Shortsight
Shortsight is relatively common. Most people use glasses or contact lenses to cope, but there are many vision correction options available including:
- Laser eye surgery
- Implantable contact lenses
- Laser lens replacement surgery
Patients who are shortsighted have a steep cornea and/or a long eye (right). This means that the point of focus falls short of the retina and the patient will struggle to focus on things in the distance.
The longer the eye and/or steeper the cornea the higher the level of shortsightedness. Shortsightedness can be corrected by flattening the cornea and making it less powerful. This moves the point of focus backwards to fall onto the retina.
Higher prescriptions require a higher correction and removal of more tissue–suitability is thus dependent on adequate corneal thickness to perform the correction safely. IntraLASIK has been effective for a wide range of shortsightedness up to -12.00 diopters.
Author Information
Authored by Sheraz Daya MD FACP FACS FRCS(Ed) FRCOphth, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon & Medical Director, June 2019.
Next review due June 2020.