EYE DISORDERS
Nearsighted individuals typically have problems seeing well at a distance and are forced to wear glasses or contact lenses. The nearsighted eye is usually longer than a normal eye, and its cornea may also be steeper. Therefore, when light passes through the cornea and lens, it is focused in front of the retina. This will make distant images appear blurred. LASIK, PRK, and Phakic IOLs are just a few of the options available to correct nearsightedness.
Farsighted individuals typically develop problems reading up close before the age of 40. The farsighted eye is usually slightly shorter than a normal eye and may have a flatter cornea. Thus, the light of distant objects focuses behind the retina unless the natural lens can compensate fully. Near objects require even greater focusing power to be seen clearly and therefore, blur more easily. LASIK, Refractive Lens Exchange and Contact lenses are a few of the options available to correct farsightedness.
Asymmetric steepening of the cornea or natural lens causes light to be focused unevenly, which is the main optical problem in astigmatism. To individuals with uncorrected astigmatism, images may look blurry or shadowed. Astigmatism can accompany any form of refractive error and is very common. Astigmatism can be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, corneal relaxing incisions, laser vision correction, and special implant lenses.
Presbyopia is a condition that typically becomes noticeable for most people around age 45. In children and young adults, the lens inside the eye can easily focus on distant and near objects. With age, the lens loses its ability to focus adequately. Although presbyopia is not completely understood, it is thought that the lens and its supporting structures lose the ability to make the lens longer during close vision effort. To compensate, affected individuals usually find that holding reading material further away makes the image clearer. Ultimately, aids such as reading glasses are typically needed by the mid-forties. Besides glasses, presbyopia can be dealt with in a number of ways. Options include: monovision and multifocal contact lenses, monovision laser vision correction, and new presbyopia correcting implant lenses.
The cornea is the transparent outer surface that covers the pupil and iris of each eye. A healthy cornea is clear so you can see through it, and flexible. While delicate, corneas have a remarkable ability to heal (which is what makes LASIK surgery possible). But when corneas are damaged beyond their ability to heal, they impair, rather than aid, vision. Only a trained corneal specialist can tell you whether a cornea should be treated in hopes that it will heal, or whether the cornea needs to be replaced. Cornea transplants have helped thousands regain their sight.
Learn more about Damaged Corneas
Keratoconus is a degenerative condition in which the cornea protrudes and astigmatisms occur. A patient suffering from keratoconus may have to consider having a corneal transplant at some point.
