Is it hard to see distant objects, like highway signs, until you’re a few feet away, but easy to read a book up close? Chances are you have myopia, also known as nearsightedness. It’s a common condition that your eye doctor usually can fix with eyeglasses, contacts, or eye surgery.

Myopia Causes

The structure of your eye is to blame. When your eyeball is too long or the cornea -- the protective outer layer of your eye -- is too curved, the light that enters your eye won’t focus correctly. Images focus in front of the retina, the light-sensitive part of your eye, instead of directly on the retina. This causes blurred vision. Doctors call this a refractive error.

Myopia Risk Factors

Anyone can get myopia. There are a few things that increase your chances of getting it:

1. You have a family member with myopia. If you have a parent with myopia, your risk goes up, and if both your parents have it, your risk is even higher.
2. You spend lots of time doing close-up activities. If you read a lot or have a job that requires you to look at detail close up for long hours (such as craftwork or copyediting), your eyes are more likely to lose far vision.
3. You look at a screen for long periods. Studies show people -- especially kids -- who spend prolonged time on screens each day are at greater risk for nearsightedness.
4. You’re indoors most of the time. Spending time outside decreases your risk of myopia.

Myopia Treatment

Your prescription helps the eye focus light on your retina. That clears up your vision.
Myopia lenses Your doctor can prescribe several different types of lenses to correct your vision when you have myopia, including:
Eyeglasses. Typically, doctors start with concave eyeglasses to correct myopia before moving to contact lenses. If your prescription is higher than -3.00 D, you may need high-index lenses, which are thinner and lighter than regular plastic lenses.

Contact lenses

Contact lenses fit onto the surface of your eye. There are two types: rigid, gas-permeable lenses and soft, water-absorbing lenses. In addition to your vision prescription, your doctor also needs to measure the curvature of your eye to correctly fit your contact lenses. Contact lenses may not be an option for you if your eyes are dry.

Eye surgery can improve your vision so much that you may no longer need to wear glasses or contacts. The most common procedures for myopia are:

1. Photorefractive keratectomy: Also called PRK, this surgery uses a laser to sculpt the middle layer of your cornea. That flattens the cornea’s curve and lets light rays focus closer to or on your retina.
2. LASIK: This is the most common surgery for myopia. The surgeon uses a laser or another tool to create a thin flap on the top layer of your cornea. They sculpt the cornea with another laser and move the flap back into place.
3. EVO Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL): Using a microscopic incision, a contact lens made of a soft, polymeric materials implanted into your eye between you natural lens and your iris. It helps refract light on the retina, producing clearer vision.