Myopia - blurred vision

Myopia - blurred vision
Diagnostics

myopia Myopia - is the official medical name of myopia, very common visual impairment. The main symptom of myopia - blurred distant objects in the continued ability to clearly see close objects.

Symptoms and myopia

The most common myopia begins to develop during adolescence, but it can occur in people of any age, including - in young children. In people older than 30 years of myopia is rare, although in the elderly vision can begin to deteriorate due to cataracts.

Young children may think that blurred vision - this is normal (they do not know how other people see), so they have myopia is often diagnosed only after they go to school and found that they had not seen written on the blackboard. As a rule, the vision is stabilized when a person ceases to grow, albeit slowly progressing myopia can almost thirty years.

If you notice signs of myopia you or your child, you need to check the eyesight optometrist. To indicate the severity of myopia, a special unit - diopter. In myopia figures are recorded with a minus sign, for example, -3 diopters (farsightedness when the contrary, with a plus sign).

The first degree of myopia - -0.5 to -3 diopters. This is the most common form of myopia, which can be enough to live comfortably without glasses or contact lenses, though for some occupations - such as driving - better still wear glasses.
The second degree of myopia - from -3 to -6 diopters. People with this form of short-sightedness may be necessary to wear glasses.
Third degree of myopia in people diagnosed with the index more than -6 diopters. People with such disorders can clearly see only objects that are very close to the eyes.

Causes

To understand the causes of myopia, we must remember the structure of the eye. The most important elements of its structure are:

The cornea - the transparent outer layer of the eye.
The lens - curved transparent structure, which is located directly behind the cornea.
Retina - the light-sensitive tissue thin layer, located in the back of the eye.
The optic nerve, through which signals are transmitted from the eye to the brain.

Rays of light through the cornea get into the lens, which focuses the rays on the retina, creating an image. This image is converted into an electrical signal which is transmitted to the brain by the optic nerve. As a result, a person perceives a variety of visual images. Too much bending of the cornea, as well as the excessive length of the eye leads to the fact that the images are not clear enough. When you look at distant objects, the light does not focus directly on the retina, and a little in front of her, and as a result the brain is not very clear signals.

The reasons for the excessive length of the eye and wrong bending of the cornea may be:

Genetic predisposition. If one of your parents myopia, the probability that a violation will develop and you have to be 40%. The risk increases to 60% if both parents are nearsighted.
Excessive strain on the eyes. The stories that the habit of reading a lot - especially in low light, can lead to myopia, there is some truth. One study showed that children who read for half an hour a day or more, developing myopia and a half times more likely than children who have devoted much less time reading. However, there are few parents who will insist that the child read less just because of the fact that he may develop myopia.
In another study it was found that active in the open air can significantly reduce the likelihood of developing myopia in children. Experts recommend that parents teach children to alternation of active leisure reading - it will help to avoid not only the short-sightedness, but also many other health problems.
In adults, regular eye strain can also lead to a weakening of view, but in most cases it is very slow. If sight is deteriorating rapidly, consult a doctor.

Treatment

The most common way to treat myopia - is a vision correction with glasses or contact lenses, although in recent years more and more popular is laser surgery to improve vision.

Points are made for the patient after he passes the examination by a specialist, who determines the degree of myopia. People with myopia discharged concave glasses, the edges of the glass which is thicker than the center. Bending the glass depends on the degree of myopia. Through points beams of light will fall on the retina, which means that people will see better.

Contact lenses correct vision as well as the points. Many people prefer contact lenses Contact lenses: blessing or curse? Because they are light and almost invisible. There are many types of contact lenses: made of various materials, flexible and rigid, one-off (they can be worn for one day), and intended for repeated use. Patients who wear contact lenses should carefully observe the rules of hygiene to avoid the development of eye infections.

Laser surgery is used to correct the bending of individual sections of the cornea so that light focused on the retina. This operation is quite safe, and 9 out of 10 cases, resulting in a significant improvement in vision.