Hypermetropia - Symptoms of long-sightedness

If you are long-sighted (hyperopia), you can see distant objects clearly, but objects near to you are out of focus.

Adults

The eyesight of adults often deteriorates with age. Long-sightedness in adults (presbyopia) often becomes more noticeable after the age of 40.

If you develop long-sightedness, you may notice that:

• nearby objects are fuzzy and out of focus, but distant objects are clear
• you have to squint to see clearly
• your eyes may feel tired after activities that involve focusing on nearby objects, such as reading, writing or working on a computer
• you experience pain or burning in your eyes
• you experience headaches

Children

Children who are long-sighted do not often have problems with their eyesight. The lenses in children's eyes tend to be more flexible than those of adults and are able to compensate for long-sightedness.

However, it is still important that young children have regular eyesight tests to check for conditions such as long-sightedness.

If left untreated, long-sightedness can lead to complications such as crossed eyes (strabismus) or lazy eye (amblyopia).

Read more about the complications of long-sightedness.

If your child is severely long-sighted, the signs and symptoms may include:

• red or tearful eyes
• squinting when looking at close objects
• blinking and rubbing their eyes more than usual 
• reading problems
• headaches

Read more about hearing and vision tests for children.