Graciela loves to do needle point. Lately she is going slower and slower because she cannot see well. She is w?

Graciela loves to do Needle Point. Lately she is going slower and slower because she cannot see well. She is worried that she will not be able to finish her cross-stitch project in time for her mom’s birthday. What eye condition might Graciela be experiencing?
Myopia (nearsightedness)
Hyperopia (farsightedness)
Presbyopia (aging eyes)
Astigmatism (distorted vision)

Short answer: possibly hyperopia, presbyopia or both. Her age would be a slight help in clarifying the answer.

Myopia – unlikely. Her near vision is better than her distance vision (which doesn’t make sense if she can’t see her cross-stitch).
Hyperopia – possibly: far things okay, near things fuzzy. Gets more fuzzy as we grow older.
Presbyopia – possibly: onset from late 30′s, same signs as hyperopia.
Astigmatism – can’t rule it out either – vision is generally blurry both far and near.

The difference between Hyperopia and Presbyopia is that presbyopia is an age-related change that affects everybody, where the lens within the eye stiffens and reduces our ability to see things REALLY close (like a 3 year old, for example). Hyperopia, on the other hand, doesn’t affect everyone, but just means that there’s an underlying bias for the eye to see far things clearer than near things. So you could be a 50 year old with Hyperopia AND Presbyopia (means you’ll do really really well with a simple pair of close-work glasses).
Astigmatism is when your eye’s optics aren’t perfectly focussed. In simple words: a spot of light that you see can not from a perfect spot on your back of the eye, but rather a streak. So the brain mis-interprets that as a slight "blurriness". However, it’s unlikely in this case as astigmatism would be more of an ongoing condition, and she’d have noticed it earlier.

Even more possibilities: maybe there’s a eyestrain occuring? If she’s been noticing any eye-strain, general fatigue, or blurriness before/after doing her stitching, the eye muscles maybe saying something too Your best bet would be to see an eye profession about getting a simple prescription done – it could well be that a pair of drugstore readers would give her a new lease on high-speed stitching =)

Technorati Tags: Astigmatism, Bias, Blurriness, Cross Stitch Project, Distance Vision, Distorted Vision, Eye Condition, Eye Strain, Farsightedness, Fatigue, Glasses, Hyperopia, Myopia, Needle Point, Occuring, Optics, Possibilities, Presbyopia, Quot, Short Answer

Tagged as: Astigmatism, Bias, Blurriness, Cross Stitch Project, Distance Vision, Distorted Vision, Eye Condition, Eye Strain, Farsightedness, Fatigue, Glasses, Hyperopia, Myopia, Needle Point, Occuring, Optics, Possibilities, Presbyopia, Quot, Short Answer