Myopia - Short Sightedness
The inability to
see things clearly when they are at a distance is called
myopia, more commonly known as near sightedness. People
who are nearsighted have trouble with tasks like reading
highway signs or the blackboard. Myopia is hereditary,
and usually appears early in childhood. It is most often
treated with corrective lenses, either spectacles or
contact lenses. In a prescription for corrective lenses,
a lens meant to correct nearsightedness will have a
negative number, and the higher the number the stronger
the correction provided.
Approximately
30% of the population is nearsighted. If you find that
objects that are near to you appear clear, but objects
that are at a distance seem blurred, you may be
nearsighted. If you have frequent headaches and
eyestrain even when wearing your glasses, you should
have your vision re-evaluated to be sure that your
prescription is still adequate for your needs.
Recent years
have seen some interesting and hopeful advances in the
treatment of myopia. Refractive surgery using lasers has
become increasingly common. Some of the more common of
those procedures include
Lasik
surgery and PRK surgery. In both of these treatments a
special laser scalpel is used to reshape the cornea in
order to focus light properly on the retina.
Another area
that's being explored with considerable success is
reshaping the cornea using contact lenses. Known as
orthokeratology, the process involves wearing specially
made contact lenses that gradually reshape your cornea
so that when you remove them, your cornea temporarily
retains the new shape, giving you clear vision without
the contact lenses in place. In a similar treatment,
called corneal refractive therapy which was approved in
2002, corneal shaping lenses are worn at night and offer
clear vision without
contact lenses during the day.
