What does Farsighted Mean?

If you’ve ever seen an older friend or relative “stiff-arm” a book—holding it out at arms’ length in order to read the type—it’s possible that person suffers from farsightedness. “Farsighted” is commonly used to describe a visual condition called Hyperopia.

With farsightedness, a person sees objects at distance clearly, but has difficulty seeing objects close-up. Like myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia occurs within the eye itself. The eyeball is too short from front to back, and the lens of the eye has trouble becoming round enough for proper focus. This causes images to fall behind the retina, the area that “processes” visual images.

Farsightedness is a common vision problem, and can become more likely with age. It is generally pretty easy to treat hyperopia with corrective lenses or contact lenses.