Nearsightedness

I can see close up but not far away.

Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is the most common of all refractive errors. Over 25% of the population has some degree of nearsightedness. Nearsighted people can see various ranges of near objects clearly but distant objects are out of focus.

The most common cause of myopia is from an elongated eyeball. This extra length causes light from distant objects to converge to a focal point before reaching the retina. Beyond the focal point, the light rays diverge. Since the retina only captures the quality of the image that reaches it, the brain receives an image that is out of focus.