Normally visions remain healthy in our childhood in majority of cases except a few exceptions for some babies suffering from eye defects and they would be required to have consultations depending upon the severity of their cases. Normal eye sight can identify the objects easily both from far places and near places without producing strain on the eye nerves.
The best way to identify the defects is to consult an eye specialist for any type of disorder with which we might be suffering from. Broadly speaking we might have one type of disorder out of four listed below-
1) Myopia- This is referred to shortsightedness where the object could be seen as blurred while focusing on the object at the prescribed distance of reading examined by the ophthalmologist but otherwise it is distinct in the near distance. This type of error can be corrected through the prescription of the right lenses for each patient. We need to have contact lenses in this situation.
2) Hyperopia- In this case, we would have difficulties in reading or locating the objects situated very near to us. However, the object can be distinct and clear if viewed from the far places.Here the image formation occurs behind the retina instead of getting focused on the retina To remedy this, we need convex lenses having suitable focal length.
3) Presbiopia - With the advancement of age, our vision loose elasticity and as such the near vision gets affected so as to have distinct and clear image of the letters to be read and as such we need bifocals to correct this remedy. Exact diopter is to be decided by the ophthalmologist in such cases.
4) Astigmatism- It is a disorder signifying the imperfections of our eye cornea or lens with astigmatism when the eyes behave like like eggs or oval shaped appearing like footballs.
There are two types of astigmatism as indicated below-
1) Horizontal Astigmatism- In this case, when eyes become wider than it becomes taller.
2) Vertical Astigmatism- In this situation, when the eyes are taller than they are wide.
In both the cases, near and far vision become blurry due to irregularities of the eye - shape.
There are three ways of treating astigmatism such as glasses, contacts or refractive surgery.
1) Glasses - Glasses contain cylindrical lenses which would take care of the uneven curves of the cornea or lens. It could suit to the patients having severe astigmatism.
2) Contacts - Contacts can also offer corrections provided they rest perfectly in our eyes. There are different types of lenses to correct astigmatism such as soft lenses, gas permeable contact lenses and hybrid lenses.
3) Refractive Surgery- In this case, lasic surgery is taken up to correct the refractive errors with the application of tiny pulse of light so as to create a flap. Then excimer laser is used to reshape the cornea to smoothen out the distortion to eliminate the refractive error.