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You may be well aware that your vision is less than
perfect. You may not know however whether you are nearsighted or
farsighted. Although most people just trust that their eye care
professionals are great with paper work and note the correct choice of
the two, you may be curious to know where you fall in the spectrum. You
can always ask your eye care professional to find out. However, if you
would rather figure it out yourself, you can learn how to read your
eyeglass prescription. Knowing how to read your prescription as well as
notice signs and symptoms of each one, will help you determine if you
are indeed near or far.
A) Reading your
prescription
Your eyeglass prescription can be something that looks
like a book in another language. It can be challenging to understand
what the letters and numbers mean. When you break it down however, it is
not that difficult to take in. First, you will notice when you view your
prescription that there are Latin abbreviations in the form of letters.
If you see OS, you are looking at the left eye notes. When you see OD,
you are looking at information for the right eye. If you see OU, you are
viewing something that pertains to both eyes.
Keep in mind that
generally the father the number is from zero, the worse your eyesight
is. When you see a plus sign along with the numbers for one eye, you are
farsighted in that eye. A minus sign along with the numbers means you
are nearsighted in that eye. Most people are either farsighted in both
or nearsighted in both.
B) Nearsighted
Nearsightedness, which
is technically referred to as myopia, affects up to 30% of the world. It
is a condition in which the patient has a hard time focusing on objects
far away. They may be able to see things up close clearly, but may see
things far away as being blurry. This condition of the eye is due to a
refractive error. The eyeball in this case is too long or the cornea is
curved incorrectly. This creates a problem when the light tries to enter
the eye. The incorrect process causes blurriness. Myopia is something
that usually begins in childhood and can be common in some families.
Some common symptoms of nearsightedness are headaches, strain,
squinting, and eye fatigue.
C) Farsighted
Farsightedness is a
very common condition today. It is estimated that at least 25% of the
population deals with this problem. This condition, also called
hyperopia, basically means that you have a hard time seeing things close
up. You may have great difficulty reading a book or a menu. When you
have severe hyperopia, you will also have trouble seeing things far
away. This problem gets worse with age, so you can count on dealing with
it for the rest of your life after the initial diagnosis. The problem of
farsightedness is caused by a refractive error in your eyes. There
symptoms of farsightedness include headaches, difficulty focusing on
objects, eye strain, and reading fatigue. It can be corrected with
glasses, contacts, or surgery.
A little grasp on your
prescription will show you whether if you are nearsighted or farsighted.
Though the symptoms may appear the same, there is a distinct difference
between the two. Looking at your eyeglasses prescription is the easiest
way to judge whether you are suffering from nearsighted or farsighted,
you may not have access to it always. One thing you can do is to ask
your eye care professional about it or use the descriptions of the two
to figure it out yourself.
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