Blurry vision may result from any number of conditions not necessarily related to refractive errors. The diagnosis of a refractive error is usually confirmed by an eye care professional during an eye examination using a large number of lenses of different optical powers, and often a retinoscope (a procedure entitled "retinoscopy") to measure objectively in which the patient views a distant spot while the clinician changes the lenses held before the patient's eye and watches the pattern of reflection of a small light shone on the eye. Following that "objective refraction" the clinician typically shows the patient lenses of progressively higher or weaker powers in a process known as "subjective refraction".

Cycloplegic agents are frequently used to more accurately determine the amount of refractive error, particularly in children

An automated refractor is an instrument that is sometimes used in place of retinoscopy to objectively estimate a person's refractive error. Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor and its inverse can also be used to characterize eye aberrations in a higher level of resolution and accuracy.

Vision defects caused by refractive error can be distinguished from other problems using a pinhole occluder, which will improve vision only in the case of refractive error.

Some suggest that more time spent outdoors during childhood is effective for prevention.

Various methods have been employed in an attempt to decrease the progression of myopia, although studies show mixed results. Many myopia treatment studies have a number of design drawbacks: small numbers, lack of adequate control group, and failure to mask examiners from knowledge of treatments used.

Retinal detachment can be examined by fundus photography or ophthalmoscopy. Fundus photography generally needs a considerably larger instrument than the ophthalmoscope, but has the advantage of availing the image to be examined by a specialist at another location and/or time, as well as providing photo documentation for future reference. Modern fundus photographs generally recreate considerably larger areas of the fundus than what can be seen at any one time with handheld ophthalmoscopes.

Ultrasound has diagnostic accuracy similar to that of examination by an ophthalmologist. The recent meta-analysis shows the diagnostic accuracy of emergency department (ED) ocular ultrasonography is high. The sensitivity and specificity ranged from 97% to 100% and 83% to 100%. The typical feature of retinal detachment when viewed on ultrasound is "flying angel sign". It shows the detached retina moving with a fixed point under the B mode, linear probe 10 MHz.

Myopia is sometimes classified by the age at onset:

- Congenital myopia, also known as infantile myopia, is present at birth and persists through infancy.

- Youth onset myopia occurs in the early childhood or teenage, and the ocular power can keep varying until the age of 21, before which any form of corrective surgery is usually not recommended by ophthalmic specialists around the world.

- Adult onset myopia

Hyperopia is typically classified according to clinical appearance, its severity, or how it relates to the eye's accommodative status.

There are three clinical categories of hyperopia.

- Simple hyperopia

- Pathological hyperopia

- Functional hyperopia

There are also three categories severity:

- Low

- Moderate

- High

Other common types of refractive errors are near-sightedness, astigmatism, and presbyopia.

A minority of retinal detachments result from trauma, including blunt blows to the orbit, penetrating trauma, and concussions to the head. A retrospective Indian study of more than 500 cases of rhegmatogenous detachments found that 11% were due to trauma, and that gradual onset was the norm, with over 50% presenting more than one month after the inciting injury.

How refractive errors are treated or managed depends upon the amount and severity of the condition. Those who possess mild amounts of refractive error may elect to leave the condition uncorrected, particularly if the patient is asymptomatic. For those who are symptomatic, glasses, contact lenses, refractive surgery, or a combination of the three are typically used.

Strategies being studied to slow worsening include adjusting working conditions, increasing the time children spend outdoors, and special types of contact lenses. In children special contact lenses appear to slow worsening of nearsightedness.

Physicians, specifically ophthalmologists, can examine the child and give a correct diagnosis. Some will do molecular genetics tests to see if the cause is linked with gene mutations.

MRIs and CTs can be used to scan the brain and orbits. Radiologists use this to assess the internal structures of the globe, the optic nerve and extraocular muscles, and brain anatomy.

A diagnosis of far-sightedness can be made via a slit lamp test which examines the cornea, conjunctiva, and iris.

