General Information - Nearsightedness (aka Myopia) and Treatment Options

                                                                                         

About one-third of the population has nearsightedness or myopia. People with nearsightedness or myopia have a difficult time seeing objects at a distance, however when it comes to seeing something up close, such as reading, they don’t have a problem.

Those who are nearsighted headaches and eyestrain, along with squinting or getting fatigued while driving are symptoms of uncorrected myopia. When a person has myopia it means their eyeball is slightly longer than usual from front to back. This causes the rays of light to focus on the front part of the retina instead of directly on its surface.

Nearsightedness is hereditary and will usually appear in childhood. This vision problem can be stabilized as a certain point, however it can worsen with age. This is known as the myopia creep.

Nearsightedness is easily corrected with glasses, contact lenses or laser eye surgery. If you are nearsighted, you may need to wear glasses or contact lenses all the time or only when doing something where your distance vision is needed, such as driving. The prescription for a person with nearsightedness is a negative number. The higher the number the stronger the prescription will be.

Laser vision correction surgery can reduce or even possibly eliminate your need to wear glasses or contact lenses. However this will depend on the degree of your nearsightedness. The most common procedures use the excimer laser to perform the correction.

If you choose PRK the laser will remove a layer of corneal tissue in order to reshape the cornea and allow light rays to focus on the retina or at least closer to the retina.

If you choose LASIK, which is the most popular procedure, a flap is cut into the top of the eye and folded back to allow the laser to remove corneal tissue enough of the corneal tissue to reshape the cornea and then the flap is put back in place.

There is a non-surgical procedure that involves you wearing a pair of special contact lenses, which will reshape the cornea allowing you to see without the use of glasses or contact lenses. This is because the cornea will temporarily retain it shape, so you can see clearly. This procedure is called orthokertology or corneal refractive therapy and was approved by the FDA in 2002. You wear the cornea-shaping lenses at night, so that you have daytime vision without the use of eyeglasses, or contact lenses.

Another procedure is fairly new. It is the phakic intraocular lens implants surgery. This is a surgical procedure where a contact-like lens is placed into your eye either above the iris or behind the iris. This procedure is suitable for those with an extremely high degree of myopia that is unsuitable for LASIK or any of the other vision corrective surgeries.

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To learn more about LASIK eye surgery and corneal transplant surgery, it is imperative that you visit a leader in laser vision correction in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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