Hyperopia (farsightedness/long-sightedness)

What is Hyperopia?

Hyperopia, also known as farsightedness, long-sightedness or hypermetropia, is a focusing error of your eyes. Usually a farsighted person will be unable to focus on an object that is close to them and it may appear blurry, though they will have no difficulty seeing far-off objects clearly.

Normal vision

Our eyes work when light rays pass through our cornea and lens and focus at the back of our eyeball on the retina forming an image. This image is then converted into electrical signals, which are carried to the brain, via the optic nerve at the back of the eye.

Farsighted vision

Farsightedness is a result of the light rays being focused behind the retina, instead of on it. This happens because the eyeball is too short from the front (cornea) to back (retina) for the focusing power of the cornea and lens. This may be due to the size of the eyeball itself, the curvature of the cornea being insufficient or the lens being too thin to project the rays of light correctly onto the retina.

The symptoms of hyperopia

Difficulty focusing on nearby objects

This is the most recognizable symptom of being farsighted is when close objects appear fuzzy and out of focus. This often becomes noticeable when reading a book or magazine at your normal reading position and finding the print unclear and tiring to read.

Eye strain and headaches

As the eyes are struggling to focus on objects close by, you will feel the strain and suffer from symptoms of tired eyes, including eye strain and headaches. For young people with farsightedness they may still be able to focus on near objects, but their eyes will have to work harder to achieve this, again leading to tiredness and headaches.

Sore or painful eyes

The constant strain of struggling to focus on close objects can lead to a burning sensation in your eyes. You may find you focus so hard on objects that you don’t blink enough, causing your eyes to become dry and irritable.

Who is at risk?

Both adults and children can suffer from hyperopia. Children who are born with mild farsightedness often find their vision corrects itself as they grow and their eyes develop. The condition can be difficult to spot in children, as their eyes are more flexible that adults, so they may not suffer from blurred vision. Though they may complain of other symptoms, like sore eyes, and not be comfortable doing activities that require concentration on close objects, such as reading or writing.

When hyperopia develops in middle age it is known as age related farsightedness (presbyopia). It is a normal part of the aging process, though it is still important to get your eyes checked and take actions to compensate for you vision. Presbyopia is caused by a loss of flexibility in the lens of your eye, affecting the eyes ability to project light rays onto the retina.

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