Explain the causes of myopia (shortsightedness) and describe how it is corrected.

Question

Accepted Answer

In myopia, distant objects appear blurry because their images form in front of the retina instead of exactly on it. This happens for two main reasons: (1) the eyeball becomes elongated, increasing the distance between the lens and the retina; or (2) the ciliary muscles do not relax enough when viewing distant objects, so the lens remains too thick and its focal length becomes shorter than required. As a result, the far point of a myopic eye is not at infinity but at some finite distance.