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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffThe goal of treating farsightedness is to help to focus light on the retina through the use of corrective lenses or refractive surgery.
Corrective lenses
For most young people, the lenses of their eyes are flexible enough to compensate for the condition due to their ability to focus on nearby objects. Therefore, most young people with farsightedness don't need corrective lenses. But by middle age, the lenses become less flexible and most farsighted people need corrective lenses to improve their near vision.
Wearing corrective lenses treats farsightedness by counteracting the decreased curvature of your cornea or the smaller size (length) of your eye. Types of corrective lenses include:
- Eyeglasses. The variety of eyeglasses is wide and includes bifocals, trifocals and reading lenses.
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Contact lenses. An alternative to eyeglasses is contact lenses. A wide variety of contact lenses are available — hard, soft, extended wear, disposable, rigid gas-permeable (RGP) and bifocal. Ask your eye doctor about the pros and cons of contact lenses and what might be best for you.
Monovision contact lenses are commonly used by farsighted people who have started to experience presbyopia. With monovision contacts, you may not need correction for the eye you use for distance vision (usually the dominant eye), but a contact lens can be used for close-up vision in your other eye. Some people have trouble adapting to this kind of vision because 3-D vision is sacrificed in order to have the advantage of seeing clearly both nearby and in the distance. Monovision contacts can be worn intermittently as desired.
Modified monovision contact lenses are another option. With this type of contact lenses, you can wear a bifocal contact lens in your nondominant eye and a contact lens prescribed for distance in your dominant eye. You can then use both eyes for distance and one eye for seeing objects nearby.
Refractive surgery
Although most refractive surgical procedures are used to treat nearsightedness, they can also be used for farsightedness. These surgical treatments correct farsightedness by reshaping the curvature of your cornea. Refractive surgery methods include:
- Laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK). LASIK is a procedure in which an ophthalmologist uses an instrument called a keratome to make a thin, circular hinged cut into your cornea. (In some centers, the use of a keratome has been replaced by the use of a specially designed laser.) Your eye surgeon then uses an excimer laser to remove layers from the center of your cornea to steepen its domed shape. An excimer laser differs from other lasers in that it doesn't produce heat. After the excimer laser is used, the thin corneal flap is repositioned.
- Laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy (LASEK). Instead of creating a flap in the cornea, the surgeon creates a flap involving only the cornea's thin protective cover (epithelium). Your surgeon will use an excimer laser to reshape the cornea's outer layers and steepen its curvature and then reposition the epithelial flap. To facilitate healing, a bandage contact lens often is worn for several days after the procedure.
- Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). This procedure is similar to LASEK, except the surgeon removes the epithelium. It will grow back naturally, conforming to your cornea's new shape. PRK may be more uncomfortable than LASEK. Like the LASEK procedure, PRK requires the use of a bandage contact lens for a few days following surgery.
- Conductive keratoplasty (CK). This procedure uses radiofrequency energy to apply heat to tiny spots around the cornea. The effect resembles plastic wrap being stretched by heat. The degree of change in the curvature of the cornea depends on the number and spacing of the spots as well as the way in which the cornea heals after treatment. The results of CK are variable.
