Difference Between Myopia and Hyperopia

Myopia and Hyperopia, both are the problems with eye-sight. Myopia is the short-sightedness and Hyperopia is the long-sightedness. In these defects of the vision of an eye, a person is unable to see the nearby or distant objects. Some other vision problems are astigmatism, presbyopia, etc. These defects may occur at any stage of life, in which the shape of the eye gets altered. These problems can be corrected by using spectacles or lenses. Both are similar, but still difference between Myopia and Hyperopia is important to understand.  This article will discuss similarity and difference between Myopia and Hyperopia.

What is Myopia?

Myopia is a disease of eye and termed as near-sightedness. The person suffering from Myopia is unable to see the distant objects clearly, whereas the closer objects are easily visible as they are. Headaches, squinting, eye strain, etc are the common symptoms of myopia.  This problem may be due to hereditary, excess reading, working on computers, and mobile phones. Its treatment is manageable by using concave lenses or by surgery.

What is Hyperopia?

Hyperopia is a disease of the eye and termed as long-sightedness. The word hyperopia is taken from the Greek word which means “oversight”. The person affected by this problem is not able to view closer objects clearly, resulting in blurry vision but the distant objects are clearly visible. Its symptoms include a headache, eye strain, squinting, accommodative dysfunction, amblyopia, and binocular dysfunction. This problem occurs due to the short eyeball, imperfection of the eyes, abnormal shape of the cornea as well as due to weakening of the ciliary muscles. Some other causes of it are diabetes, certain kinds of medications, family history, etc.

Difference between Myopia and Hyperopia

The important difference between Myopia and Hyperopia

Parameter	MYOPIA	HYPEROPIA
Causes	Due to elongated eyeball or due to the curved cornea.	Due to the flattened eyeball or short eyeball.
Image formed	Formation of blurry vision of the distant objects, but closer objects are visible.	Formation of blurry vision of the nearby objects, but distant objects are visible.
Shape of the eyeball	The eyeball is too long.	The eyeball is too short.
Treatment	It can be treated by using the concave lens of appropriate focal length.	It can be treated by using the convex lens of appropriate focal length.
Associated complications	It may develop into glaucoma and cataract.	It may develop complications like amblyopia and strabismus as well as the problem of double vision.

FAQs on Myopia and Hyperopia:

Q.1: Is the shape of the eyeball may be a reason behind Myopia or Hyperopia?

Answer: Yes. The shape of the eyeball is the main reason behind Myopia and Hyperopia. As too long eyeball is happening in the case of myopia and the too-short eyeball is happening in the case of hyperopia.

Q.2: What are the extreme results possible due to Myopia and Hyperopia?

Answer: These problems are not life-threatening, but these may lead to blindness in some severe cases.