page_title: Far-sightedness
section_title: Diagnosis
hierarchical_section_title: Far-sightedness / Diagnosis
caption_attribution_description: Cross-sectional view in grayscale of right human eye
context_page_description: Far-sightedness, also known as long-sightedness, hypermetropia, or hyperopia, is a condition of the eye in which light is focused behind, instead of on, the retina with accommodation being at rest. Small amount of hypermetropia in young patients is usually corrected by their accommodation, without any defects in vision. But, due to this accommodative effort for distant vision, people may complain asthenopic symptoms while constant reading. Some hypermetropes can see clear at distance, but near vision may be blurred due to insufficient accommodation. For this reason, this defect is referred as far-sightedness. If the hypermetropia is high, there will be defective vision for both distance and near. People may also experience accommodative dysfunction, binocular dysfunction, amblyopia, and strabismus. Newborns are almost invariably hypermetropic, it will gradually decrease as the age increase.
  There are many causes for this condition. It may occur when the axial length of eyeball is too short, or if the lens or cornea is flatter than normal. Changes in refractive index of lens, alterations in position of the lens or absence of lens are the other main causes.
context_section_description: A diagnosis of far-sightedness is made by utilizing either a retinoscope or an automated refractor-objective refraction; or trial lenses in a trial frame or a phoropter to obtain a subjective examination.
  Ancillary tests for abnormal structures and physiology can be made via a slit lamp test, which examines the cornea, conjunctiva, anterior chamber, and iris.
  In severe cases of hyperopia from birth, the brain has difficulty in merging the images that each individual eye sees. This is because the images the brain receives from each eye are always blurred. A child with severe hyperopia can never see objects in detail. If the brain never learns to see objects in detail, then there is a high chance of one eye becoming dominant. The result is that the brain will block the impulses of the non-dominant eye. In contrast, the child with myopia can see objects close to the eye in detail and does learn at an early age to see objects in detail.
caption: Human eye cross-section
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