What is astigmatism?
Astigmatism is the medical term that means the shape of your eye is more curved than it should be. It’s a type of refractive error — an extremely common eye condition that causes blurred vision.
Usually, eyes are round, like a baseball. If you have astigmatism, your eye is shaped like a football or the back of a spoon. This makes light that enters your eyes bend unevenly and affects your vision at all distances.
Visit an eye care specialist as soon as you notice any changes in your eyes or feel like your vision isn’t as clear as it used to be.
What does astigmatism do to your vision?
The parts of your eyes work together like a relay team to pass light that enters your eye along a pathway to your brain. Light passes through your cornea — the clear part at the front of your eye. Your cornea focuses that light through your lens into a signal that hits your retina — the layer at the very back of your eyeball. Your retina converts that light into electrical signals that your optic nerve sends to your brain. Your brain then uses those signals to create the images you see.
If you have astigmatism, light that enters your eye is bent more than it should be. The light can’t properly focus on your retina. This means only parts of an object you’re looking at are in focus. That uneven focus makes objects look blurry or wavy. Astigmatism can affect your vision at any distance — both up close and farther away.
You might experience eye strain — like your eyes are constantly working too hard to see.
What are the types of astigmatism?
Astigmatism is usually caused by your cornea having an irregular shape. Eye care specialists call this corneal astigmatism.
You can also have lenticular astigmatism, where the lens in your eye has an irregular shape. Lenticular astigmatism is often caused by cataracts.
Some people have both corneal and lenticular astigmatism.
Who is affected by astigmatism?
Anyone can experience astigmatism. You can develop it at any point in your life. Some people are born with astigmatism. Others don’t develop it until they’re adults. It can get better or worse over time.
Astigmatism is very common. 1 in 3 people has astigmatism.
