Rosemore Eye Care

Myopia
Nearsightedness, or myopia, is a vision problem experienced by up to about one-third of the population. Nearsighted people have difficulty reading highway signs and seeing other objects at a distance, but can see for up-close tasks such as reading or sewing.

Myopia Symptoms and Signs
Nearsighted people often have headaches or eye strain and might squint or feel fatigued when driving or playing sports. If you experience these symptoms while wearing your glasses or contact lenses, you may need a comprehensive eye examination as well as a new prescription.

What Causes Myopia?
Myopia occurs when the eyeball is slightly longer than usual from front to back. This causes light rays to focus at a point in front of the retina, rather than directly on its surface. Nearsightedness runs in families and usually appears in childhood. This vision problem may stabilize at a certain point, although sometimes it worsens with age. This is known as myopic creep.

Myopia Treatment
Nearsightedness may be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or eye surgery. Depending on your vision problem, you may need to wear your glasses or contact lenses all the time or only when you need distance vision, like driving, seeing a chalkboard or watching a movie. If you're nearsighted, your prescription is a negative number. The higher the numeral, the stronger your lenses will be.

Refractive surgery can reduce or even eliminate your need for glasses or contacts. The most common procedures are performed with an excimer laser.

In PRK the laser removes a layer of corneal tissue, which flattens the cornea and allows light rays to focus closer to or even on the retina.
In LASIK — the most common refractive procedure — a flap is cut through the top of the cornea, a laser removes some corneal tissue, and then the flap is dropped back into place

Then there's orthokeratology, a non-surgical procedure where you wear special contact lenses that slowly reshape the cornea over time to correct your myopia. When the lenses are removed, the cornea temporarily retains the new shape, so you can see clearly without the lenses.

With orthokeratology or corneal refractive therapy (CRT), an orthokeratology-like procedure approved by the FDA in 2002, you wear cornea-shaping lenses at night, so you have daytime vision without contacts or glasses.

Implantable lenses known as phakic IOLs are a newer surgical option for correcting nearsightedness, particularly in more extreme cases that may be unsuitable for LASIK or other vision correction surgery.

Phakic IOLs work like contact lenses, except they are surgically placed within the eye and typically are permanent, which means no maintenance is needed. Unlike IOLs used in cataract surgery, phakic IOLs do not replace the eye's natural lens, which is left intact.

For more information on myopia or other eye conditions visit All About Vision.