Hyperopia: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment
What Is Hyperopia Or Farsightedness?
Hyperopia, also known as long-sightedness or farsightedness, is a common vision problem that makes it difficult to focus or see objects up close. This does not, however, affect your ability to see objects in the distance.
Hyperopia, or hypermetropia, is quite common in both children and adults and can be treated easily with corrective lenses.
Why Do We Get Hyperopia?
Most people who suffer from hyperopia, or farsightedness inherited the condition. Being fairly common, it is likely someone in the family suffers from this condition.
You can also suffer from farsightedness due to medical conditions like diabetes, small eye syndrome (microphthalmia), cancer around the eye and blood vessel problems around your eye. These are quite rare, and only account for a small fraction of hyperopia sufferers.
Who Is Affected By Hyperopia?
As mentioned before, this is a common eye condition, which can affect you at any age. However, it is likely that you will start to experience symptoms of hyperopia as you grow older, with most your symptoms becoming most noticeable after the age of 40.
This may cause some confusion as another condition called presbyopia also affects people as they age and shares similar symptoms with hyperopia.
It can also affect newborns and young children, but their vision naturally corrects itself as they grow older.
Symptoms Of Hyperopia
Hyperopia has several obvious signs that you should look out for, especially as you grow older. These include:
- Trouble reading, as the words become blurry
- Needing to squint to see better when looking at details close-up
- An aching or burning sensation around your eyes
- A headache after you read or had to focus on something close to your face for a long time (like sewing, knitting, drawing etc)
However, some people with hyperopia won’t have such clear symptoms as the signs can be subtle. Even eye strain and feeling fatigued can all be indicators you need to get your eyesight checked.
How Do You Treat Hyperopia?
A quick and easy solution to farsightedness are eyeglasses to match your diagnosis. Convex lenses in your glasses, which are thin on the edge and thicker at the center, help restore your vision immediately.
To find out the severity of your condition, you can visit an optician who will test your eyesight. People with hyperopia have a plus sign (+) in front of their prescription number, this indicates the strength of their corrective lens.
To further enhance your vision, you can have an anti-reflective coating like Crizal added to your corrective lenses. These coatings on your lenses help reduce headaches and eye fatigue caused by reflections from computer screens and daytime lights. It also protects your lenses from scratches and smudges, making sure your glasses last longer.
If you have an active lifestyle or job that takes you outdoors, photochromic lenses like Transitions ensure your eyes are protected and your vision is not hindered when going from a dark room to the bright sunlight or vice versa.
For more information regarding treatment options, visit your nearest optician.
THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE HYPEROPIA?
Visit your nearest eye care specialist and get the best lenses for your needs
