The difference between myopia and hyperopia is that myopia is short-sightedness while hyperopia is long-sightedness. The person affected with myopia can see the near things clearly but cannot see the distant things clearly. While the person affected with hyperopia can see the distant things clearly while cannot see the near things.
Both myopia and hyperopia are defects of vision in which the affected person is unable to appreciate the nearly present things and distant things in a clear way respectively. In myopia, the affected person cannot visualize the distant things while in hyperopia, the affected person cannot visualize the near things. Both are types of refractive errors. There are several causes of myopia like the elongation of the eyeballs, or when the curve of the cornea is increased than normal, or when the focal length of the eyeball is reduced, and thus the rays of light are diverted from the normal pathway. The causes of hyperopia include, if the length of the eyeball is less than normal, the normal curve of the cornea is less than normal or when the focal length of the eyeball is increased than normal and thus light rays are not focussed correctly on the retina.
In the condition of myopia, the light rays entering the eyeball are not focussed on retina rather they are focussed in front of retina, and that is the reason that near things are clearly visible but distant things are not while in the case of hyperopia, the light rays are focussed behind retina and that is why distant things are visible but near things appear blurred. Myopia usually occurs in younger adults while hyperopia occurs in older adults usually after the age of 40 years. Risk factors for myopia are environmental factors, harmful radiation; sunlight, hereditary, or continuous work on laptop, mobiles or computers. The risk factors for hyperopia are diabetes, hereditary defects causing short eyeballs and weakening of the ciliary muscles.
Myopia is treated by the concave lenses of appropriate focal length because they diverge light rays while hyperopia is treated by the convex lenses because they converge light rays. The complications of myopia are the development of glaucoma and cataract while complications of hyperopia are the development of amblyopia and strabismus. Double vision and over focusing may also occur.
Comparison chart
| Basis | Myopia | Hyperopia |
| Definition | It is a condition in which the person can see the near things clearly but cannot appreciate the distant things. | It is a condition in which the person can see distant things clearly but cannot appreciate the near objects. |
| Occurs in | Usually, it occurs in younger adults before the age of 20 to 25. | Usually, it occurs in older individuals usually after the age of 50 years of age. |
| Causes | In this disorder, the length of the eyeball is elongated, or curve of the cornea is enhanced than normal of the focal length of the eyeball is reduced. | In this condition, the length of the eyeball is decreased, or the focal length of the eyeball is increased than normal, or the cornea becomes steeper. |
| Light rays focus upon | The light rays entering the eyeball are focussed in front of the retina | The light rays entering the eyeball are focussed behind the retina. |
| Risk factors | The risk factors for this condition are environmental factors, radiation, age, hereditary and continuous work on laptop or computer screen. | Risk factors for hyperopia are diabetes, hereditary, age, weakness of ciliary muscles and environmental factors. |
| Complications | The complications of this condition are glaucoma, cataract, and squint if untreated. | The complications of this condition are strabismus, amblyopia and double vision in the later age. |
| Treatment | Myopia is treated by concave lenses because it diverges the light rays. | Hyperopia is treated with convex lenses because it diverges the light rays. |
What is Myopia?
Myopia is also termed as short-sightedness. It is a condition in which the affected person can see the near things clearly, but he/she is unable to visualize the distant things. It occurs usually in young individuals. There may be many reasons for this condition like if the length of the eyeball is elongated than normal or when the focal length is reduced or if the curvature of the cornea is enhanced, the light rays will focus in front of the retina instead of the normal focusing on the retina. Thus, in the treatment of myopia, concave lenses are used which diverge the light rays and focus them on the retina. It is proved from studies, if the kids take part in outdoor activities, the chances of occurrence of myopia are reduced. If myopia not treated, many complications may occur like glaucoma, cataract, and squint if not treated.
What is Hyperopia?
Hyperopia is also termed as long-sightedness. It is called so because the affected person can see distant things but cannot appreciate the near things clearly. It usually occurs in the later age. There may be many reasons for hyperopia, i.e., if the length of the eyeball is less then normal or if the curve of the cornea becomes steeper or if the focal length of the eyeball is enhanced, the light rays entering the eyeball focus behind the retina instead of normal focusing on the retina. Thus, convex lenses are used for the treatment of hyperopia because they converge the light rays and focus them on the retina. If hyperopia is not treated, many complications may occur like strabismus, amblyopia and double vision in the later stages. Diabetic patients are more prone to develop hyperopia because of the weakening of the ciliary muscles.
Key Differences between Myopia and Hyperopia
- In myopia, the affected person cannot appreciate the distant things clearly while in hyperopia, the affected person cannot appreciate the near things clearly.
- In myopia, the light rays focus in front of the retina while in hyperopia the light rays focus behind the retina.
- Myopia usually occurs in younger individuals while hyperopia usually occurs at an advanced
- In myopia, the length of the eyeball is increased, or the curve of the cornea is enhanced while in hyperopia, the curve of the cornea becomes steeper, or the length of the eyeball is reduced.
- Myopia is treated by concave lenses because they diverge the light rays while hyperopia is treated with convex lenses because they converge the light rays.
Conclusion
Myopia and hyperopia are the types of refractive errors in which the vision is affected. It is important for medical students to know the differences between both conditions. In the above article, we learned the clear differences between myopia and hyperopia.
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