Eye Conditions
Astigmatism
Astigmatism occurs when the cornea is irregularly shaped - like a football or a teaspoon - preventing light from converging on the retina. Parts of the image may focus on the retina, while others focus behind it or in front of it. This has the effect of bending light inconsistently and causing blurred or distorted images. Astigmatism can occur alone or in addition to either nearsightedness or farsightedness. |
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Astigmatism Video
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Nearsightedness
Nearsightedness, or myopia, occurs when the curvature of the cornea is too steep or the eyeball is too long. With nearsightedness, the eye's strong refractive power forces the image to be focused in front of the retina, rather than on it. When light focuses in front of the retina, near objects can be seen clearly, but far objects appear blurry. |
Nearsightedness Video
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Farsightedness
Farsightedness, or hyperopia, is caused when the curvature of the cornea is too flat, or the eyeball is too short, forcing light to focus behind the retina. With farsightedness, the eye's weak refractive power causes far objects to be seen more clearly and near objects to appear blurred. The eyes may have to strain to maintain things in focus. The first appearance of hyperopia is strongly age-dependent; younger patients have much less difficulty with hyperopia. |
Farsightedness Video
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As a person ages the lens of the eye becomes less flexible so that we have trouble focusing on near objects. In Monovision, or Autovision, the LASIK surgeon corrects the dominant eye for distance and slightly under-corrects the non-dominant eye so that it is focused at a near distance. Typically, the brain easily adapts and automatically makes the adjustment. When the patient looks in the distance, the distance eye is at work. When the patient looks down to read, the eye corrected for reading does the work.
Procedures used to perform monovision correction for presbyopia include:
- LASIK (laser in situ keratomileusis)
- PRK (photo-refractive keratectomy)
- Phakic lens Implant (Visian ICL)
Utilizing the clear lens extraction procedure maintains depth perception by implanting a bifocal lens, providing BOTH distance and near vision in each eye. |
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