What is shortsightedness?
“Short-sighted” is a term used to describe nearsightedness or myopia. Being shortsighted means you can see objects that are close to you clearly, but distant objects appear blurry. It can occur if the eyeball is too long or the cornea is too steeply curved.
Shortsightedness can be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses or refractive eye surgery.
What makes someone shortsighted?
Your eyeball shape determines whether you are shortsighted or not.
Myopia occurs when light focuses too far in front of the retina.
On average, the dimensions of a typical eye are 0.95 inches tall, 0.93 inches wide, and 0.87 to 0.98 inches from front to back. Someone who is shortsighted has a longer eyeball from front to back.
When an eye has typical dimensions, light is able to enter it and focus directly onto the retina at the back of the eye. The retina uses light to create signals that are sent to the brain and made into images. So, the better lighting the retina has, the clearer an image will appear.
Because an eyeball with shortsightedness is longer than it should be, light lands in front of the retina and causes objects at a distance to appear blurry while close-up objects remain sharp.
