What exactly happens to our eyes when they are not focused and see distant images as blurred? What is it about our eyes that make us nearsighted? The answer lies mainly in three parts of our eyes: our eyeball, our retina and our cornea.

Either because of genetics or because of too much eye stress, our eyeballs become too long which make the visual images entering our eyes fall in the wrong place. They are refracted in front of our retina. Retina lines the back of our eyeballs.  It receives the light and transport it to our brains that recognizes the images.  Normally, the light converge in the retina but with nearsightedness, the light converge before the retina which makes the turns the image out of focus.

We also develop nearsightedness when our cornea, the transparent layer that covers our pupil, becomes too curved which also affects the light that enters our eyes.

Eyeglasses and contact lenses correct this condition of the eyeballs and cornea by bending the images which allows them to be properly focused at the back of our eyes. A lasik laser eye surgery can also correct this condition by changing the shape of the cornea. Lasik uses laser on the cornea to remove a small amount of tissue in the middle layer of the cornea.

Eyeglasses and contact lenses are effective for those who are nearsightedness but many people are now turning to lasik because with lasik procedure, they don’t have to bring anything or wear anything. Their eyes will be re-focused and their eyes can easily focus on distant objects a few days after the procedure.