Astigmatism

What is Astigmatism?

As light reaches your eye, the cornea bends the light beams so they focus on the lens. Then the lens focuses the light on your retina. At the retina, cells transform light into energy that travels to the brain, which interprets the signals into vision.

Astigmatism occurs when the incoming light isn’t focused directly on the center of your retina. An irregularly shaped cornea usually causes the problem.

When you have astigmatism, your cornea is shaped more like a football than its normal spherical shape. The abnormal shape bends light unevenly. As a result, light focuses in several areas inside your eye rather than directly in the center of the retina.

What are the Symptoms of Astigmatism?

Since light focuses on various locations inside your eye, astigmatism causes nearsightedness and farsightedness.

The symptoms of astigmatism include:

• Eyestrain
• Headaches
• Squinting
• Difficulty driving at night
• Distorted or blurry vision at all distances

Call Bronx Eye Associates to schedule an appointment when you experience any of these symptoms.

How is Astigmatism Diagnosed?

Astigmatism is detected during a comprehensive eye exam. In addition to testing for nearsightedness and farsightedness, your doctor at Bronx Eye Associates may perform tests such as a retinoscopy, automatic refraction, or manual refraction to determine the degree of your astigmatism.

How is Astigmatism Treated?

The team at Bronx Eye Associates treats astigmatism using eyeglasses or contact lenses, writing prescriptions so that your eyewear corrects the multiple refractive errors caused by astigmatism.

These are a few examples of the specialized contact lenses available for correcting astigmatism:

• Toric Contact Lenses: Toric contact lenses are usually soft contact lenses. They’re specially segmented so they can correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and the vision differences between areas of your eyes.
• Gas Permeable Lenses: These lenses essentially replace the function of the cornea, with the uniform shape of the lens serving as the primary light-refracting surface.
• Corneal Reshaping Contact Lenses: Orthokeratology, or ortho-k, uses gas permeable contact lenses that are specially fitted to gently reshape your cornea. You wear the lenses every night while you sleep, then you can see clearly during the day after you remove the lenses.

Some patients are good candidates for refractive surgery such as LASIK. This surgery uses precise lasers to remove tiny pieces of your cornea so that it’s sculpted back into its perfect shape.

If you notice changes in your vision, call Bronx Eye Associates or book an appointment online.