| These are questions that eye doctors are | | | | presbyopia are often confused. |
| frequently asked. It can be confusing when there | | | | Presbyopia |
| are common terms for medical conditions. | | | | A person is presbyopic when the crystalline lens in |
| Myopia or Nearsightedness | | | | the eye can no longer focus well at near, making |
| A condition where a person's uncorrected vision is | | | | reading glasses or bifocals necessary. A person |
| only clear up close. Instead of the light focusing on | | | | can be both farsighted and presbyopic or |
| the retina, it focuses in front of the retina. A | | | | nearsighted and presbyopic. Presbyopia typically |
| myopic person can read a magazine, however | | | | begins in our early 40s. The older we get the |
| their distance vision is blurry and requires glasses | | | | more difficult it is for our eyes to focus at near. |
| or contact lenses to make it clear. | | | | The effects of presbyopia level off in our mid to |
| Hyperopia or Farsightedness | | | | late 60s. |
| Hyperopia, commonly referred to as | | | | Astigmatism |
| farsightedness, is when a person sees better in | | | | Many people feel astigmatism is a bad, |
| the distance than at near. Light entering the eye | | | | progressive disease. Actually astigmatism is |
| focuses behind the retina placing a blurry image on | | | | caused when light focuses in two points in the |
| the retina. For a hyperopic person to see clearly | | | | back of the eye because it is not in the shape of |
| at any distance a muscle, inside the eye called the | | | | a sphere. An eye with astigmatism has often |
| ciliary body, must focus an intra-ocular lens. As | | | | been described to be in the shape of an egg or |
| we get older it becomes more difficult for the | | | | football, to some degree that is true, though an |
| eye to accomplish this auto focusing. Because of | | | | astigmatic eye is not exaggerated to that degree. |
| the eye's ability to focus, farsighted people often | | | | Most people have some astigmatism. Visually, a |
| don't need glasses until their 30s or 40s. | | | | person with uncorrected astigmatism will often |
| Uncorrected farsightedness, however, may cause | | | | see a faint shadow on letters or objects. |
| a person to experience eyestrain or an eye turn | | | | Emmetropia |
| (strabismus), depending on the degree of | | | | A person is emmetropic when an image focuses |
| farsightedness and the patient's age. The younger | | | | clearly on the retina without the eye doing any |
| we are the easier it is for the eye to compensate | | | | focusing itself. A person that is emmetropic has |
| for farsightedness. Uncorrected farsightedness | | | | uncorrected "normal vision". |
| can lead to amblyopia. Farsightedness and | | | | |