Understand the difference between minus and cylinder eyes

Frequent difficulty seeing objects clearly or experiencing blurry vision may indicate that you have a focus disorder or refractive error. The two most common types of focus disorders are astigmatism. Although they both blur the vision, there is a difference between a minus eye and a cylinder eye. Both have different causes, so the way to deal with them is different. In addition, both have specific symptoms that differentiate one another.

Difference between minus and cylinder eye

In order for the eye to see objects clearly, the light captured by the cornea and lens (the front of the eye) is refracted on the retina, which is the light-sensitive tissue behind the eye.

In minus or cylindrical eyes, the captured light cannot focus on the retina. Although both light cannot be focused on the retina, minus and cylinder eyes have different causes, symptoms or treatment.

1. Causes blurred vision

The difference between the minus eye and the first cylinder eye lies in the refractive error (refraction of light) which causes them to show symptoms of blurred eyes.

The refractive disorder that causes eye minus is the shortening of the eyeball so that the cornea is too curved causing the incoming light not to be focused on the retina. Instead of falling directly on the retina, the transmitted light falls far in front of the retina. As a result, when looking at objects at a far distance, the eye becomes blurry and it is difficult to focus.

Meanwhile, in cylindrical eyes, the vision becomes blurred because of an abnormality in the curvature of the cornea or lens. The curvature prevents light from being refracted right on the retina. As a result, objects are not clearly visible either from a distance or a short distance.

2. Differences in the characteristics of minus and cylinder eyes

When looking at an object, people with minus eyes will look blurry and may feel dizzy when they cannot see objects from a distance clearly.

Meanwhile, the cylinder-eyed person not only feels a blurry and dizzy vision, but the object being seen is also shaded. Typical symptoms of a common cylindrical eye include a straight line that looks oblique. This is due to the distraction experienced affecting the eye to see the shape and firmness of objects clearly.

Different from minus eye whose symptoms only appear when looking at objects from a distance, cylindrical eye symptoms can appear either seeing objects near or far.

3. Factors that increase the risk of focus disorders

The researchers revealed that the minus and cylinder eyes can both be caused by heredity. Even so, there are several differences in other risk factors that may increase your chances of getting minus and cylinder eyes.

According to the National Eye Institute, minus eye generally occurs in children aged 8-12 years. This happens as the shape of the eye develops. So, adults who have minus eyes, usually have this eye damage since childhood.

In addition, certain health conditions can also cause eye minus, for example complications of diabetes in the eye.

Meanwhile, factors that increase a person's risk of having cylinder eyes are having a severe minus eye condition, the effects of cataract surgery, and also suffering from keratoconus (thinning of the cornea).

4. Corrective lenses are used

The difference between the minus eye and the cylinder eye, of course, also exists in the way they are handled. To overcome eye minus, corrective lenses used in glasses and contact lenses must be concave or negative lenses.

The concave lens helps reduce any excess curvature of the cornea so that light can focus and fall right on the retina.

Meanwhile, the way to deal with cylindrical eyes is with glasses with cylinder lenses. Cylindrical lenses can combine several images produced by refractive errors so that the eye can again see objects in a clear form.

5. Eye damage conditions

Although eye minus can be overcome by using glasses or a lens case. However, the eye minus condition can still increase until the patient is 18-20 years old.

This can happen because the sufferer does not maintain eye health, for example, it is too long to use gadget or a computer without having time to rest your eyes. In addition, prolonged activity in a place that is too dark also risks increasing one's eye condition

Meanwhile, in cylindrical eyes, eye damage tends not to increase, especially if the sufferer has used appropriate corrective lenses.

Minus eye and cylinder eye are two different conditions so that they both have distinctive symptoms, causes, and different ways of treatment. If you are still having trouble recognizing the difference between minus and cylinder eyes, you can consult a doctor and undergo an eye refraction examination to find out a definite diagnosis.