Treatment options for farsightedness include prescription glasses, contact lenses, and surgery for some adults. The right choice depends on your prescription, age, eye health, and everyday vision needs.
If reading a menu or working at a computer leaves your eyes tired, an eye exam can help identify why. At Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center, we help patients across Arizona understand their vision and compare appropriate correction options.
A comprehensive eye exam can determine whether farsightedness or another condition is affecting your vision.
Understanding Farsightedness
Farsightedness, also called hyperopia, is a refractive error that affects how the eye focuses light. Light tends to focus behind the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.
Nearby objects may appear blurry, and greater farsightedness can also affect distance vision. Some younger people compensate with their eyes’ natural focusing ability and notice few symptoms.
Hyperopia differs from presbyopia, the age-related loss of near focusing ability. You can have both conditions.
Symptoms of Farsightedness
Farsightedness may make reading and other close-up tasks uncomfortable. Symptoms can include:
- Blurry vision when looking at nearby objects.
- Tired, sore, or aching eyes.
- Headaches after reading or other close work.
- Squinting to see more clearly.
Some people have mild farsightedness without noticeable symptoms. An eye exam can identify it before it becomes more bothersome.
Children with significant farsightedness may develop crossed eyes or amblyopia, sometimes called lazy eye. A pediatric eye exam can help determine whether glasses or other care is needed.
What Causes Farsightedness?
Hyperopia often occurs when the eyeball is shorter than needed for light to focus directly on the retina. The shape of the cornea or lens can also contribute.
Farsightedness often runs in families and may be present from birth. Symptoms can become more noticeable as the eye’s focusing ability changes with age.
How an Eye Exam Guides Treatment
Your eye doctor checks how clearly you see and performs refraction testing to determine your prescription. The examination also assesses eye health and how your eyes work together.
Eye drops may help your doctor examine the inside of your eyes. In children, drops that relax the focusing ability can help accurately measure farsightedness.
These findings help your doctor recommend treatment based on your vision, symptoms, and eye health.
Eyeglasses for Farsightedness
Prescription eyeglasses offer a simple, noninvasive way to correct farsightedness. Their lenses bend light so it focuses more accurately on the retina.
Your prescription depends on your vision needs and whether you also have astigmatism or presbyopia. Some people need single-vision lenses. Others may benefit from bifocals or progressive lenses that accommodate multiple viewing distances.
Your eye doctor can explain when to wear your glasses. Our optical shops can help you choose frames and lenses that fit your prescription and daily activities.
Contact Lenses for Farsightedness
Contact lenses correct farsightedness while resting on the surface of your eyes. Your eye doctor can recommend a lens material and replacement schedule based on your prescription and eye health.
Options may include soft lenses or rigid gas-permeable lenses. A contact-lens fitting checks how the lenses sit on your eyes and how well you see with them.
If you also have presbyopia, your doctor may discuss multifocal contacts or monovision. Monovision uses one eye mainly for distance and the other for near tasks. It is not suitable for everyone.
Follow your prescribed wear-and-replacement schedule. Remove lenses before swimming or showering, and avoid sleeping in them unless your eye doctor specifically directs you otherwise.
Laser Eye Surgery for Farsightedness
Laser eye surgery reshapes the cornea to improve how light focuses on the retina. It may reduce dependence on glasses or contacts for selected adults with farsightedness.
Candidacy depends on your prescription, its stability, corneal thickness and shape, and overall eye health. Your surgeon will also evaluate dry eye and other conditions that could affect healing.
LASIK
During LASIK, the surgeon creates a thin corneal flap and reshapes the tissue underneath with a laser. The flap is then repositioned.
Vision often improves quickly, but recovery varies. Dryness, glare, halos, and fluctuating vision can occur while the eyes heal. Some people still need glasses or additional correction afterward.
PRK
With photorefractive keratectomy, or PRK, the surgeon removes the cornea’s thin outer layer before reshaping the tissue underneath. A bandage contact lens protects the eye while the surface heals.
PRK may suit some patients who cannot have LASIK, but adequate corneal thickness and healthy tissue are still necessary. Dry eye also needs evaluation.
Early healing is generally slower and less comfortable than after LASIK. Vision improves gradually, and achieving your best vision may take a month or longer.
Refractive Lens Exchange for Selected Adults
Some adults may be candidates for refractive lens exchange, particularly when laser correction is unsuitable. This procedure replaces the eye’s natural lens with an artificial intraocular lens.
The decision depends on your age, prescription, lens health, and visual goals. Your surgeon will explain which distances the selected lens is designed to support.
Lens replacement carries risks, including infection, retinal detachment, and unwanted visual effects. Glasses may still be needed for some activities.
Expectations and Risks
Both procedures have risks, including infection, glare, halos, and undercorrection or overcorrection. Some complications can affect vision permanently.
Laser surgery changes the cornea but does not stop the eyes from aging. You may still need reading glasses as presbyopia develops. Your surgeon should explain the likely benefits, risks, and limitations for your eyes.
Find the Right Treatment for Your Vision
Reading, computer work, and other daily activities should not leave you struggling to focus. Treatment options for farsightedness can improve vision, but the best approach starts with understanding your eyes.
Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center provides eye exams and vision correction services across Arizona. Our team can explain your prescription and help you compare glasses, contact lenses, and surgical options when appropriate.
Schedule an eye exam to find out what is affecting your vision and discuss your next step.