About Vision > Normal Vision > What is Nearsightedness? > What is Farsightedness? > What is Astigmatism? > Eye Disorders and Diseases > Cataracts > Children's Vision

Nearsightedness (or myopia) refers to a visual condition of the eye in which close up images appear clearly, but far away images appear blurred. Nearsightedness is normally caused by the curvature of the front surface of the eye (cornea) being too steep.  Instead of light rays focusing directly on the retina in the back ofthe eye, the excess curvature of the cornea causes light rays entering the eye to focus in front of the retina. Nearsightedness can also be caused by the length of the eye being too long. As the light rays enter the eye, they are focused too sharply, thereby placing the focus point of the light images well in front of the retina. The steeper the cornea is in relation to the retina, or the longer the eye is, the greater the degree of nearsightedness the person will have. Today, nearly 70 million people in the United States suffer from nearsightedness.