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Farsightedness  is a visual defect often due to a shorter eyeball .The consequence is that images are focused over the retina.

Generally is an innate defect ,but it appears mostly with aging.

When eyeball is shorter, images are focused behind retina.

You born farsighted, but, in most of the cases you find out hat you are only when you are over with the years. Many people apparently devoid of visula defects are, in fact, light farsighteds- says Paolo Nucci, director of Unversity Opthalmology Clinic of san Giuseppe Hospita in Milan  and president of  pediatric Opthalmology Society -. Farsightedness is refractive defect (as shortsightedness and  astigmatism) linked to a shorter eyeball:this matter brings the images to be focused behind retina.

Why do we not recognize farsightedness ?

Farsighted eye,above all in medium-light type, has the capacity of correction of defect through accommodation, in other words the power of focusing that crystalline has.This skill is at its highest in chilndren and gets lower with passing of the years, so, farsightedness  gradually tends to be no more balanced and so, to request a correction. usually the correction is necessary at a young age in presence of serious and non balanced kinds.

What are the consequences of farsightedness?

Usually farsightedness has not the tendency of progression, on the contrary in some cases with development of visual apparatus it can decrease ,because eyeball assumes a longer shape. But, as for the kids an high farsightedness implies the risk of amblyopia ( lazy eye)  and a tendency to  converging strabism. the first it develops, for exaplme, when in presence of a different farsightedness in the two eyes : the subject can tend to accommodate with the ye that has the minor defect, with the result that brain always receives blurry images to the ey that see less well. Strabism development, instead, is often linked to the fact that the continuos effort of focusing can bring to converge the eyes too much.

So, when do we have to check up the kids? 

For the cited risks, we always recommend an aye check up when they are 3 years old. For diagnosis they use some drops that make the pupil be expanded and that, impeding accommodation, allow to discover farsightedness : light  (from 1 to 2 diopters), medium (from 2 to 4 diopters ) or elevated  (over 4 diopters).

What are the possible signals?

At a young age the light- medium  farsightednesses do not bring generally symptoms ; sometimes there can be a light visual fatiguing due to continuos accommodation effort . The elevated farsightednesses,instead, bring nealy always difficulty in vision both near and far. With passing of years it can, furthermore, happen that a farsightedness that before was converging , begins to appear with foggy vision, reddening and stinging of the eyes, sometimes headache.

How can it be corrected?

Until farsightedness is converging with accommodation there is no need of treatment  but only periodic check ups. When a correction ,you can count on glasses, contact lenses and surgery. The glasses have convergent lenses , to let, as contact lenses, that images fall on retina , not behind. For an elevated farsightedness we can use refractive surgery, if there are indications. The results, in general are reasonable, but they are less predictable than what happens with shortsightedness. There are people who propose ,for elevated disorders, intraocular lenses to be put over the natural crystalline, with the risk of encouraging an opacification of crystalline( cataract) . So, it is better to think about it well, especially when the candidate is young .

Source: Antonella Sparvoli, Corriere della Sera

Read also :

• Prevention is better than a cure
• Are you sure you have the right correction? sight is serious matter
•  Visione as a primal need
• The eye...the older it is, the more attentive becomes!

To ensure an optimal visual wellness to our eyes it is possible thanks to some slight easy daily gestures which contribute to ensure a health vision.

1.      Know the visual health state of your family: Talk to your parents about the history on health state of eyes. It is important to know if someone has been diagnosed a visual disease , because many of them are inherited. This will help you to know if you are or not predisposed to insurgence of any disease so to act with prevention to try to stop the insurgence.
2.      Eat well to protect the sight. Did you know that carrots are good for your eyes ? in general, to make a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, particularly those with green leaves or the dark green, as spinach, cabbage or beet , are important elements that can ensure a healthy quality of life for you and your eyes. Research, furthermore showed that we can meet benefits for our eyes by eating fish rich in omega 3 as salmon and tuna.
3.      Keep a healthy weight. Be overweight increases the possibility of incurring into diabetes and systemic degenerative conditions that can bring very serious damages to your life, as for example, from diabetic retinopathy to glaucoma, until loss of sight. In case of problems of keeping in shape, over the limits, check the situation with a doctor.
4.      Stop smoking, or, don’t begin . Smoking is so dangerous for your eyes, as for your whole body. Research has connected smoke to increase of risk in developing macular degeneration connected to age as cataract, damages to optic nerve, each of them can bring to blindness.
5.      Be ‘cool’ and wear glasses that represent you. Glasses, above all sunglasses, are a fashion accessory, but their most important work is to protect eyes form UV rays of the sun. When buying sunglasses, look for those that stop for 99 to 100% both UV-A and UV-B rays.
6.      Give your eyes a pause. If many hours are spent in front of computer or concentrating on something, sometimes we forget about focusing and eyes tend to be fatigued. Try the rule 20-20-20 : every 20 minutes, keep away the eyes from computer and look to something in at 20 meters in front of you for 20 seconds. This can help to reduce the eye fatiguing and keep them lubricated and healthy in time.
7.      Clean your hands and the contact lenses box. To avoid risk of infection , clean well your hands before wearing or removing contact lenses . Be sure of disinfect contact lenses according to instructions and replace them according to cases.
8.     Demand a safe environment for your eyes on workplace. The employer has to give to his workers a safe workplace. When necessary, wear protective glasses to do your work safely, be used to wear the appropriate kind in every moment and encourage your colleagues to do same

Read more

• Blue eyes and alcoholism
• Vision as a primal resource 
• Glaucoma: how to defend 
• Dry eye: preventionis better than a cure

Many mums are doubtless: if in primary school their son has to wear glasses the fault is due to tablets and videogames . Some of them think that this is due to adversity of children in eating fruit and vegetables: less vitamins make it impossible to focus.

But.. what truly causes short-sighting? The  “accused” have changed throughout the years. One hundred years ago , refers a recent study on scientific magazine Perspective in Public Health , the most believed theory was that of light shortage in schools, the, in Sixties there was the hypotesis of decisive power of genetics, so, it was not possible to proceed in any way to solve the defect. Nowadays, again we gave importance to environment, not under-evaluating how much familiarity matters.

Genes create the prerequisite to cause the defect: if mom or dad don’t see well from long distance , probably their son also will have to wear glasses. Said this, the involvement of some environmental factors seems certain : the closely work, for example, makes the eye shortsighted.

To keep books and exercise books so close to the nose, as often children and kids make when they study, facilitate the appearance of defect: in fact, many Asian populations, generally predisposed to short-sighting, the defect is closely linked to scholarship grade.

Are Tablet and computer really a menace to sight? Not more than books, but in front of a videogame time flies, and we spend hours, not minutes, with eyes focused on a point which is too close. This is what makes short- sighted , so, the only possible prevention , considered that to study is a duty and to avoid the use of computer is utopia, is to make children keep their eyes at least at 30 centimeters far from the sheet or the screen, inviting them to stay more at open air, considered that limited horizons of closed spaces don’t allow sight to be exercised to focus from far distances.

Are the vitamin supplements necessary? A various and equilibrate nutrition is more than sufficient to give to children what is needed and necessary for eyes health : it is enough to eat a bit of green leaves vegetables to have lutein , whilist fruit with blue peel as blueberry give the necessary anthocyanins and with a bit of almonds and walnuts give a good dose of fat acids omega 3.

Read also:

• Shortsigthening:let's spend 3 hours in open air 
• Help children to wear glasses
• China: 90% of population is short sighted
• Are you sure you have the right correction? sight is a serious matter