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Hyperopia (farsightedness) in children
Last reviewed: 07.07.2025
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Hyperopia (farsightedness) is a physiological type of refraction when it comes to a young child. This type of refraction is caused by the short anterior-posterior axis of the eyeball, the small diameter of the cornea and the shallow anterior chamber. The thickness of the lens is usually unchanged.
[ The Importance of Hyperopia (Farsightedness) in Children
In the absence of accommodation disorders, hypermetropia during the first 10 years of life is rarely accompanied by clinical symptoms. Subsequent weakening of accommodation can lead to the appearance of asthenopic complaints - headaches and blurred vision. Of greatest practical importance is the close connection between hypermetropia and convergent strabismus.
Associated changes in the organ of vision
Hyperopia (farsightedness) can be combined with other disorders, the main one being strabismus. Associated pathology of the visual organ includes:
- strabismus (accommodative form and convergent strabismus in newborns);
- microphthalmos;
- pseudoedema of the optic disc;
- positive angle alpha.
Associated general disorders
High degrees of hyperopia (farsightedness) occur in combination with certain general disorders, including:
- albinism;
- Franceschetti syndrome (microphthalmos, macrophakia, tapetoretinal degeneration);
- Leber's congenital amaurosis;
- autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa.
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Treatment of hyperopia (farsightedness) in children
In young children with a mild degree of hyperopia and no strabismus, correction of ametropia is usually not required. In the case of concomitant convergent strabismus, full correction is usually prescribed (according to the data of the refraction study under cycloplegia) in order to eliminate strabismus or reduce the angle of deviation of the eye. In older children with asthenopic complaints (blurred vision and headaches), ametropia is necessarily corrected. The question of whether undetected hyperopia affects the learning ability of preschool children remains controversial. The question of whether uncorrected hyperopia at an early age causes strabismus is also debatable.