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Your Vision
If you wear corrective lenses, you have one of these vision conditions:
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Nearsightedness, also known as myopia;
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Farsightedness, also known as hyperopia;
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Astigmatism; or
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Presbyopia, or what happens after age 40.
To help you understand laser vision correction procedures, read the brief descriptions of each of these vision problems.
Are You Nearsighted?
Nearsightedness, or myopia, is when you can see near objects, but you have difficulty seeing objects in the distance.
This occurs when the cornea is longer, or more domed, than normal. When the eye is longer, the light enters your eye and focuses at a point in front of the retina. The retina receives visual information and sends that information to your brain. Laser correction procedures can correct nearsightedness.
Are You Farsighted?
Farsightedness, or hyperopia, is when you can see far objects, but you have difficulty seeing objects up close.
This occurs when the cornea is shorter than normal. When the eye is shorter, light enters the eye and focuses at a point behind the retina. Some vision correction procedures can be used to correct farsightedness.
Do You Have Astigmatism?
Astigmatism is when you can’t clearly see objects that are near or far.
This occurs when there is an irregular curvature of the cornea, which causes two blurred focal points. In many cases, astigmatism can be corrected by a laser procedure.
Do You Have Presbyopia?
Presbyopia occurs in everyone sometime after age 40, and causes the need for reading glasses.
Before 40, when you look at a near object, the lens behind the cornea changes shape in order to focus close up. But, as we age, the lens behind the cornea gradually loses its elasticity so the lens can no longer change shape easily. This is when reading glasses become necessary. This fact of aging will happen whether you have your vision corrected or not — and you’ll eventually need reading glasses — unless you choose a “monovision correction” which corrects one eye for near vision and the other for distance.
To find out about the different vision correction procedures, go to the next page.
 
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