Long Sighted (Hyperopia)

Detecting if you are Long Sighted:

Have you ever had a hard time reading a menu at a restaurant? Do you find yourself holding your favourite book further and further away each night? If so, you may have long sightedness, also known as hyperopia.

Hyperopia is the condition where one can see images at long distance more clearly than those images that are up close.  Up close objects or images, like a restaurant menu or chapter book look blurred to a long sighted person. In severe cases of hyperopia, one has trouble seeing in distances as well.

Hyperopia can be caused by a flat cornea, a short eyeball, or a combination of the two. Because of this, light rays focus at a point behind the retina instead of on the retina. As an object moves closer and closer to the eye, a long sighted eye cannot increase its optical power allowing it to focus, making the object blurred up close. 

Correction and Treatment of Hyperopia:

Long sightedness can be immediately corrected with the use of prescription eye glasses or contact lenses. If you have eye glasses or do not want to deal with the hassle of prescription eye wear, you may want to consider a different treatment option. 

Laser surgery corrects hyperopia by making the cornea steeper so the rays of light are refocussed on the back of the eye.  There is a limit on the degree of hyperopia that can be fully corrected, approximately 6 dioptres. If you are above the level of treatment it is still worth while coming for a consultation.

The doctors may be able to give you less dependence on glasses and contact lenses, or outline other treatment options available to you.