Myopia and hyperopia

23/5/06
 Focal length & refractive power
 Focal length is the distance between a lens
and the object being focused.
 The focal point is where different beams of
light join together into a focus.
 The refractive power of a lens is how much
that lens will bend (refract) a light beam.
 For a biconvex lens a highly curved lens will
have a higher refractive power than a flatter
lens.
 Myopia
 Myopia means short or near sighted.
 People with myopia can see near
objects well, but have trouble
focussing on more distant objects.
 Myopia is often caused by the eyeball
being too long, so that light refracted
by the lens becomes focussed in front
of the retina.
Myopia
 Hyperopia
 Hyperopia means long or far sighted.
 People with hyperopia can see distant objects
correctly but have difficulty focussing on near
objects.
 Hyperopia can be caused by an eyeball which
is too short, so that the light from near
objects is focussed behind the retina.
 Hyperopia can also be caused by a gradual
hardening of the lens with age, which results
in reduced accommodation.
Hyperopia
 Corrective technologies
 The most common means of correcting both myopia
and hyperopia is by using corrective eye glasses
(spectacles).
 To correct myopia concave lenses are used in the
spectacles to lengthen the focal length of the light
coming from distant objects.
 To correct hyperopia convex lenses are used which
shorten the focal length of the light coming from
nearby objects.
 Contact lenses with the same shaped lenses may
also be used.
 Surgical techniques
 In recent years surgical techniques
have been used to change the shape,
and hence the refractive power, of the
lens to correct both myopia and
hyperopia.
.
 Photo-refractive keratectomy uses a
computer operated laser to reshape the
cornea.