Refractive Errors

Refractive errors are the family of conditions that cause most kids their first visit to the eye doctor, and a lot of mothers to freak out for no reason.  No it doesn’t mean your child is going blind, nope it doesn’t mean they will have to wear glasses forever (although it can) it just means very simply that they need glasses, I give a good example in one of my other posts, you can see that post here.

Below I have illustrated the type of refractive error you or your children can have.

Myopia:  ” NEARSIGHTEDNESS“-  A refractive error in which you can see close objects clearly, but objects farther away are blurred. In some cases the eye is “longer” than normal leading to myopia.  Myopia in young patients can increase with excessive texting and computer use. Myopia can be corrected with glasses and/or contact lenses and for individuals interested in not wearing glasses or contacts we can advise you on surgical options to correct your vision.

Hyperopia: ”FARSIGHTEDNESS“- A refractive error in which distant objects are usually seen clearly, but close objects do not come into proper focus. Hyperopia can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses.

Astigmatism: ”Don’t see as clear“- (we can thank those ubiquitous Acuvue commercials for this ridiculously vague and simplistic poor excuse for a definition that tons of my patients quote from memory.) Astigmatism is a vision condition in which the eye creates 2 principle images usually due to the shape of the cornea.  These 2 images can have the same, only one, or a combination of the refractive errors mentioned above.

Presbyopia: ”MATURING EYES”- A age-related vision condition in which there is a gradual loss of the eye’s ability to focus on near objects. Presbyopia is corrected with reading glasses or bifocal glasses. These patients can also wear contact lenses.