Farsightedness (hyperopia) is a common refractive error where the eye does not focus light properly, often leading to difficulty seeing objects up close. The necessity for constant lens correction depends on a person’s age, the degree of their prescription, and their daily activities.
Defining Farsightedness (Hyperopia)
Hyperopia occurs when the shape of the eye causes light to focus at a point behind the retina instead of directly on its surface. This faulty focus is typically the result of an eyeball that is slightly shorter than average or a cornea that has a curvature that is too flat. Close-up objects, like text in a book, appear blurry.
The eye’s natural lens can sometimes compensate for this focusing error through a process called accommodation. This involves the lens changing shape to increase its converging power, temporarily shifting the focal point forward onto the retina. Corrective lenses, such as glasses, contain a convex or positive-powered lens that performs a similar action, adding the necessary power to converge light correctly. This external correction allows the eye muscles to relax, achieving a clear image without the strain of constant internal adjustment.
Determining Your Wearing Schedule
The decision to wear your glasses constantly depends significantly on the magnitude of the hyperopia correction needed. People with a low degree of hyperopia (under +2.00 diopters) may only require their glasses for visually demanding tasks. A young person’s eye has a robust accommodative system that can easily overcome a mild prescription, meaning their distance vision may remain sharp even without correction.
The need for constant wear increases proportionally with the severity of the prescription. Individuals with a moderate to high level of hyperopia may find that both near and distant vision are blurred without their lenses. For these higher prescriptions, wearing the glasses full-time ensures visual clarity at all distances and is necessary to prevent eye strain.
Age is another significant factor that changes the wearing schedule, especially after the early forties. The eye’s natural ability to accommodate declines with age, a condition known as presbyopia, because the crystalline lens loses its flexibility. Even a mild hyperopia that was easily compensated for in youth can begin to cause symptoms, as the eye can no longer maintain focus.
For this reason, most people over 40 with a hyperopic prescription will need to wear their glasses almost all the time for comfortable vision. Additionally, specific visual demands dictate the necessity of wearing correction, regardless of age or severity. Prolonged activities like reading, working on a computer screen, or performing detailed craftwork should always be done with the prescribed lenses to minimize the effort required by the internal eye muscles.
Recognizing the Signs of Eye Strain
When a hyperopic eye attempts to overcome its focusing error without corrective lenses, the ciliary muscles must work overtime to accommodate. This prolonged muscular effort, known as asthenopia, signals the need for visual support. Experiencing a persistent, dull ache across the forehead or above the eyebrows, often called a frontal headache, is a common symptom of this strain.
Another clear sign is eye fatigue or tiredness, which typically worsens after extended periods of close-up work. The eyes may feel heavy, dry, or uncomfortable, sometimes accompanied by a heightened sensitivity to light. Without correction, the constant internal struggle to focus may lead to intermittent blurring, particularly when shifting focus between distances.
A behavioral indicator is the tendency to squint when attempting to concentrate on nearby objects. Squinting temporarily helps to sharpen the image slightly but does not eliminate the underlying focusing problem. If these symptoms are present while wearing a current prescription, it may signal that the prescription needs to be updated or that the glasses should be worn more consistently.