In severe cases of hyperopia from birth, the brain has difficulty in merging the images that each individual eye sees. This is because the images the brain receives from each eye are always blurred. A child with severe hyperopia can never see objects in detail. If the brain never learns to see objects in detail, then there is a high chance of one eye becoming dominant. The result is that the brain will block the impulses of the non-dominant eye. In contrast, the child with myopia can see objects close to the eye in detail and does learn at an early age to see detail in objects.

Quantitative comparisons between different eyes and conditions are usually made using RMS (root mean square). To measure RMS for each type of aberration involves squaring the difference between the aberration and mean value and averaging it across the pupil area. Different kinds of aberrations may have equal RMS across the pupil but have different effects on vision, therefore, RMS error is unrelated to visual performance. The majority of eyes have total RMS values less than 0.3 µm.

The most common method of classifying the shapes of aberration maps is to consider each map as the sum of fundamental shapes or basis functions. One popular set of basis functions are the Zernike polynomials. Each aberration may be positive or negative in value and induces predictable alterations in the image quality.

Because there is no limit to the number of terms that may be used by Zernike polynomials, vision scientists use the first 15 polynomials, based on the fact that they are enough to obtain a highly accurate description of the most common aberrations found in human eye. Among these the most important Zernike coefficients affecting visual quality are coma, spherical aberration, and trefoil.

Zernike polynomials are usually expressed in terms of polar coordinates (ρ,θ), where ρ is radial coordinate and θ is the angle. The advantage of expressing the aberrations in terms of these polynomials includes the fact that the polynomials are independent of one another. For each polynomial the mean value of the aberration across the pupil is zero and the value of the coefficient gives the RMS error for that particular aberration (i.e. the coefficients show the relative contribution of each Zernike mode to the total wavefront error in the eye). However these polynomials have the disadvantage that their coefficients are only valid for the particular pupil diameter they are determined for.

In each Zernike polynomial formula_1, the subscript n is the order of aberration, all the Zernike polynomials in which n=3 are called third-order aberrations and all the polynomials with n=4, fourth order aberrations and so on. formula_2 and formula_3 are usually called secondary Astigmatism and should not cause confusion. The superscript m is called the angular frequency and denotes the number of times the Wavefront pattern repeats itself.

List of Zernike modes and their common names:

Low order aberrations (hyperopia, Myopia and regular astigmatism), are correctable by eyeglasses, soft contact lenses and refractive surgery. Neither spectacles nor soft contact lenses nor routine keratorefractive surgery adequately corrects high order aberrations. Significant high order aberration usually requires a rigid gas-permeable contact lens for optimal visual rehabilitation.

Customized Wavefront-guided refractive corneal laser treatments are designed to reduce existing aberrations and to help prevent the creation of new aberrations. The wavefront map of the eye may be transferred to a Lasik system and enable the surgeon to treat the aberration. Perfect alignment of the treatment and the pupil on which the Wavefront is measured is required, which is usually achieved through iris feature detection. An efficient eye tracking system and small spot size laser is necessary for treatment . Wavefront customization of ablation increases the depth of ablation because additional corneal tissue must be ablated to compensate for the high order aberrations. Actual results with Wavefront guided LASIK showed that not only it cannot remove HOA but also the optical aberrations are increased. However, the amount of increase in aberrations are less than conventional Lasik. Corneal optical aberrations after photorefractive keratectomy with a larger ablation zone and a transition zone are less pronounced and more physiologic than those associated with first-generation (5 mm) ablations with no transition zone. An upcoming systematic review will seek to compare the safety and effectiveness of wavefront excimer laser refractive surgery with conventional excimer laser refractive surgery, and will measure differences in residual higher order aberrations between the two procedures.

