The phrase “short-sighted” can be used in a variety of different contexts. For example, “Purchasing that bright purple couch before seeing the finished house was a rather short-sighted decision”, or “My grandpa is so short-sighted that I can stand a foot away and he’ll think I’m my sister. But I’m actually John.”

Myopia, the medical term for short-sightedness, is a type of refractive error of the eye that involves the focusing point of the eye falling in front of the retina, meaning a blurry image ends up hitting the actual retina. In other words, the length of the eyeball is too long for the focusing power of the eye. Myopia is typically addressed using minus powered spectacle or contact lens, which alters the path of light entering the eye such that it focuses properly onto the retina to form a clear image to the brain. Without optical correction, a myopic person would have difficulty with seeing distant objects clearly; the amount of blur in the distance would correspond to his/her degree of myopia.
Read more