Eye conditions
Noticing changes in your vision? Start with what you are experiencing
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Perhaps road signs are becoming harder to read, close-up text feels less clear, or your vision seems blurred or distorted at different distances.
These changes can have several causes. Many common focusing problems can be corrected effectively, although the right solution depends on your prescription, eye health, age and individual visual needs.
Clear guidance on the vision changes that may be affecting you.
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Common eye conditions we can help with
Different eye conditions can produce similar symptoms, so a professional assessment is the only way to confirm what is affecting your vision. Here is how to recognise some of the most common patterns.
Signs of eye conditions
Some common signs of eye conditions and focusing problems include:
- Blurred distance vision
- Difficulty reading close-up text
- Distorted or stretched-looking vision
- Squinting to see more clearly
- Eye strain or tired eyes
- Headaches associated with visual effort
- Increased glare around lights
- Difficulty seeing clearly at night
- Needing to move reading material further away
- A glasses or contact lens prescription that no longer feels sufficient
The pattern of symptoms can offer clues, but symptoms alone cannot confirm a diagnosis. Difficulty reading may relate to hyperopia or presbyopia, blurred distance vision may indicate myopia, and astigmatism can affect clarity at several distances alongside another refractive error. If you have a recent prescription, share it with our clinical team and they will advise on the corrective options available to you.
When to see your GP or optometrist instead
Optilase specialises in planned vision correction rather than diagnosing or treating every possible eye disease or urgent eye problem. Some symptoms need a different kind of assessment, so seek prompt medical or optometric advice if you experience any of the following:
- Sudden loss or significant deterioration of vision
- New flashing lights, or a dark curtain or shadow across your vision
- Severe eye pain
- A very red and painful eye
- Sudden double vision
- Significant sensitivity to light with pain or redness
- An eye injury
- A sudden onset of unusual visual symptoms
These symptoms should not be assumed to be a refractive problem that elective surgery can correct. If you are unsure whether Optilase is the right place for your symptoms, our team can explain the services we provide before you arrange a consultation.
Eye conditions in adults and changes with age
Vision naturally changes throughout adulthood, but not every change should automatically be put down to getting older. Myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism may already be present earlier in life and can change over time.
Presbyopia is different, because it is specifically associated with ageing of the natural lens. It typically begins to affect near vision from the mid-40s onwards, even in people who previously had very good eyesight.
As your eyes and visual priorities change, the most appropriate form of correction may change too. A younger adult with a stable prescription may be considered for Laser Eye Surgery, while age-related changes to the natural lens make a lens-based solution more relevant.
The aim of an assessment is therefore not simply to identify which eye condition you have, but to understand how your eyes, prescription and lifestyle fit together.
Finding the right treatment for you
Recognising your symptoms is only the first step. Treatment should be recommended after your eyes have been assessed, rather than chosen from a condition name alone.
What eye conditions can Laser Eye Surgery treat?
For suitable adults, Laser Eye Surgery can correct myopia, smaller ranges of hyperopia, and astigmatism by changing the shape of the cornea so light focuses more accurately on the retina.
More than one refractive error can sometimes be corrected during the same treatment. A patient may have myopia and astigmatism together, for example.
Presbyopia is different, because it develops as the natural lens loses its ability to change focus with age. The most appropriate treatment therefore depends on your age, prescription, natural lens and individual visual priorities.
Not everyone with one of these conditions is suitable for surgery. Glasses or contact lenses may remain the most appropriate form of correction for some people.
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Which condition sounds like yours?
This is a general guide only. Your assessment confirms what is affecting your vision and which options apply to you.
Blurred in the distance, clear up close?
Usually myopiaReading and screens feel tiring or blurred?
Usually hyperopiaBlur, glare or stretched lights at every distance?
Usually astigmatismHolding your phone further away since your mid-40s?
Usually presbyopia
Am I eligible?
Take our quick 2-minute suitability quiz to find out whether vision correction could be an option for you.
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What our patients say
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Eye conditions FAQs
Quick answers to the questions we hear most often about eye conditions and vision correction at Optilase.
The symptoms you notice can give an indication, but an eye assessment is needed to confirm the cause. Blurred distance vision may suggest myopia, difficulty focusing close up may point to hyperopia or presbyopia, and blurred or distorted vision across several distances may indicate astigmatism.
Other eye problems can cause similar symptoms, so it is worth having your eyes assessed rather than relying on self-diagnosis.
Yes. Refractive errors often occur together, such as myopia with astigmatism, or hyperopia with astigmatism. Presbyopia can also develop later in life whether or not you already have another refractive error.
Your assessment looks at your complete prescription rather than treating each element in isolation.
Laser Eye Surgery can correct many stable cases of myopia, and lower amounts of hyperopia and astigmatism, in suitable adults.
Suitability depends on factors including your prescription, corneal measurements, eye health and prescription stability. If laser treatment is not appropriate, another form of vision correction may sometimes be considered.
Some vision conditions can have a genetic component. Myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism can run in families, although genetics are not the only factor in whether somebody develops them.
Presbyopia is different: it is primarily associated with the natural ageing of the lens and eventually affects most adults to some degree.
Some vision changes are strongly associated with age. Presbyopia is the clearest example, as the natural lens gradually becomes less flexible and near focusing becomes more difficult.
Other prescriptions can also change throughout adulthood, but new or significant changes in vision should still be assessed rather than assumed to be part of normal ageing.
The treatments covered on this page are for adult vision correction. Children can develop refractive errors such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism, but their eyes are still developing and their care differs from elective adult vision correction.
If you are concerned about a child's vision, an optometrist or appropriate medical professional should be the first point of assessment.
No. Short-sightedness, long-sightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia are the vision problems Optilase offers a surgical solution for.
We do not diagnose or treat eye diseases such as glaucoma, macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy. If you have symptoms of those conditions, your GP or optometrist is the right first stop.
A sudden change in vision is different from the gradual focusing problems described on this page.
If you experience sudden vision loss, flashing lights, a dark shadow across your vision, severe eye pain or a red and painful eye, seek urgent medical or optometric assessment.
Find the right vision solution for you.Book a consultation.
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