Which is better to have, nearsightedness or farsightedness?

It depends on your age and the sorts of preferred activities you do most of the time.

Most professional athletes are mild to moderately hyperopic (the non-age-related farsightedness). They typically see better than 20/20 at a distance -which comes in very useful for chasing balls, pucks, and for target practice.

Myopic (nearsighted) people need glasses or contact lenses to see properly at distance but have a default focal point at near. This can come in handy in middle age when presbyopia sets in and most of their friends are getting reading glasses. A middle-age myope can typically just take off his glasses and see up close without readers. Such people often prefer this to wearing bifocals.

_Written by J. Trevor Woodhams, M.D. - Chief of Surgery, Woodhams Eye Clinic