Myopia (short sightedness): symptoms and treatment options
Independent · Clinic verification in progress · Medical review pending · Updated
The eye focuses light in front of the retina, so near objects are clear and distant ones are blurred. It is the refractive error most commonly treated with laser vision correction.
- By
- SmilePro.ae editorial team
- Review status
- Medical review pending: what this means
- Published
- Last updated
Quick answer
The eye focuses light in front of the retina, so near objects are clear and distant ones are blurred. It is the refractive error most commonly treated with laser vision correction.
General educational information about a subject, not an assessment of your own eyes. Suitability and treatment decisions are made by a qualified ophthalmologist who has examined you.
- Subject
- Condition
- Questions on this subject
- 20
- Explained in
- 1 guide
- Related subjects
- 12
Myopia (short sightedness)
The eye focuses light in front of the retina, so near objects are clear and distant ones are blurred. It is the refractive error most commonly treated with laser vision correction.
Also known as myopia, short sightedness, short-sightedness, nearsightedness, short sight
Questions about Myopia (short sightedness)
Each answer below is the short version; the question links to the page that carries it in full, with sources.
- Can LASIK correct short sightedness?
Short sightedness is the most commonly treated refractive error with LASIK. Whether your particular prescription is within a range that can be safely corrected depends on your corneal thickness and other measurements.
- Can high myopia be treated with LASIK?
Higher prescriptions can sometimes be treated, but the amount of tissue the correction requires rises with the prescription, so corneal thickness becomes the deciding factor more often than the prescription itself.
- Can SMILE treat high short sightedness?
SMILE is used at higher short sighted prescriptions than some older surface techniques, but what can be treated still depends on the cornea rather than on the prescription alone.
- Which procedure is suitable for high short sightedness?
The limiting factor is how much corneal tissue the correction requires, not the procedure name. Techniques that remove less tissue, and lens-based options, come into their own as prescriptions rise.
- What is short sightedness (myopia)?
Short sightedness is a condition in which light from distant objects comes to focus in front of the retina instead of on it, which makes distance vision blurred while close vision stays relatively clear.
- What causes short sightedness?
Short sightedness is caused by the shape of the eye, meaning its length and the curvature of the cornea, and it develops from a combination of inherited tendency and environmental factors such as time spent on close work.
- Can short sightedness get worse?
Yes, particularly in childhood and the teenage years, when the eye is still growing. Progression usually slows and then stabilises in early adulthood, though it does not stabilise at the same age for everyone.
- Can short sightedness be corrected permanently?
The focusing error can be corrected permanently by laser surgery in suitable eyes, in the sense that the corneal reshaping does not reverse. The eye can still change with age, so the prescription can drift later in life.
- Can short sightedness come back after laser surgery?
A small amount of regression is possible, and the cornea does not regrow the tissue that was removed. What is more common is a prescription change related to ageing rather than a return of the original error.
- Can short sightedness be treated with laser eye surgery?
Yes, short sightedness is the refractive error most commonly treated with LASIK. How much can be corrected for a given eye depends on corneal thickness and shape rather than on the prescription alone.
- Can SMILE correct short sightedness?
Yes. SMILE is designed for short sightedness and for short sightedness combined with astigmatism, and suitability is assessed from your measurements.
- What are the options for high short sightedness?
The options for high short sightedness are laser procedures where the cornea can safely spare the tissue, and lens-based options such as an implantable lens where it cannot. Which applies to you depends on your measurements.
All 17 Myopia questions, searchable
Where this is covered in full
- The vision knowledge base
Every question the site answers about eyes and vision, grouped by subject, with a search box.
Related subjects
- Hyperopia (long sightedness)
The eye focuses light behind the retina. Younger eyes often compensate without noticing, which is why it tends to present later than short sightedness and is assessed more cautiously for surgery.
- Astigmatism
The cornea is curved unevenly, so light is focused differently across different axes and the blur is not the same in every direction. It commonly occurs alongside short or long sightedness.
- LASIK
Flap-based laser vision correction: a thin surface layer of the cornea is lifted, the tissue beneath it is reshaped, and the layer is replaced without stitches.
- Femto LASIK
LASIK in which the flap is created by a femtosecond laser instead of a mechanical instrument, which is a difference in how the flap is made rather than in what the procedure corrects.
