What is hypermetropia?

The hypermetropic eye is an eye that is too long or insufficiently convergent, which means that the image of an object is not clear, as it is formed behind the retina. The young hypermetropic patient can compensate for his blurred or distorted vision by accommodating (increase of the eye’s overall convergence by deformation of the crystalline lens), but accommodation can entail headaches, especially during prolonged near vision, when this reflex action of the eye is triggered even more than usual.   Later on, hypermetropria is reflected in poor distant as well as poor near vision, particularly in cases of severe impairment or after 50 years of age, when the accommodation power of the eye has been drastically reduced (presbyopia).

Hypermetropia correction is carried out with ophthalmic lenses or convex contact lenses, which move the image towards the front of the retina.

The same effect can be achieved when the center of the cornea is curved out by means of laser (overall augmentation of the convergence of the eye).

Surgical treatment

When it does not exceed 4-5 diopters, and whether simple or associated with astigmatism, hypermetropia is corrected by Lasik surgery. When associated with presbyopia or exceeding 5 diopters, other techniques (intraocular implant) are to be considered. Age is the discriminating parameter between phakic refractive implants (for patients under 40 years of age) and multifocal implants (for those over 50), in which the natural crystalline lens, which has lost its physiological accommodation capacities, is replaced by an artificial crystalline lens.