Aspherical intraocular lenses (IOLs) have been used clinically to compensate for positive corneal spherical aberrations. Although Aspherical IOLs may give better contrast sensitivity, it is doubtful, whether they have a beneficial effect on distance visual acuity. Conventional (not Aspherical) IOLs give better depth of focus and better near vision. The reason for improved depth of focus in conventional lenses is linked to residual spherical aberration. The small improvement in depth of focus with the conventional IOLs enhances uncorrected near vision and contribute to reading ability.

Wavefront customized lenses can be used in eyeglasses. Based on Wavefront map of the eye and with the use of laser a lens is shaped to compensate for the aberrations of the eye and then put in the eyeglasses. Ultraviolet Laser can alter the refractive index of curtain lens materials such as epoxy polymer on a point by point basis in order to generate the desired refractive profile.

Wavefront customized contact lenses can theoretically correct HOA. The rotation and decentration reduces the predictability of this method.

Corrective lenses provide a range of vision correction, some as high as +4.0 diopter. Some with presbyopia choose varifocal or bifocal lenses to eliminate the need for a separate pair of reading glasses; specialized preparations of varifocals or bifocals usually require the services of an optometrist. Some newer bifocal or varifocal spectacle lenses attempt to correct both near and far vision with the same lens.

Contact lenses can also be used to correct the focusing loss that comes along with presbyopia. Multifocal contact lenses can be used to correct vision for both the near and the far. Some people choose contact lenses to correct one eye for near and one eye for far with a method called monovision.

New surgical procedures may also provide solutions for those who do not want to wear glasses or contacts, including the implantation of accommodative intraocular lenses. INTRACOR has now been approved in Europe for treatment of both eyes (turning both corneas into multifocal lenses and so dispensing with the need for reading glasses).

Another treatment option for the correction of presbyopia in patients with emmetropia, as well as in patients with myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism is laser blended vision. This procedure uses laser refractive surgery to correct the dominant eye mainly for distance vision and the nondominant eye mainly for near vision, while the depth of field (i.e. the range of distances at which the image is in focus) of each eye is increased. As a result of the increased depth of field, the brain merges the two images, creating a blend zone, i.e. a zone which is in focus for both eyes. This allows the patient to see near, intermediate and far without glasses. Some literature also suggests the benefits achieved include the brain learning to adapt, assimilating two images, one of which is out of focus. Over time, many patients report they are unaware one eye is out of focus.

Surgically implanted corneal inlays are another treatment option for presbyopia. Corneal inlays typically are implanted in the nondominant eye to minimize impact to binocular uncorrected distance vision. They seek to improve near vision in one of three ways: changing the central refractive index, increasing the depth of focus through the use of a pinhole, and reshaping the central cornea.

CNV can be detected by using a type of perimetry called preferential hyperacuity perimetry. On the basis of fluorescein angiography, CNV may be described as classic or occult. Two other tests that help identify the condition include indocyanine green angiography and optical coherence tomography.

Treatment options include contact lenses, intrastromal corneal ring segments, corneal collagen cross-linking, or corneal transplant.

When cross-linking is performed only after the cornea becomes distorted, vision remains blurry even though the disease is stabilised. As a result, combining corneal collagen cross-linking with LASIK ('LASIK Xtra') aims to strengthen the cornea at the point of surgery and may be useful in cases where a very thin cornea is expected after the LASIK procedure. This would include cases of high spectacle power and people with thin corneas before surgery. Definitive evidence that the procedure can reduce the risk of corneal ectasia will only become available a number of years later as corneal ectasia, if it happens, usually occurs in the late post-operative period. Some study show that combining LASIK with cross-linking adds refractive stability to hyperopic treatments and may also do the same for very high myopic treatments.

In 2016, the FDA approved the KXL system and two photoenhancers for the treatment of corneal ectasia following refractive surgery.

Myopia, with or without astigmatism, is the most common eye condition in horses.

