What is Astigmatism | Astigmatism Causes & How to Protect Your Eyes

You’ve noticed your vision feels blurrier than normal, so you schedule your yearly eye exam. There, the eye doctor tells you something that sounds scary: you have astigmatism.

Astigmatism is a big word that a lot of people deal with regularly. One in three people in the United States is diagnosed with astigmatism, a condition that people are more likely to develop as they get older. 

To help you better understand your diagnosis or that of a loved one, let’s go over what astigmatism is and common astigmatism symptoms so you know if you need to make an appointment to see your eye doctor.

What is Astigmatism?

Astigmatism is a condition where your eye is curved incorrectly, causing blurred vision. Most people’s corneas are a perfect circle, like a baseball. For people with astigmatism, their cornea or lens are irregular, shaped like a football or egg.

Causes & Symptoms of Astigmatism

Astigmatism is a refractive error. When your cornea or lens is misshapen, then the light is bent incorrectly onto the retina and causes two or more images to form instead of one.

Common symptoms of astigmatism include

• Blurred vision
• Headaches
• Eye strain or discomfort at trying to observe something
• Difficulty seeing at night

Astigmatism comes from a gene that can be passed down from either parent that affects the shape of the eye. This can be dominant or recessive, so two parents with no astigmatism can have a child with one.

While some people are born with astigmatism, it can also develop in children and adults. Astigmatism can also happen after an eye injury, surgery, or as someone ages. UVB rays in particular scar the eye and cornea over time, which causes astigmatism. 

Take care of your eyes and prevent astigmatism from developing as you age by wearing eye protection that offers 100% UV protection, like the sunglasses from WMP Eyewear.

How Your Eye Doctor Can Help

Your eye doctor can give you a medical diagnosis of your eye health and assess whether you have astigmatism or not. During a typical eye exam, they’ll assess your vision by having you read an eye chart to understand how well your vision works at different distances.

Then, they’ll use a phoropter (which looks like a pair of binoculars you could use for bird watching) to figure out the prescription you need. Your eye doctor may also use an autorefractor to assess the type of astigmatism you have or if one is present at all. Last, an ophthalmometer assesses the actual cornea curve.

Most of the time, astigmatism will be fixed through prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses. However, if your case is severe (or if you’re tired of wearing glasses), then you may be referred to a doctor who specializes in ophthalmology to perform LASIK surgery to reshape the cornea.

If you don’t have a severe case of astigmatism, the eye doctor may recommend training exercises instead to strengthen your eye and improve the condition.

Finding the Right Glasses or Contact Lenses for Your Vision

The only way to find the right glasses or contact lenses for your vision issues is to make an appointment with your eye doctor and have them give you a prescription. While you can find glasses through your insurance, many other companies offer glasses at a much lower price. 

WMP Eyewear’s prescription lenses start at around $84 and offer the capability to correct astigmatism in both their prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses.

What to Look for When Finding Glasses for Astigmatism 

Cylindrical or Spherocylindrical Prescription

The most important thing to address when shopping for glasses for astigmatism is to purchase the correct prescription. When your eye doctor prescribes your glasses, there are up to four sections.

Spherocylindrical

the single vision correction

Cylindrical

the astigmatism correction

Axis

the lens angle that fixes your astigmatism

ADD

the amount of lens progression needed

There should be up to eight numbers total, one number for each eye. OD or RE refers to your right eye and OS or LE refers to your left one.

Flat Lenses

When shopping for sunglasses or glasses with astigmatism, you need to purchase flat lenses. Wraparound frames are popular for activewear sunglasses but they don’t do well for people with astigmatism These lenses are curved to match the frames, but that causes additional distortions for anyone with astigmatism.

Instead, shop for regular frames that fit snugly to your face if you want a pair of sunglasses for outdoor activities. Also, opt for polarized prescription sunglass lenses to reduce glare and maximize eye comfort on sunny days.

Sturdy Nose Pads

Anyone with astigmatism should avoid adjustable nose pads on their glasses. Adjustable nose pads could cause you to move your lenses in such a way that it affects your vision, and you’re not able to see as well. 

Instead, look for sunglasses or glasses with universal nose pads. These keep your eyewear in the same place on your head so that the light comes in from the correct place through the lens.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Does Someone With Astigmatism See?

When someone has astigmatism, they see a blurry image instead of a clear one. Because their cornea or lens is misshaped, the light comes through the eye at multiple points, so they see at least two images instead of one. This causes their vision to blur.

Astigmatism can cause both images far away to look blurry, called myopia or nearsightedness, or images nearby to look blurry, called hyperopia or farsightedness.

While most people have blurred vision, others can also see a halo effect around lights due to their astigmatism.

How Do You Know if You Have Astigmatism?

The only way to know if you have astigmatism is to make an appointment with your eye doctor for an eye exam. They’ll assess your vision and let you know if you have astigmatism.

Certain conditions can help you know when you need to make an eye appointment. If you’re suffering from symptoms like blurred text or vision, headaches, excessive eye strain, or having a hard time seeing at night, you should see your eye doctor.

Can Astigmatism Go Away?

Astigmatism does not go away on its own. If left untreated, it will only get worse. If you want astigmatism to go away completely, talk to your eye doctor about surgery like LASIK, which can correct astigmatism.

However, wearing contact lenses or eyeglasses also corrects astigmatism without surgery, so that’s usually the cheaper option. People with minimal astigmatism may be able to just do exercises to improve their condition.