Myopia is the number one reason people need glasses or contact lenses and it is typically first noticed in teenage years. A common complaint is not being able to see the board at school. Short-sighted prescriptions are minus numbers (i.e. -2.50ds).
Explaining Myopia:
In order to see perfectly the light/image entering your eye must fall exactly onto your retina. With myopia, the light is focussed in front of the retina and hence things in the distance appear blurred. This means that the eye is too powerful for its size. No one knows the exact cause of myopia but it can often run in families and seems more prevalent in those people doing lots of close work in early and teenage life.
Laser Eye Surgery & Myopia:
Being short-sighted is the number one reason people consider laser eye surgery as they are very dependent on their glasses or contact lenses. Laser eye treatment corrects myopia by reducing the power of the eye by altering the shape (curvature) of the cornea. For short-sightedness the laser makes the curve of the eye flatter (less powerful), therefore resulting in the light being focussed on to the retina and hence clear vision. Myopia can be treated using either Lasik surgery or Lasek. If you have very high myopia (over -10.00) then you may well fall out of the range of laser eye surgery and have to consider refractive lens exchange or implantable contact lenses.