Several types of occlusion myopia have been recorded in tree shrews, macaques, cats and rats, deciphered from several animal-inducing myopia models. Preliminary laboratory investigations using retinoscopy of 240 dogs found myopic problems with varying degrees of refraction errors depending on the breed. In cases involving German Shepherds, Rottweilers and Miniature horses, the refraction errors were indicative of myopia. Nuclear sclerosis of the crystalline lens was noticed in older dogs.

Experiments into newborn macaque monkeys have revealed that surgically fusing the eyelid for one year results in eye deterioration as the eye has not had a chance to grow and develop. Keeping monkeys in the dark for a similar period, however, does not lead to myopia. In 1996, Maurice and Mushin conducted tests on rabbits by raising their body temperatures and intraocular pressures (IOP) and noted that while younger rabbits were prone to developing myopia, older rabbits were not. Some tests have revealed that myopia in some animals can be improved with eye drops containing zinc, by increasing the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD).

The rhesus monkey's vision amplitude reduction is noticeable in its second decade of life; however the condition does not impede normal functioning. Older rhesus monkeys have more difficulty accommodating this reduction in vision amplitude, encountering difficulty in focussing on objects at close range, even objects on the ground within an arm's length.

The Fuchs spot or sometimes Forster-Fuchs' retinal spot is a degeneration of the macula in case of high myopia. It is named after the two persons who first described it: Ernst Fuchs, who described a pigmented lesion in 1901, and Forster, who described subretinal neovascularisation in 1862. The size of the spots are proportionate to the severity of the pathological myopia.

First signs of a Fuchs spot are distorted sight of straight lines near the fovea, which some days later turn to the typical well-circumscribed patches after absorption of haemorrhage, and a pigmented scar remains. As in macular degeneration, central sight is affected. Atrophy leads to the loss of two or more lines of the Snellen chart.

Before LASIK surgery, people must be examined for possible risk factors such as keratoconus.

Abnormal corneal topography compromises of keratoconus, pellucid marginal degeneration, or forme fruste keratoconus with an I-S value of 1.4 or more is the most significant risk factor. Low age, low residual stromal bed (RSB) thickness, low preoperative corneal thickness, and high myopia are other important risk factors.

Some animals suffer from shortsightedness and have poor eyesight. In domestic animals, myopia, with or without astigmatism, occurs frequently.

CNV is conventionally treated with intravitreal injections of angiogenesis inhibitors (also known as "anti-VEGF" drugs) to control neovascularization and reduce the area of fluid below the retinal pigment epithelium. Angiogenesis inhibitors include pegaptanib, ranibizumab and bevacizumab (known by a variety of trade names, such as Macugen, Avastin or Lucentis). These inhibitors slow or stop the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis), typically by binding to or deactivating the transmission of vascular endothelial growth factor ('VEGF'), a signal protein produced by cells to stimulate formation of new blood vessels. The effectiveness of angiogenesis inhibitors has been shown to significantly improve visual prognosis with CNV, the recurrence rate for these neovascular areas remains high.

CNV may also be treated with photodynamic therapy coupled with a photosensitive drug such as verteporfin (Visudyne). The drug is given intravenously. It is then activated in the eye by a laser light. The drug destroys the new blood vessels, and prevents any new vessels forming by forming thrombi.

As the name implies, it is the bulge of weak sclera lined by ciliary body, which occurs about 2–3 mm away from the limbus. Its common causes are thinning of sclera following perforating injury, scleritis & absolute glaucoma.

it is part of anterior staphyloma

It is the name given to the localised bulge in limbal area, lined by the root of the iris. It results due to ectasia of weak scar tissue formed at the limbus, following healing of a perforating injury or a peripheral corneal ulcer. There may be associated secondary angle closure glaucoma, may cause progression of the bulge if not treated. Defective vision occurs due to marked corneal astigmatism. Treatment consists of localised staphylectomy under heavy doses of oral steroids.

Untreated glaucoma leads to total blindness. Surgical treatment is required. Presently-utilized surgical procedures include goniotomy, trabeculotomy, or trabeculectomy.