Astigmatism. It’s a mouthful to say and sounds a little sclarke-eye-care_blog-header_what-is-astigmatismcary but in reality, it’s a common eye condition that can be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or surgery in more extreme cases. Astigmatism isn’t a disease and doesn’t mean that your eyes aren’t healthy; it’s similar to being nearsighted or farsighted in that it’s a problem with how your eye focuses light.

Having an irregularly shaped cornea causes astigmatism. Instead of the cornea being round, those with astigmatism have corneas that are shaped more like footballs or ovals. Because of this, when light enters the eye of someone with astigmatism, the light is refracted in one direction more than the other. So, what does that mean for how well you can see? It causes your vision to become blurred. Untreated, astigmatism can also cause headaches, especially after reading.

As we mentioned when discussing eyestrain and fatigue, which can also cause blurred vision, it’s important to discuss with your eye care professional how long you’ve experienced such symptoms because instead of just having tired eyes, you could be dealing with astigmatism. However, it should be noted that astigmatism often occurs early in life, which is why it’s so important that you have your child’s eyes examined annually in an effort to discover and correct the problem as soon as possible.

You don’t need any special exams or tests in order to detect astigmatism. A routine eye exam featuring the same instruments and techniques will allow your eye doctor to learn whether or not you have astigmatism and to what degree. By shining a light into your eye, along with introducing a series of lenses between the light and your eye, your doctor can determine the amount of astigmatism you have and how to correct it.

After your exam, you can talk with your doctor to determine how you’ll treat your astigmatism, be it with contacts, glasses, or a refractive surgery like LASIK.

Learn more about what we do and how we can help you at Clarke EyeCare Center.