HYPEROPIA – LONGSIGHTEDNESS

• What is Hyperopia?
• What Causes Hyperopia?
• What Are The Symptoms?
• When Are Glasses Necessary?

WHAT IS HYPEROPIA?
When you are hyperopic (farsighted), your eyes have to work overtime to keep things in focus.  Whenever that effort becomes too great, it can cause symptoms, but these can be easily corrected with glasses or contact lenses.

Many people think that farsightedness must be the "opposite" of nearsightedness.  And since nearsighted individuals have good near-vision and blurry distance vision, being farsighted "should" mean seeing well at a distance and poorly up close.  But that isn't exactly the case.  Although it is true that most farsighted people can see distant objects clearly, to do so they need to use more focusing effort than other people, and for seeing up close they need to exert an even greater effort.
                   NORMAL EYE                                      LONGSIGHTED EYE        

WHAT CAUSES HYPEROPIA?

Eyeball size and optical power vary among individuals, just like height and weight.  Hyperopia (short for hypermetropia) results when the eyeball is too small, creating less optical power than the eye needs for bringing light rays into clear focus on the retina.  Fortunately, the normal focus ing mechanism can usually supply the additional optical power needed.

At birth, nearly everyone is somewhat farsighted, but the amount lessens as the eye grows.  Once you have reached adulthood, any hyperopia still present will tend to remain.   It is not affected by diet, vitamins, or eye exercises.

 

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?

Hyperopia can be symptomless. However, it can cause blurring of vision, browaches, eyestrain, or other ill-defined eye discomfort, along with restlessness, fatigue, or irritability, especially after prolonged close work.  Whether you have symptoms or not depends partly on how farsighted you are and partly on how much accommodation (focusing ability) you have - and that depends on your age; accommodation is maximal at birth and decreases to zero by about age 60.

Children who are very farsighted may have a poor attention span.  They may also have crossed eyes because, in attempting to maintain clear vision, their focusing mechanism has to work extra hard.  That effort sometimes spills over into the eye muscles, causing the eyes to over-converge, or "cross".

WHEN ARE GLASSES NECESSARY?

In order for your eyes to "self-correct" your hyperopia, it takes continuous focusing effort.  If that does not cause symptoms or problems, your hyperopia can be left alone; not correcting it will not harm your eyes in any way.  But if it does cause symptoms, the additional power needed can be supplied by eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Farsighted children are rarely aware of a vision problem.  The amount of focusing power they have available is usually so great that it can compensate easily and automatically for the reduced optical power of their eyes.  If the extra focusing effort does cause symptoms, they can be relieved by prescription glasses.  For example, if the child's eyes cross, eyeglasses will be required, not only to keep the eyes properly aligned, but to maintain clear vision in both eyes and prevent "lazy eye" (amblyopia) from developing.