What does farsighted mean?
Farsighted, or hyperopia, means that your eyes naturally focus at a point in the distance. This means that distant objects are usually seen clearly, but close ones may not come into focus proplerly.
People who are hyperopic tend to have eyes that are shorter than average which means that the light entering their eyes is focused behind the retina, and the eyes must focus the light to see clearly.
When eyes are young and healthy hyperopes can simply focus their eyes to see clearly, and are able to see objects at all distances. The closer the object you are looking at, the harder the eyes need to focus, which is why hyperopes see better at a distance, and are called 'farsighted'.
In order to focus up close, the lens in the eye needs to flex. What happens with age is that the lens in the eye becomes less and less flexible and eventually these people are unable to focus their eyes to see up close. This is why people start to need reading glasses.
People who are hyperopic tend to have eyes that are shorter than average which means that the light entering their eyes is focused behind the retina, and the eyes must focus the light to see clearly.
When eyes are young and healthy hyperopes can simply focus their eyes to see clearly, and are able to see objects at all distances. The closer the object you are looking at, the harder the eyes need to focus, which is why hyperopes see better at a distance, and are called 'farsighted'.
In order to focus up close, the lens in the eye needs to flex. What happens with age is that the lens in the eye becomes less and less flexible and eventually these people are unable to focus their eyes to see up close. This is why people start to need reading glasses.
