Top

Do I Need Glasses?

Common Eye Problems: How Healthy Do You Think Your Eyes Are?

One of the best ways to reduce your risk of vision loss is to have regular and comprehensive eye exams from an optometrist . Each of our eye doctors has extensive training and experience when it comes to diagnosing, treating, and helping you manage common eye problems, eye emergencies, and ocular diseases. They can also share with you some helpful tips and tricks on how simple lifestyle changes such as a more nutritious diet, regular exercise, and the act of wearing UV-protective sunglasses every day can go a long way to helping you maintain your eye health. Let’s examine some of the most common eye conditions people may experience in their lifetime:

What is Myopia?

Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a common refractive error experienced by roughly 25% of the population. When a person is myopic, their eyes aren’t able to bend or refract light properly to allow for a single image to come into focus. In myopia, close objects look clear, but distant objects appear blurry. Myopia is a hereditary disorder and is often discovered in children between ages of 8 and 12 years old. As children — and their eyes — rapidly grow through their teen years, the condition typically worsens and then levels off in adulthood. During this growing period, new eyeglasses might be required as often as every six months to correct the problem. For more information on the diagnosis and treatment of myopias , please visit one of Vision West’s Optometrists in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.

What is Hyperopia?

Hyperopia, or farsightedness, is another common refractive error. In order to see properly, your cornea and your lenses (behind the pupil) must properly focus and refract light right onto the retina (at the back of the eye). People with hyperopia can see distant objects clearly, but have trouble focusing on items nearby. Farsightedness occurs if your eyeball is too short or the cornea has too little curvature, so light entering your eye is not focused correctly – which means the object you’re viewing will be blurry.

If the length or shape of the eye is not ideal, images are viewed by your brain as being blurred. Like nearsightedness, farsightedness is usually an inherited condition. For more information on the diagnosis and treatment of hyperopia, please visit one of Vision West’s Optometrists in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland for a routine eye exam.

What is Astigmatism?

In normal, undistorted vision, the cornea is smooth and equally curved in all directions. With astigmatism, the cornea is “warped”, meaning it curves more in one direction than the other, thus distorting or blurring vision for objects at any distance. For more information on the diagnosis and treatment of astigmatism, please visit one of Vision West’s Optometrists  in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.

What is Presbyopia?

Presbyopia, which literally means “aging eye,” is a common, age-related eye condition that makes it more difficult to see objects up close. When you’re young, the lens in your eye is soft and flexible. Your lens can change its shape easily, thus allowing you to focus on objects both close and far away. After the age of 40, the lens has a tendency to become more rigid. Because the lens can’t change shape as easily as it once did, it becomes more difficult to read – or see – at close range. For more information on the diagnosis and treatment of astigmatism, please visit one of Vision West’s Optometrists in Vancouver  and the Lower Mainland for a routine eye exam.