Hyperopia, Myopia, Presbyopia. What are they?
Have you ever taken a look at your glasses prescription? Most people don’t have perfect 20/20 vision, and here at Specs we quite often have to look at prescriptions and help our customers choose the right eyewear for them. Our Eyewear Specialists are trained to read your prescription and automatically choose the right fit for you!
Astigmatism
Astigmatism is an imperfection in the curvature of an eye that causes blurry vision and is a very common condition. Most people who have a glasses prescription have astigmatism as a part of that prescription. When looking at a glasses prescription The astigmatism is represented in the second and third set of numbers, the first being how severe the astigmatism is, and the second is the axis within the eye where the astigmatism is. Many people with astigmatism see a lot of glare off of street lights at night, which can make it hard to simply drive. Correcting astigmatism is a very important part of your astigmatism.
Hyperopia
Also called farsightedness, hyperopia is a condition in the eye where you can see far away objects but close up objects are clear. It’s caused by an imperfection in the eye, where the eye is just a bit too short and the light rays can’t reflect far enough for your vision to be clear. This is corrected by a convex glasses lens, which is thicker in the middle than it is on the edges. This lens helps the eye accommodate for the farsightedness, and helps clear up closer objects. When you’re looking at your glasses prescription you know you have hyperopia when there is a plus sign in front of the first numbers.
Myopia
Myopia is also known as nearsightedness, and it is the opposite of hyperopia. People who have myopia can see close up, but they can not see things that are far away. This is caused by an irregularly shaped eye, in which case light rays don’t hit the retina quite right, so things far away seem blurry. This is treated with a concave lens, where the middle of the lens is thinner, and the outer edges are thicker. You know you have myopia if the first numbers of your prescription have a minus sign in front of them. Myopia is very common and tends to run in families.
Presbyopia
Presbyopia is farsightedness caused by aging in the eye and is very common going into middle/old age. This can be treated with glasses, but the lenses are a bit more specific with presbyopia. The lenses used to treat presbyopia are bifocals, trifocals, and progressive lenses. Presbyopia happens naturally and causes the eye to have problems actively focusing on close objects. If you don’t already have a glasses prescription, you can just get reading glasses to help treat the condition.
We want to make sure that the process of getting new glasses is simple and easy for all of our customers. That’s why all of our Eyewear Specialists are trained and given all of this information so they can help you choose the right fit for you!
