (strabismus) is caused by poor eye muscle control,
which causes one or both eyes to turn in, out, up or down. Crossed-eyes
often first appear before the age of 21 months, but can develop
as late as age six. It is a common misconception that children
outgrow crossed-eyes - they don't, and the condition may get
worse without treatment.
Crossed-eyes can be treated with single vision or bifocal lenses,
vision therapy, or, sometimes,
surgery.
