Astigma…what? Understanding Astigmatism

The microwave clock had started to look a little fuzzy from across the room… so I took that as my cue to go and get an eye exam.  I called my closest America’s Best store and made an appointment with a wonderful optometrist.  She took me through all the regular eye tests and as she was trying to find my new glasses prescription she mentioned that I had astigmatism in my right eye.

A…stigma…what???

I’ve been wearing glasses for decades but was unfamiliar with astigmatism.  I figured a word like that must be in the category of cataracts or other eye issues that senior citizens face. With the word “stigma” nestled right in the middle, even the word sounds ominous.

Yet, I’m not even 40 and I found out that I’ve got it.  I had to know more about this mysterious condition…so, I asked my optometrist.

Here’s what I learned:

Astigmatism is another type of eye refractive disorder.  We are all familiar with being near-sighted or far-sighted, but having astigmatism is the third option that most are less familiar with.  Astigmatism makes it more difficult to make out finer details and it can accompany myopia (near-sightedness) or presbyopia (far-sightedness).

People with astigmatism have corneas without “uniform curvature.” In other words, the way in which their cornea is curved is not symmetrical.  In some cases, astigmatism is also a product of an asymmetrical curve on the lens of the eye.

What happens when that curve isn’t a nice and consistent shape?  Then, the cornea doesn’t properly focus the image it sends to the retina.  One article I read compared what the cornea does to a fun house mirror, it makes the image stretched, blurry, or out of focus.

Some symptoms of astigmatism include eye strain and headaches, but the most common complaint of people with astigmatism is simply blurred vision.  That was my problem. My glasses prescription actually hadn’t changed that significantly, but my astigmatism had gotten worse.

To correct astigmatism, eyeglass lenses are shaped to counteract the shape of the cornea or lens that is causing the world to look fuzzy.  This sometimes causes views that aren’t straight ahead to look slanted, but even with a significant astigmatism, you should adjust to your new glasses within a week.

So, if you feel like your view is slightly out of focus, do what I did. Call your nearest America’s Best to schedule an exam with the eye doctor and get those eyes checked.

And, for me, now that I know astigmatism isn’t as bad as it sounds, I decided it was a great excuse to pick up two new pairs of the hottest fashion eyeglasses frames!