What is Myopia (Nearsightedness)?
Just as a camera must focus an image precisely on its film, the eye must focus an image on the retina. An image focused in front of or behind the retina is blurred.
Myopia occurs when the eye is too long causing the image to focus in front of the retina.
The myopic eye elongates over many years causing the gradual worsening of near sightedness familiar to most myopic patients. This process must stabilize before laser vision correction can be performed.
Ophthalmologists can not control the length of the eye but can compensate for it by flattening the cornea, which moves the image back to the retina.
Perfectly focused (emmetropic) eyes: Light enters eyes and is focused or “refracted” mostly by the cornea and partly by the lens. In eyes that focus properly, light rays falls sharply on the retina. These eyes require no corrective lenses.
Nearsighted (Myopic) eyes: Light is refracted too much and is not sharply focused on the retina. Spectacles and contacts lenses may be placed in front of the eyes to properly focus the light.
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