Farsightedness and Hyperopia Treatments

Farsightedness--or hyperopia--is a vision defect wherein the eye has difficulty focusing on near objects. In severe cases, this condition may also affect a person's clarity of vision and even their ability to see distant objects. Farsightedness is most commonly caused by the eye being too shallow from front to back. This irregularity in shape makes it hard for the cornea and lens to properly focus an image of a close object.

While mild cases of farsightedness may not need immediate care, consistent wear on an already compromised eye can further diminish a farsighted person's vision over time. Because the symptoms of hyperopia are so often noticed later in age, many people believe that it is an age-related condition, when in truth it may just take time for a person with hyperopia to notice their reduced quality of vision. More often than not, this aberration is inherited, but it is still treatable either by corrective lenses or by refractive surgery.

For younger patients with farsightedness, often contact lenses or glasses are their only treatment option since few surgeons will operate on someone whose eyes are most likely to change. Older patients with hyperopia can continue to adjust their prescription lenses as the condition worsens, or they can have the defect permanently corrected through a variety of eye surgeries.

LASIK surgery is currently the most popular treatment for farsightedness, but other refractive surgeries are available. For example, photorefractive keratectomy (or PRK) is a good alternative for patients whose corneal tissue is too thin for the traditional LASIK procedure. Custom wavefront LASIK, a more precise form of the original LASIK procedure, may be recommended for patients with unusual or severe cases of hyperopia. And for patients wishing to avoid laser eye surgery altogether, conductive keratoplasty (or CK) is an increasingly popular option. While all of the laser surgeries mentioned above are considered invasive because they directly cut and remove portions of the eye, CK reshapes the cornea by applying heat to and shrinking the fatty outer layer known as the epithelium.

With all of the alternatives to treat farsightedness, from Visian ICL implantation to limbal relaxing incisions, you should seek the advice of a vision correction professional to determine which treatment is right for you.