Vision-Related Terms Defined

Need a little clarity on some keywords related to your vision? Gain some insight about sight while browsing through our mini-glossary!

Myopia

Nearsightedness.

Objects up close appear clear, while objects far away appear blurry.

Hyperopia

Farsightedness.

A little trickier. Objects far away are seen more clearly than objects close up; however, different people may experience farsightedness differently. For people with significant farsightedness, vision may be blurry at any distance - near and far.

Astigmatism

Noticing halos around street lights or a “starburst” effect at night.

An asymmetry in the eye’s curvature where light focuses at two different points in the eye instead of at one single point. This phenomenon leads to images appearing blurry, stretched out, and/or distorted.

Presbyopia

It happens to the best of us as PART OF growing up.

Affecting most people at some point over 38 years, difficulty focusing at close-range and reading fine print.

Lazy Eye

The brain favors the better-seeing eye.

One eye is weaker than the other, leading to noticeably blurred vision in that eye compared to the other.

The eyes may not work together, resulting in poor depth perception.

Strabismus

Crossed eyes.

A type of lazy eye in which the eyes do not properly align with one another when focusing on an image. One eye turns inwards, outwards, upwards or downwards from the other eye.