Hyperopia

What is hyperopia?

Hyperopia affects near-vision. A far-sighted child has a refractive visual disorder that occurs when the eye is too short, or their cornea and lens are too flat. The light beams do not converge enough and are directed at the back of the retina, making nearby objects blurry. The light reaches the eye but does not focus on the retina; the image is blurred, because it forms too far back. 

Hyperopia is, in a way, the opposite of myopia. This eye disorder is particularly common in children because the eye is smaller.

What are signs of hyperopia in children?

Does your child have difficulty distinguishing close objects but has better far vision? Do they get headaches? They may be hyperopic. 

If your child’s hyperopia is significant, it causes blurred near vision. If moderate, hyperopia can be compensated by a visual effort of focusing, called accommodation. This accommodation disorder depends on age and decreases over time. The effort of accommodation can cause visual fatigue, headaches, or even cause strabismus if the hyperopia is important.

In children, asymmetric hyperopia can cause amblyopia. That is to say, a visual development in which the brain favours learning vision by using the images provided by the better eye, and neglects those of the weaker eye, here the more hyperopic.

How can screening be carried out?

In order to correct this vision disorder, we advise you to carry out a visual assessment with your child’s ophthalmologist. The latter will carry out an examination of visual acuity and then refraction.

In children and young adults, the use of cycloplegiant drops, which temporarily paralyse the focusing power of the eye, is most often necessary to obtain a reliable measurement of hyperopia. Early screening and management of refractive disorders in children is essential to avoid amblyopia.

What are treatments for hyperopia in a child?

This vision disorder requires correction. There are several ways to correct hyperopia depending on the degree of correction:

• It is possible to correct hyperopia by wearing glasses with convex lenses. These corrective lenses will correct this anomaly. Your child will be able to see close-up again, and their vision will be clearer.

Treatments can evolve over time. Your child will have the opportunity to have access to the following treatments in the coming years:

• In order to benefit from a correction, it is also possible to obtain a prescription for contact lenses adapted to hyperopia. This solution allows young adults to have better eyesight and gain sharpness.
• In adults and in some cases, using laser refractive surgery can offer a long-term solution.

Find out more about children's visual disorders

Do you want to learn more about a particular visual condition? Discover our pages on myopia, congenital glaucoma, and astigmatism. We explain these visual disorders and tell you how to treat them to preserve your children’s visual acuity.