Ask a Health Professional Each week health professionals give their educated opinions on relat- able health questions. We believe that knowledge is power! VisionTER PISNI Andrew Congdon O.D. Doctor of Optometry 0:0 OINSIGHT VISION CENTER (715) 732-2101 3003 Cleveland Avenue Marinette, WI Question: What is an Astigmatism and how does it affect your vision? A: Lots of people have astigmatism, but what is it and how does it affect your vision? It may be a surprise, Normal cornea Cornea with astigmatism but everybody in the world has some level of astigmatism. If you have been told you have it, that only means that it is significant enough to require correction with glasses. It is estimated that around 50% of people have some level of astigmatism that requires the correction to be added into the glasses prescription. So what is astigmatism? The front part of the eye is called the cornea. Essentially, astigmatism is a description of the cornea's shape. If the curve going up and down is different than left to right on the cornea, we call it astigmatism. You can think of the shape of different sports balls to get a better visual of what astigmatism looks like. A softball is round in every direction, you can pick up the ball no The only thing that astigmatism does to your vision is make it blurry. If you're a contact lens wearer with astigmatism, often you will need contacts that correct for the curvature. These contacts are shaped to match the curves of the cornea to be able to correct the vision. There are different disorders that cause a large difference in curvature of the cornea. Keratoconus is a connective tissue disorder that causes the cornea to bulge, creating a large amount of astigmatism. Often, people with keratoconus need specialty contacts in order to see well. If you have an injury to the eye, it can cause scaring and change the shape of the cornea inducing astigmatism. For the most part however, people will just develop astigmatism as they age. matter what way you grab it. Alternatively, a football is more round in one direction as compared to the other. You cannot pick up a football the long way with one hand because it is too flat. This is how astigmatism looks in the eye. Your eye is not football shaped, but the curve going one way is different than the curve that runs the opposite way. Astigmatism can be corrected with LASIK, glasses, or contacts. Every time you have an eye exam, your eye care provider will check to see if you have it or not. If you look at your glasses prescription, you can tell if you have astigmatism. If there are three numbers for each eye, then you have some degree of it. The second number tells you the degree of severity of the astigmatism. Example: -1.00 -1.25 X180 This cartoon from the National Eye Institute If you have any questions about astigmatism, feel free to contact your eye care provider. illustrates this: Ask a Health Professional Each week health professionals give their educated opinions on relat- able health questions. We believe that knowledge is power! VisionTER PISNI Andrew Congdon O.D. Doctor of Optometry 0:0 OINSIGHT VISION CENTER (715) 732-2101 3003 Cleveland Avenue Marinette, WI Question: What is an Astigmatism and how does it affect your vision? A: Lots of people have astigmatism, but what is it and how does it affect your vision? It may be a surprise, Normal cornea Cornea with astigmatism but everybody in the world has some level of astigmatism. If you have been told you have it, that only means that it is significant enough to require correction with glasses. It is estimated that around 50% of people have some level of astigmatism that requires the correction to be added into the glasses prescription. So what is astigmatism? The front part of the eye is called the cornea. Essentially, astigmatism is a description of the cornea's shape. If the curve going up and down is different than left to right on the cornea, we call it astigmatism. You can think of the shape of different sports balls to get a better visual of what astigmatism looks like. A softball is round in every direction, you can pick up the ball no The only thing that astigmatism does to your vision is make it blurry. If you're a contact lens wearer with astigmatism, often you will need contacts that correct for the curvature. These contacts are shaped to match the curves of the cornea to be able to correct the vision. There are different disorders that cause a large difference in curvature of the cornea. Keratoconus is a connective tissue disorder that causes the cornea to bulge, creating a large amount of astigmatism. Often, people with keratoconus need specialty contacts in order to see well. If you have an injury to the eye, it can cause scaring and change the shape of the cornea inducing astigmatism. For the most part however, people will just develop astigmatism as they age. matter what way you grab it. Alternatively, a football is more round in one direction as compared to the other. You cannot pick up a football the long way with one hand because it is too flat. This is how astigmatism looks in the eye. Your eye is not football shaped, but the curve going one way is different than the curve that runs the opposite way. Astigmatism can be corrected with LASIK, glasses, or contacts. Every time you have an eye exam, your eye care provider will check to see if you have it or not. If you look at your glasses prescription, you can tell if you have astigmatism. If there are three numbers for each eye, then you have some degree of it. The second number tells you the degree of severity of the astigmatism. Example: -1.00 -1.25 X180 This cartoon from the National Eye Institute If you have any questions about astigmatism, feel free to contact your eye care provider. illustrates this: