Hyperopia is otherwise called as "long-sightedness" or "far-sightedness". You are Hyperopic if you can see distant objects, but not the close ones. The reason for this is either because y our cornea is flatter or the eyeball is shorter than normal, so the light is focused behind your retina rather than directly on to it. It may or may not be directly linked to what you do; i t could be an inherited problem.

You may be young and hyperopic, but may not realise it because of the beauty of the eye's accommodative nature. As you get older and nearly at the age of 40 - 45 years, your eyes will lose their ability gradually to accommodate and so making you to realise you are hyperopic. As a hyperopic, usually you may have trouble seeing closer object, but you may also have difficulty in seeing distant objects too.

There are three types of Hyperopia, namely:

• Axial Hyperopia is the most common type where your eyeball is shorter than normal and the light passed through your cornea is focussed beyond the retina.

• Curvature Hyperopia is caused by the fact that your cornea is flatter than normal, causing the light passed through your cornea to get focussed beyond the retina.

• Refractive Hyperopia is caused when your eyes lose their ability to accommodate.

If you are young and detected hyperopic, your treatment may include dilating of your eye to prevent it from using the natural accommodative behaviour. As a hyperopic, you might get headaches while watching TV, computer monitor etc.

Depending on your age and other factors like your profession and activities, the treatment may vary. If you are young, you may or may not need glasses or contact lenses depending your eyes' ability to accommodate. Corrective glasses and / or contact lens are the most common treatment methods followed if you are 40 years of age or older. But in recent years, refractive procedures like LASIK have become popular and give you an option of not having to depend on glasses, contact lens through out your life.

The surgeon will be able to help in deciding on what treatment you could get after your eyes are diagnosed.