Myopia (Nearsightedness)

Myopia or Near-sightedness

Myopia (nearsightedness, shortsightedness) is a very common condition affecting distance vision (seeing things that are far away). The light that enters the eye through the cornea and the crystalline lens is bent in such a way that the resulting image focuses not on the retina (the light-sensitive inner wall at the back of the eye), but in front of it. Myopia usually starts in childhood and gets progressively worse through adolescence due to the rapid growth and bodily changes that occurs during these formative years. Typically myopia progression slows down in severity once young adulthood arrives and the growth and bodily changes slow down. The term nearsighted means that myopic individuals can see "near" objects clearly without glasses, but objects further in the distance are blurred. The more myopic, the more blurred distant objects appear, the higher your eyeglass prescription and the thicker your glasses needed for correction

Myopia can be corrected by any method that reduces the total refractive power of the eye. Eyeglasses and contact lenses do this by putting in front of the eye "negative" lenses that are thicker at the edge than in the center. LASIK and PRK procedures modify the shape of the cornea and decrease eye length (myopia) by flattening the central part of the cornea with the excimer laser utilizing photoablative disruption.