What Is Nearsightedness, Farsightedness & Astigmatism?
In a normal eye, the cornea and the lens of the eye focus light to form an image on the back surface of the eye, known as the retina. Nearsightedness occurs when the curve at the front portion of the eye, known as the cornea, is too steep, resulting in blurred images in the distance. With nearsightedness, the eye focuses or refracts light too much, causing images of distant objects to form in front of the retina and appear blurry. Farsightedness occurs when the cornea is too flat, resulting in blurred images when up close. With farsightedness, the eye does not focus or refract light enough, causing images of distant objects to form behind the retina and appear blurry; Astigmatism is the result of an asymmetric curvature of the cornea. With astigmatism, the eye focuses light into two distinct images either in front of or behind the retina, which causes distant images to appear blurry.
Nearsightedness occurs when the curve at the front portion of the eye, known as the cornea, is too steep, resulting in blurred images in the distance. In a normal eye, the cornea and the lens of the eye focus light to form an image on the back surface of the eye, known as the retina. In a nearsighted eye, the eye focuses or refracts light too much, causing images of distant objects to form in front of the retina and appear blurry. In a farsighted eye, the opposite is true – weaker focusing power causes the image to theoretically focus behind the retina, also making them appear blurry. Astigmatism is blurred vision as the result of an irregular curvature of the cornea.
