There are three options to correct astigmatism – glasses, contact lenses or laser eye surgery. Prescription glasses or contact lenses can correct astigmatism (along with long-sightedness or short-sightedness, if necessary). Alternatively, laser eye surgery can correct astigmatism and give you clearer vision.
High astigmatism can be corrected with glasses, contacts or with LASIK surgery. As the degree to astigmatism gets higher, the choices in contact lenses gets slimmer.
Like eyeglasses, contact lenses can correct most astigmatism. They are available in a variety of types and styles. Contact lenses are also used in a procedure called orthokeratology. In orthokeratology, rigid contact lenses are worn during the night while sleeping until the curvature of the eye evens out.
Either type of astigmatism can cause blurred vision. Blurred vision may occur more in one direction: horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Astigmatism may be present from birth, or it may develop after an eye injury, disease or surgery.
For most people, laser surgery corrects the astigmatism permanently, which means they are cured of this condition. Laser surgery requires very little time in the operating room and minimal recovery at home. Many people who undergo LASIK return to work a day or two after the procedure.
However, an irregular astigmatism (where the surface of the eye is not only curved instead of perfectly rounded, but is also irregular or curved in multiple directions) cannot be corrected by a lens.
One natural way to treat astigmatism is to be aware of your head tilting. If you're tilting to one side, try tilting your head in the opposite direction of what feels most comfortable. It will feel uncomfortable at first. Your muscles are used to doing the wrong thing and need retraining.
Astigmatism is very common. 1 in 3 people has astigmatism.
Most times astigmatism is not a serious eye condition, but causes eye strain and fatigue – impacting school and office performances. However, astigmatism can sometimes hide a sight-threatening eye condition. Astigmatism, like myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness), is a common refractive error.
Astigmatism frequently worsens with age. Your cornea can become more irregular due to pressure from your eyelids as they lose muscle tone. Astigmatism generally stays stable until your turn 50. After then, your lens curvature progressively worsens each decade.
Astigmatism is a common visual impairment for which many veterans may not realize they could collect disability compensation.
Typically, eye doctors will set their limits to +6 for farsightedness, -12 for nearsightedness, and 6 diopters for astigmatism.
The answer is usually yes. LASIK is successful in treating most people's astigmatism, as long as it's the right type and it falls within the treatment limits. With the technology used in our practice, we are typically able to treat patients who have high levels of astigmatism.
75 diopters of astigmatism, and this is considered normal and will likely not require correction. Between . 75 and 2 diopters is considered mild astigmatism. Between 2 and 4 diopters is moderate astigmatism, and 4 or more diopters is considered significant or “bad” astigmatism.
Astigmatism can worsen and get to the point where glasses no longer correct the vision, in which case the person may need to wear a special hard contact lens, says See.
Is astigmatism 180 axis bad? An axis of 180 degrees means that the astigmatism is horizontal. Hence, the patient is moderately near-sighted with a slight degree of horizontal astigmatism.
Astigmatism can lead to reduced vision, but blindness is not a risk. However, it may be difficult for people with astigmatism to read and write without glasses or contacts because of the blurriness in the distance.
Astigmatism does not always require the use of glasses. A person can have slight astigmatism and still see clearly. Similar to the rest of the body, the eyes change over time, so regular eye checks with your local optometrist are of importance.
Many people believe that astigmatism is only can be corrected by medical intervention when it can easily be alleviated and even corrected through eye training exercises. In fact, there have been cases where with the right exercises in the right frequency yielded considerable results in just one day!
Astigmatism Treatment. Glasses or contacts can correct almost all cases of astigmatism. But if you have only a slight astigmatism and no other vision problems, you may not need them. If you have a common level of astigmatism, you'll probably have corrective lenses, like glasses or contacts, or surgery.
Astigmatism basics
This distortion often results in vision problems beyond nearsightedness and farsightedness. Most cases of astigmatism are hereditary and appear at birth. For some people, the condition can develop later in life. Eye injuries or surgeries may also cause astigmatism due to corneal damage.
For the majority of people, mild astigmatism does not cause significant vision changes and therefore does not need correction. However, when astigmatism causes blurred or distorted vision, correction is necessary.
Not wearing glasses for astigmatism won't make your astigmatism worse, however. The severity of your astigmatism has nothing to do with whether or not you're using corrective lenses to treat it.