Half of the world's people suffer from this visual impairment

Nearsightedness is a common eye defect. What is it and how to recognize it? Half of the world's people suffer from this visual impairment.

What is myopia?

• The reasons
• Types
• Degrees of the defect
• Symptoms
• Treatment

Short-sightedness is a visual defect that occurs very often. It is estimated that up to half of the world's population can suffer from it. This defect is related to an abnormal structure of the eyeball. How is it recognized and can it be cured?

What is myopia?

Short-sightedness is a visual defect that consists in correctly seeing objects and objects in close proximity, and blurring those that are further away. A short-sighted person will read a book or a drug leaflet, but we will not see the bus line number on the vehicle that is some distance from the stop.

This is a visual defect known as the plague of the 21st century. To some extent, its occurrence may be caused by the excessive use of technological gadgets such as computers or smartphones, which strain the eyesight heavily.

The reasons

The most common cause of myopia is an abnormal structure of the eyeball, which is too convex, so it does not focus the parallel rays as much as they should. As a result, in order to see what is distant from the seer, he has to narrow his eyes tightly and "fine-tune" the focus.

Types

Myopia is divided into:

• Axial - related to the structure of the eye. It arises when the organ of vision is too long
• Curvature - also related to the structure of the eye. It arises when the organ of vision is too convex
• Refractive - may be associated with the coexistence of diabetes

Artificial myopia is also distinguished, which is the result of too frequent and long work in front of the computer monitor. The eye behaves unnaturally when looking at the monitor. He blinks less often, dries out, and stares at one place for too long. This may lead to an increase in accommodative tension and, as a consequence, to disrupt the natural eye hygiene. To prevent this, it is worth taking breaks while working at the computer and staring into the distance.

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Degrees of the defect

There is also a degree of severity of myopia. A minor defect is myopia to -3 diopters, medium to -7, and large below this value. The type of treatment is selected according to the severity of the visual defect.

Symptoms

How to recognize myopia?

• You have to sharpen your eyesight to see what is at a certain distance
• You have to bring the sheet closer to read what is written on it
• After working at the computer, problems with catching the focus appear
• Frequent headaches appear

Treatment

Most often, a vision defect can be corrected by wearing special glasses. These are the so-called disadvantages that concave-convex lenses have and therefore change the scattering of light, directing it directly to the retina. Glasses will not cure a vision defect, but they can correct it.

The therapeutic method is the so-called ortokorekcja, which consists in wearing special lenses. They are put on at night and taken off during the day. The effect of elongating the curvature of the cornea lasts for another day.

Myopia can also be treated surgically. Laser treatments, such as LASEK or keratotomy, flatten the cornea, thus correcting the vision defect. However, such treatments cannot be performed on all people. They are only allowed for adults 18 years of age or older who meet the eligibility criteria for surgery.

Factors that are a contraindication to laser surgery include: dry eye syndrome, frequent conjunctivitis, low corneal thickness or keratoconus. An ophthalmologist should decide whether the patient is eligible for surgery.