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Thursday, September 9, 2010

What is Astigmatism?

Have you ever been told you have astigmatism?  Even the mention of the word makes some people feel self conscious.  The problem is, most people don't even know what it means.

In general astigmatism is a term used to describe how a single point of light is blurred into two separate points of light.  Unlike true "double vision," astigmatism creates an effect similar to a shadow or secondary image around the image you are looking at.  For those of you with astigmatism you will struggle more with night vision, vision on rainy days/nights, computer work, and really distinguishing between letters like P and F, or B and 8 as from afar they look very similar.

In most instances, astigmatism is caused by the front part of your eye (cornea) being slightly more football shaped than basketball shaped.  This irregular or non-spherical cornea forces light that enters into the eye to focus in two spots in the back of the eye, thus giving you the almost double vision effect around whatever you are looking at.

If you have astigmatism, there is no need to worry or feel like you need to hide this fact from friends.  Its extremely common.  With a simple pair of glasses, or a toric contact lens, we can make your vision sharp and clear.  When you come to visit me for your next exam, we will work together to see if you do have any astigmatism, and to correct it as perfectly as we possibly can!

The image below shows what text can look like with different levels/types of astigmatism. Check it out!