Hyperopia is an eye condition that allows you to have good distant vision, but blurred near vision.
If the eye is too short, the cornea is not curved enough or the lens is too flat, the light rays converge behind the retina. The conversion power of the eye being too low, close objects are then blurred.
This vision disorder is often compensated by the natural lens of the eye, the crystalline lens, which exerts a constant extra effort to focus the light rays on the retina.
Signs and symptoms of lens accommodation usually show up in the form of eyestrain and headaches. For young people with hyperopia between +1.00 and +2.00, it can even be difficult to realize one’s own vision problem because of the accommodation done by the lens. This is why it is important to have a visual acuity test with an optometrist during the eye exam.
Since uncorrected farsightedness requires constant effort from the lens, a farsighted person can frequently experience the effects of early presbyopia.
Hyperopia can be read on a prescription by the sign <+> followed by a number indicating the diopter often between 0.25 and 6.
At the IRIS Ophthalmology Clinic, two types of surgical corrections exist for hyperopia.
For younger patients who have mild to moderate hyperopia, LASIK surgery can correct this visual defect. The laser is used to bulge the curvature of the cornea by spraying layers of cells mainly in its periphery.
For farsighted patients in their 50s, intraocular lens surgery to correct both farsightedness and presbyopia simultaneously can be performed. Unlike nearsighted people, farsighted people are symptomatic of presbyopia earlier in life. As the lens of a farsighted person has had to make great efforts to focus light rays on the retina all its life, natural aging of the lens can be accelerated. The evolution of farsightedness with age tends to make near vision even more difficult for “farsighted-presbyopes”.
The preoperative evaluation made by our team of optometrists and opticians will allow you to know if you are a candidate for ULTRALASIK surgery or for lens replacement surgery.
Farsightedness beyond the +4.00 diopter mark is often hereditary and generally requires the wearing of glasses. A strong farsighted person has blurred near vision.
For young farsighted people
These prescriptions are not optimal for refractive laser surgery. A young candidate must have good corneal thickness on the periphery of the treatment area to allow the laser to sufficiently bulge the cornea in order to correct all of the prescription. In addition, people with strong hyperopia are more likely to have regression following laser treatment. If the professionals at the IRIS Ophthalmology Clinic notice too many contraindications to laser surgery, they may recommend another type of operation: the Phake intraocular lens.
For farsighted people in their 50s
Strong farsighted people have a better odds with intraocular lenses. Normally, a patient over the age of 50 with severe hyperopia can undergo intraocular lens surgery. These lenses, which replace the lens, allow the rays to converge directly on the retina for good near, far, or near and far vision simultaneously.
For farsighted people, near vision can be corrected in two ways in order to allow you to see well near, far, or both simultaneously:
– Either by bulging the cornea (in LASIK);
– Either by replacing the lens with an intraocular lens with the right power.
There is no “best” treatment for farsightedness. Each patient is different and that is why each assessment is personalized to you. If our professionals do not see almost all of the success factors for your surgery, they will take the time to explain to you why surgery would not be ideal.
There are several types of intraocular lenses for different lifestyles. Some lenses like monofocal lenses allow you to see well at only one distance.
Other lenses such as diffractive multifocal lenses allow you to simultaneously have a good quality of near and far vision.
The evaluation with our optometrists will allow you to clearly identify your needs and allow you to make an informed decision on the lens that best suits your lifestyle.
A person with hyperopia ranging from +1.00 to +2.00 can generally see well near and far thanks to the accommodation of their natural lens. However, after constant exertion, this person will likely experience eyestrain with headaches.
For hyperopia ranging from moderate to advanced (+3.00 and more), accommodation of the lens is usually not sufficient and glasses are necessary. Without glasses, vision is often blurred, near and far.
ULTRALASIK surgery corrects farsightedness by sculpting a kind of “gutter” all around the treatment area on the cornea. In this way, it is possible to give a rounder shape to the cornea, helping the light beams to converge better on the retina.
Uncorrected hyperopia requires constant effort from the lens. This is why, in some cases, the professionals at the IRIS Ophthalmology Clinic will explain to you that correcting all of the hyperopia could make you myopic.
The reason is simple: your lens has become accustomed to constantly straining to allow you to see well up close and has developed a residual accommodation. This means that your lens is no longer able to be fully at rest and remains in a slightly contracted shape. Fully correcting farsightedness without considering residual accommodation could make you slightly nearsighted.
Our team could then suggest that you keep a slight farsightedness at the corneal level, just enough to be compensated by the residual accommodation of your lens, which would give you a so-called “plano” vision.
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