- SMILE
Lenticule extraction: a lenticule is shaped inside the cornea and removed through a small incision, so there is no flap.
- SMILE Pro
The current generation of the SMILE platform, built around a faster laser and an automated centring step. The clinical idea is unchanged: a lenticule is removed through a small incision.
- PRK
Surface treatment: the outer layer of the cornea is removed and the tissue beneath it is reshaped, with no flap and no lenticule. The surface then regrows, which is why the first week is slower.
- TransPRK
A surface treatment in which the outer layer of the cornea and the reshaping beneath it are treated in one laser pass, without alcohol, a blade or a flap.
- Refractive lens exchange (RLE)
The natural lens is replaced with an intraocular lens for a refractive reason rather than because of cataract. It is a lens procedure, so it is the option that reaches prescriptions no corneal procedure can.
- ICL
An implantable lens is placed inside the eye in front of the natural lens. Nothing is removed from the cornea, which is why it comes up where a prescription is outside what corneal procedures can treat.
- Glasses
Lenses that correct the focus of the eye without changing it. They remain the reference point against which every vision correction procedure is measured, and the one option that is fully reversible.
- Contact lenses
Lenses worn on the surface of the eye. They correct the same errors as glasses, and they change the shape of the cornea while worn, which is why wearing has to stop before a surgical measurement.
This page describes what is generally true about myopia (short sightedness). It is not a diagnosis, and it cannot say whether a treatment is suitable for you, because suitability depends on measurements taken during an examination.
Sources & further reading
We prefer primary sources. Where a claim comes from a manufacturer, a single study or a regulator, it is labelled as such below.
- Laser In Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) Clinical reference StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
The equivalent clinical reference chapter for LASIK, used so that comparisons describe both procedures symmetrically.
Used for How LASIK creates and manages a corneal flap; LASIK complication categories.
Link checked 22 September 2026
- The Royal College of Ophthalmologists Professional body The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (UK)
The UK professional body for ophthalmologists, which publishes standards and commissioning guidance for refractive surgery services.
Used for What good preoperative assessment and consent look like.
Link checked 22 September 2026
- Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE) Clinical reference StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
A continuously updated clinical reference chapter covering SMILE indications, technique, outcomes and complications, written for clinicians.
Used for How the lenticule is created and removed; Indications and contraindications; Complication categories; Corneal biomechanics compared with flap-based surgery.
Link checked 22 September 2026
- Comparison of clinical outcomes following small incision lenticule extraction with the VISUMAX 800 and VISUMAX 500 Peer-reviewed literature Peer-reviewed literature (via PubMed Central) · 2025
A single comparative study of SMILE performed on the newer and older generations of the ZEISS platform. A single study, not a pooled analysis.
Used for The SMILE vs SMILE pro section, explicitly labelled as single-study evidence.
Link checked 22 September 2026
- European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons Professional body ESCRS
A European professional society for refractive and cataract surgery, publishing guidance and outcome registries.
Used for Refractive surgery outcome measurement and reporting.
Link checked 22 September 2026
- Eye Health Information Patient information National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health (US)
Condition-by-condition eye health information from a US government research institute, written for patients rather than for clinicians.
Used for Plain-language explanations of eye conditions and their symptoms; Healthy vision and screening guidance.
Link checked 23 September 2026
- EyeSmart: eye health information for the public Patient information American Academy of Ophthalmology
Patient-facing material from the largest ophthalmology professional body, covering conditions, tests and treatments outside refractive surgery.
Used for Cross-checking patient-facing explanations of non-refractive eye conditions; Describing what tests such as dilation and OCT involve.
Link checked 23 September 2026
- Blindness and vision impairment Health authority World Health Organization
The WHO overview of vision impairment, including the conditions that account for most avoidable sight loss worldwide.
Used for Framing uncorrected refractive error as a public health issue rather than a lifestyle one.
Link checked 23 September 2026
- Cochrane Library Peer-reviewed literature Cochrane
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Useful for readers who want to know how strong the pooled evidence is, not just what one trial found.
Used for Helping readers judge the strength of the evidence base.
Link checked 22 September 2026
Guides that explain this
These pages go deeper on the questions that usually follow this one.