Not so Perfect People - Visually

Not so Perfect People (aren’t we all)

We have already discussed what a perfect person’s vision is like throughout their life.  Unfortunately many people do not have perfect vision and the most common reason are the three kinds of refractive error.

• Nearsighted (myopia)

• Farsighted (hyperopia)

• Astigmatism

Fortunately, these are all very treatable.
 

Nearsighted (myopia)

Being nearsighted is really about clarity.   Distant street signs and the blackboard from across a classroom are blurry without glasses. Most children who are nearsighted are caught around third grade because they cannot read the blackboard.  Often times nearsighted children are great readers as things up close are very clear.

Being nearsighted is steadily becoming more common.  According to a recent study 17% more Americans ages 12 to 54 are afflicted with mild to severe myopia vs. 30 years ago.  This is probably because our society is steadily emphasizing more near work with reading, computers and even cell phones becoming increasingly common.
 

Farsighted (hyperopia)

If being nearsighted is about clarity then being farsighted is about effort.  When someone is farsighted it means they have to engage their focusing system to make distance clear, this requires effort.  This leaves less focusing power in reserve for reading up close.  Because of the extra effort farsighted people often suffer from headaches and eyestrain when reading.  It can even cause words to double or go in and out of focus when reading.

As children our focusing systems are quite large and can overcome even significant amounts of hyperopia.  Over time however our focusing systems shrink in size, first causing reading to be difficult and eventually causing things at distance to be blurry.
 

Astigmatism

Astigmatism is difficult to adequately explain.  In simplest terms it means that you eye actually contains two prescriptions each being separated by 90 degrees.  It makes things blurry both at distance and up close.  Furthermore astigmatism causes distortion, making straight lines looked curved.

“The good news”Eye doctors can treat all of these conditions very easily.  Glass, contacts and even refractive surgery clarify vision and improve peoples lives.“Dodge”William Dodge Perry, OD