Kennedy Vision Health Center

When an eye provides a camera system for the patient that focuses all light perfectly on the retina, the eye is said to be emmetropic. Emmetropia is the condition of perfect 20/20 vision and is the ultimate goal of every patient and our doctor.

Unfortunately, not all eyes we were born with can achieve this goal without some form of correction, or other vision aid or surgery. That is our goal at The Eye Clinic for all our patients who have solid health and wellness already going for them.

Only a vision examination will determine if emmetropia is a realistic goal for you.

Hyperopia or farsightedness is the term used to describe an eye that can focus on objects that are further away, but has a very difficult time seeing clearly objects whish are close. In the hyperopic eye, the length of the eye from Cornea back to the retina is shorter than normal, which prevents the crystalline lens in the eye from focusing correctly on the retina the images which are in the distance.

Studies and statistics vary, but most indicate that about 25% of the population has some degree of hyperopia. Hyperopic patients must consider more routine eye examinations because as a shorter eye than normal, they also share a higher risk for glaucoma and other issues associated with degenerative disorders of the eye as they age.

Hyperopia can be corrected with glasses or contacts in most patients. There are also some Laser and new intraocular procedures that can correct the hyperopic condition in most patients. Hyperopic patients most often also have Astigmatism within their vision problems, and new treatments for these combination issues in the hyperopic patient have recently been introduced.

Your doctor at Kennedy Vision can tell you more about the options for the Hyperopic patient.

Myopia

The myopic or “nearsighted” patient is when you can see objects clearly in the close distance, but when objects are further away they become blurred and out of focus. Myopia is usually associated with your eyes at birth and most consider it a genetic disorder of vision. However, is sometimes can develop in early adulthood. If you work at very close distances, you can over time develop myopic condition in your vision.

The myopic eye is at higher risk for retinal detachment and is another reason that myopic patients should take their annual examinations seriously throughout their adult life. Although rare, the retinal detachment rates are still under investigation by leading eyecare institutions as they relate to the myopic patients.

Most myopic conditions can be accommodated in the younger patients and if not, they most often can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses. Sometimes, myopia continues to increase as we grow older. That is why the older we get the more you must change glasses Rx and increase the power within your prescription.

Myopia is a condition that affects many people. Over the last ten years many new surgical treatments have been FDA approved and introduced to correct the myopic condition. LASIK, PRK and other new procedures can correct myopia and nearsightedness. Ask your doctor at Kennedy Vision about how you might learn more about the alternatives available for the myopic condition. It’s an exciting time for the treatment of myopia as we have excellent results and many happy patients who have chosen to have their myopia corrected with Laser based surgery.

Presbyopia

As a person reaches the ages of 40 to 45, they usually develop a condition called presbyopia. This condition is caused from the aging process inside the eye and there is nothing you can do to stop the process. Even if you have never had an issue with your eyesight and vision, you will eventually reach a state of presbyopia.

Presbyopia is the condition where the eye can no longer focus on objects near the eye. The presbyopic patients have a difficult time reading the newspaper without reading glasses or contact lenses. Most patients believe that this condition happens “all of a sudden” but in fact it happens over a long extended time. The condition comes to mind when functional vision is impaired enough to effect reading.

Bifocals or reading glasses are a way to remedy this situation and many of our patients have benefited from the wide range of glasses or fitted contact lenses from our office.

There are also some very exciting new procedures for the treatment of presbyopia. The doctors at Kennedy Vision can tell you more about these new procedures and treatment options to see if they are right for you and your lifestyle.

Astigmatism

Astigmatism is a condition where the cornea is irregularly shaped, causing the eye to focus an object on two different points within the camera system of the eye. The retina is like the camera film in the eye and with astigmatism, the vision is impaired as the images from two different images are attempted to be focused at the same time.

The normal cornea is dome-shaped, like a basketball and bends light equally across the entire surface of the corneal lens. Astigmatic corneas are shaped more like a football. With a distorted cornea shaped like a football, the image the patient sees is distorted into a longer shape in one plane vs. the other. This is true with vision when looking at objects close-up and far away.

The cause of astigmatism is unknown. Mild astigmatism usually doesn\'t need to be corrected. At the The Eye Clinic, our doctors use eyeglasses, contact lenses, or refractive surgery options to correct moderate to high degrees of astigmatism.

A vision examination will tell you if you suffer from astigmatism. A consult with our doctors can help you determine which form of treatment is best for you. The good news is that there continues to be improved products and options for this condition in glasses, contacts and in new surgical procedures and implants.