Also known as hypermetropia, far-sightedness, and long-sightedness, this is the situation where the optical components of the eye (cornea, aqueous, crystalline lens, and vitreous) focus light from a distant source toward a point behind the retina.

It is corrected optically with a convex lens (one that is thicker in the center than on the edges) either in glasses or contact lenses, or LASIK can be done, but a new promising technique CK (conductive keratoplasty) is promising for possibly better results.  For hyperopes over the age of 40, lens exchange or "clear lens extraction" (essentially cataract surgery without the cataracts) is probably the best bet.   e-mail wstacy@obase.net if you want more information on this.

Human eyes can easily compensate for small amounts of hyperopia in youth, due to the flexibility of the crystalline lens, but this flexibility decreases in adulthood, eventually causing all hyperopes to need correction at some point in their lives.