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Since the farsighted eye under converges light rays, the correction for farsightedness is to place a converging spectacle lens in front of the eye. This increases the power of an eye that is too weak. Another way of thinking about this is that a converging spectacle lens produces a case 2 image, which is farther from the eye than the object (see [link] ). To determine the spectacle power needed for correction, you must know the person’s near point—that is, you must know the smallest distance at which the person can see clearly. Then the image produced by a spectacle lens must be at this distance or farther for the farsighted person to be able to see it clearly.

Two illustrations of a cross-sectional view of an eye are shown. In the upper part of the figure, a converging lens is placed in front of the eye structure and a close object before it. A ray diagram showing the rays from the object are striking the lens; converging a bit and entering the eyes; converging again through the eye lens and forming an image at the retina, and another set of rays converge behind the retina. The lower part of the figure shows a virtual image, an object, a converging lens, and the internal structure of an eye. Parallel rays from the object are entering the eyes and converging at a point on the retina. An image larger than the object image is formed behind the object on the same side of the lens.
Correction of farsightedness uses a converging lens that compensates for the under convergence by the eye. The converging lens produces an image farther from the eye than the object, so that the farsighted person can see it clearly.

Correcting farsightedness

What power of spectacle lens is needed to allow a farsighted person, whose near point is 1.00 m, to see an object clearly that is 25.0 cm away? Assume the spectacle (corrective) lens is held 1.50 cm away from the eye by eyeglass frames.

Strategy

When an object is held 25.0 cm from the person’s eyes, the spectacle lens must produce an image 1.00 m away (the near point). An image 1.00 m from the eye will be 98.5 cm to the left of the spectacle lens because the spectacle lens is 1.50 cm from the eye (see [link] ). Therefore, d i = 98.5 cm . The image distance is negative, because it is on the same side of the spectacle as the object. The object is 23.5 cm to the left of the spectacle, so that d o = 23.5 cm .

Solution

Since d i size 12{d rSub { size 8{i} } } {} and d o size 12{d rSub { size 8{o} } } {} are known, the power of the spectacle lens can be found using P = 1 d o + 1 d i size 12{P= { {1} over {d rSub { size 8{o} } } } + { {1} over {d rSub { size 8{i} } } } } {} :

P = 1 d o + 1 d i = 1 0.235 m + 1 0.985 m = 4.26 D 1.02 D = 3.24 D . alignl { stack { size 12{P= { {1} over {d rSub { size 8{o} } } } + { {1} over {d rSub { size 8{i} } } } = { {1} over {0 "." "235"m} } + { {1} over { - 0 "." "985"m} } } {} #=4 "." "26"D - 1 "." "02"D=3 "." "24"D {} } } {}

Discussion

The positive power indicates a converging (convex) lens, as expected. The convex spectacle produces a case 2 image farther from the eye, where the person can see it. If you examine eyeglasses of farsighted people, you will find the lenses to be thickest in the center. In addition, a prescription of eyeglasses for farsighted people has a prescribed power that is positive.

Another common vision defect is astigmatism    , an unevenness or asymmetry in the focus of the eye. For example, rays passing through a vertical region of the eye may focus closer than rays passing through a horizontal region, resulting in the image appearing elongated. This is mostly due to irregularities in the shape of the cornea but can also be due to lens irregularities or unevenness in the retina. Because of these irregularities, different parts of the lens system produce images at different locations. The eye-brain system can compensate for some of these irregularities, but they generally manifest themselves as less distinct vision or sharper images along certain axes. [link] shows a chart used to detect astigmatism. Astigmatism can be at least partially corrected with a spectacle having the opposite irregularity of the eye. If an eyeglass prescription has a cylindrical correction, it is there to correct astigmatism. The normal corrections for short- or farsightedness are spherical corrections, uniform along all axes.

Practice Key Terms 8

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Source:  OpenStax, Physics 101. OpenStax CNX. Jan 07, 2013 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11479/1.1
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