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Educational content only
This page is general patient education, not medical advice. It does not diagnose conditions, recommend specific treatments for you, or replace a conversation with your eye care provider. Always consult a qualified clinician before making decisions about your eye health.
Farsightedness — hyperopia — makes near tasks harder than distance. It's common, easily corrected, and not a disease.
What helps
Here's the plan — and why it works.
First line
Glasses with plus lenses
Convex (plus-powered) lenses move the focal point forward onto the retina. Often only needed for reading at younger ages, full-time as presbyopia adds in.
Daily wear
Contact lenses
Hyperopia is fully correctable with both soft and rigid contact lenses. Multifocal contacts can help once you also have presbyopia.
Permanent
Refractive surgery
LASIK and PRK treat low-to-moderate hyperopia by steepening the central cornea. Higher hyperopia may be better treated with a lens-based procedure.
Higher Rx
Refractive lens exchange
For high hyperopia or patients near cataract age, replacing the natural lens with an artificial one can fully correct the prescription.
See us if
Your child squints, holds books unusually close, struggles with reading, or has frequent headaches — uncorrected farsightedness in children can interfere with school performance and can lead to amblyopia.
Common questions
Honest answers to common questions.
How is farsightedness different from presbyopia?+
Hyperopia is from the shape of your eye and is present from a young age. Presbyopia is age-related stiffening of the lens that affects everyone in their 40s. You can have both.
Will reading without glasses make my eyes worse?+
No. You may strain or get headaches, but you won't damage your eyes. Glasses make near work more comfortable; they don't change the underlying eye shape.
Why do farsighted children sometimes need glasses early?+
Children's focusing muscles work hard to compensate, which can cause an eye to drift inward (accommodative esotropia). Glasses relieve the focusing demand and can prevent or reverse the drift.
Can I outgrow farsightedness?+
Mild hyperopia in childhood often decreases as the eye grows. Moderate to high hyperopia usually doesn't go away, though glasses needs can change.
Is LASIK as good for hyperopia as for nearsightedness?+
LASIK works well for low-to-moderate hyperopia. Results for high hyperopia are less stable long-term; your surgeon will tell you if a lens-based option is a better fit.