My Alcon | US

Each of the conditions listed below occur from what is called a refractive error. These are optical flaws that prevent the eye from properly focusing light, causing blurred vision. Depending on the flaw, they can affect your vision differently – resulting in nearsightedness, farsightedness, presbyopia or astigmatism. All of which can be corrected with contact lenses.

NEARSIGHTEDNESS

WHAT IS NEARSIGHTEDNESS?

Nearsightedness, or myopia, causes distant objects to appear out of focus while closer objects still appear clearly.

CONTACT LENSES FOR NEARSIGHTEDNESS

Brown dog appearing in focus in foreground with person in distance appearing out of focus

SYMPTOMS

Distant objects appear blurry
Eye strain
Headaches
Eye fatigue

TREATMENT

Most people who are nearsighted can correct their vision with glasses, contact lenses, or LASIK eye surgery. Of course, you should always talk to your eye doctor about your options. Don’t have an eye doctor? Click to Find An Eye Doctor near you.

FARSIGHTEDNESS

WHAT IS FARSIGHTEDNESS?

Farsightedness, or hyperopia, is when distant objects appear in focus, but objects up close appear blurry. When there’s a higher amount of hyperopia, both near and distant objects appear blurry. If you're over 40 and experience this, you may have presbyopia.

CONTACT LENSES FOR FARSIGHTEDNESS

Dog appearing out of focus in foreground with child appearing in focus in distance

SYMPTOMS

Close objects appear blurrylenses
Eye strain
Headaches
Eye fatigue

TREATMENT

Most people can correct their farsightedness with glasses, contact lenses, or LASIK eye surgery. Be sure to discuss your options with your eye doctor. Need an eye doctor? Click to Find An Eye Doctor near you.

PRESBYOPIA

WHAT IS PRESBYOPIA?

Presbyopia occurs naturally with age. Starting around age 40, many people begin to notice an inability to focus up close. Even nearsighted people will experience blurred vision when wearing their usual eyeglasses or contact lenses. Learn more about presbyopia here.

CONTACT LENSES FOR PRESBYOPIA

Close up of person looking at phone screen appearing out of fous

SYMPTOMS

Needing readers to see things clearly up close as you age
Difficulty reading in low light, extending your arm to read, using a giant font size on your phone
Squinting
Eye fatigue

TREATMENT

There are a lot of ways to deal with your aging eyes, but Alcon multifocal contact lenses may be your best bet. Our multifocal contact lenses help you see clearly at all distances, near through far, without the hassle of readers or prescription glasses. Think you have presbyopia but don’t have an eye doctor? Click to Find An Eye Doctor near you.

ASTIGMATISM

WHAT IS ASTIGMATISM?

Astigmatism occurs when the cornea is shaped like a football, as opposed to spherical like a basketball. This causes fuzzy, blurred vision and can make images appear stretched. Not to worry, it can all be corrected with a toric contact lens.

CONTACT LENSES FOR ASTIGMATISM

Triangle diagram showing what vision looks like with glare, double vision, and blurriness

SYMPTOMS

Some degree of blurry or distorted vision at all distances
Eye strain
Headaches
Squinting

TREATMENT

People will often turn to glasses or toric contact lenses to correct astigmatism. Refractive surgery such as LASIK is also an option. We recommend making an appointment with your eye doctor to talk about your options. If you don’t have an eye doctor click to Find An Eye Doctor near you.