Nearsightedness, farsightedness, and more defects commonly occur around us and we find people suffering from these diseases. Although these are not the only problems that can occur in an eye of a person, they still persist more than many others. Every eye clinic in Dubai has patients coming in regularly for the treatment of refractive errors.
Let’s take a look at what refractive errors are and their possible treatments:
What Are Refractive Errors:
Refractive errors or refractive disorders are defects in the structure of the eye that make it difficult for light to bend at the right angle. This results in a blurred image seen by the patient. There are mainly 4 types of refractive errors that occur usually. These are:
- Myopia
- Hyperopia
- Presbyopia
- Astigmatism
What Causes Refractive Errors?
Contrary to common assumptions made by concerned parents, refractive errors are not caused by the overuse of the eyes. Neither does it have any effect on existing refractive errors or disorders.
Refractive errors have different causes related to the surface of the cornea. Whether it has the right curve and length or if it’s allowing the right amount of light into the eye; these causes vary for different defects.
Let’s get into the details of each error to understand how it happens and how it can be treated.
Myopia:
Myopia is commonly known as nearsightedness. This is an error that makes close objects to the eye seem clearer while blurring objects that are far. Myopia occurs either when the length of the eyeball is too long or when the cornea has too much curvature. The former is known as refractive myopia while the latter is known as axial myopia. This makes the optics falling on the surface of the eye too powerful for it to process into an image.
Myopia can be treated with surgery or by prescribing the use of a concave lens that diverges the rays of light before they hit the cornea.
Hyperopia:
Also known as farsightedness, hyperopia is the opposite of myopia. This error causes objects that are far to appear clearer as compared to objects that are close. This occurs either in patients whose eyeball length is too short or in people with corneas that have insufficient curvature. The former condition is called refractive myopia, whereas the latter is what eye specialists call axial hyperopia.
To treat farsightedness, eye consultants can recommend either a surgery like LASIK or a convex lens that converges the rays of light before they hit the cornea.
Presbyopia:
Presbyopia is simply a loss of vision due to old age. As we age, the muscles and components of the eye become weaker and start displaying symptoms of weakness in their working. More specifically, the lens of the eye is unable to carry out its function of reshaping itself accordingly. Thus, old people with presbyopia naturally start losing their ability to see things clearly.
Experts recommend using reading glasses, progressive lenses or even bifocal lenses to treat patients with presbyopia.
Astigmatism:
Astigmatism is a refractive error that occurs when the cornea of the eye is of the wrong shape. This causes problems in the transmission and reflection of light and thus, difficulty in seeing things clearly. More often than not, cylindrical errors in the shape of the eye are causes for astigmatism. People with this condition don’t see things appearing at particular orientations to them very clearly. Things at right angles to them, however, appear clearer.
When the optical power of the eye appears to be too weak or strong across one meridian, cylindrical errors are the cause. These make the corneal curvature appear cylindrical (and thus the name).
People with astigmatism are treated by using cylindrical lenses that refract light in one meridian more than the other.
Although most of these errors can occur in everyone, they’re more likely to transmit genetically to kids. It’s imperative you get your kid checked by a child specialist in Dubai to make sure that they don’t have refractive errors. Similarly, adults experiencing difficulties in vision should consult specialists as well.
