Refractive Disorders

Chicago, Illinois

Nearsightedness (Myopia)

Myopia is also known as nearsightedness. Without glasses or contacts people who are nearsighted can typically see up close but not far away.

Nearsightedness happens when the eye is so long that light rays that enter the eye want to focus in front of the retina which produces a blurry image for distant objects.

Myopia is typically progressive, starting in childhood and finally reaching its maximum about the time that the body in general stops growing. Girls tend to physically mature faster than boys and their prescription usually stops changing by their late teens. Boys take longer to physically mature and may not have a stable prescription until their early-twenties.

Nearsightedness requires a minus power or divergent corrective lens in your glasses and contacts. Surgically, nearsightedness can be corrected either by flattening the cornea with a laser or implanting an intraocular contact lens (ICL) or intraocular lens (IOL).

To learn how to find your visual freedom from nearsightedness, come in for your complimentary screening evaluation

Farsightedness (Hyperopia)

Those with hyperopia or farsightedness commonly need no glasses until they reach their late 30's and find that they use reading glasses before their friends. Shortly thereafter, they may notice that they see better for distance with their reading glasses. Soon after that they find that they are dependent on their glasses for near and far.

Unlike myopia where the eye is too long, in hyperopia the eye is too short or the cornea too flat so that light rays entering the eye want to focus at a spot behind the retina. Hyperopia or farsightedness can be helped with Laser Vision Correction. Some may find adequate treatment with the less invasive procedure of Conductive Keratoplasty (CK).

To find out if your hyperopia is eligible for treatment, give us a call to schedule your free screening.

Astigmatism

When an individual has astigmatism the cornea has two curvatures causing the cornea to be shaped more like a football. This causes blurred vision for both near and distant objects.

Astigmatism can exist alone or in combination with either myopia or hyperopia. Dr. Golden is experienced at treating individuals with even very large amounts of astigmatism. He performed LASIK on his wife more than eight years ago and she had 4.5 diopters (very high but half of the highest patient that Dr. Golden has treated) of astigmatism in each of her eyes. To this day she still has better than 20/20 vision. Dr. Golden particularly enjoys helping those with high astigmatism as they have such a profound change in their lives as those with high astigmatism have blurry vision both at near and far and nothing has ever been clear to them before.

To find out whether you have astigmatism and what can be done for you, come in for your complimentary screening evaluation.

Presbyopia

Laser Refractive Surgery is a predictable method of correcting farsightedness, nearsightedness and astigmatism. These vision problems occur because the size and shape of the eye does not allow light to focus at the proper position on the retina. Another vision problem that occurs universally as we age is a decrease in the ability of the lens to focus called presbyopia.

Presbyopia is a word derived from the Greek which means "aging eyes." It is entirely normal and starts to occur to those in their forties. The protein that makes up the lens in your eyes are flexible and soft when you are young and as you age the proteins in the lens become less flexible and harder. When the lens loses its ability to change its shape, then ability to focus on near objects is decreased. Presbyopia generally starts in the early to mid forties and worsens through about age sixty-five. With presbyopia, people who wear glasses need bifocals or take off their glasses if they are nearsighted, those wearing contact lenses or who have good vision for distance need reading glasses.

If you are in your 40’s, considering Laser Vision Correction, and nearsighted, you must understand that you will no longer be able to take your glasses off in order to see up close and because of presbyopia will need glasses to see up close. Laser Vision Correction in itself has no effect on your eye's focusing mechanism on the lens of the eye, so it does not correct for presbyopia. If you only require glasses for reading, Laser Vision Correction may not be your first choice. If you need distance vision correction because of nearsightedness, farsightedness or have astigmatism and need help with close vision because of presbyopia, Laser Vision Correction may be an option. You would have several options. Most people will chose to have full distance vision in both eyes, others will chose Monovision with one eye for distance and the other for near and others will enjoy the benefits of multifocality seen with Conductive Keratoplasty which would be performed after the Laser Vision Correction procedure has healed.

If you have only moderate nearsighted, you may find that having a procedure only in your dominant eye may leave you with good vision for near and far. In order to know what would be best for you, come in for a comprehensive examination and allow us to help you decide on what would be best for you.

Dr. Golden had Conductive Keratoplasty (CK) in August 2004 and quickly grew to enjoy his freedom from reading glasses, CK is not usually a permanent procedure, but can keep someone out of reading glasses for many years.

To find out what can be done for you and your eyes, schedule an appointment for your complimentary screening evaluation.