We know that eyes are round, but are yours too round?
Do you ever notice stars around the head and taillights when you're out driving at night?
Have you noticed your eyes strain more than usual? These could be symptoms of astigmatism.
Astigmatism happens when the curvature of someone's eye can cause blurred vision at a distance or nearsightedness.
The interesting part about it, most people don’t know they have it until they start wearing contacts. Until then, it may just appear as regular nearsighted vision.
What are the symptoms of Astigmatism?
Some of the most common symptoms of Astigmatism include:
- Strained vision (overworked eyes).
- Blurred vision without corrective lenses.
- Headaches.
- Trouble seeing at night. Especially on rainy nights.
- Frequent squinting to see more clearly.
We want to make it clear that just because you're experiencing these symptoms does not exactly mean you have astigmatism. You want to make sure you are experiencing it.
Feel free to stop by our office where we can use our state of that art technology to give your eyes the proper check-ups to see if astigmatism is part of your prescription.
Are you born with Astigmatism?
Yes. Because astigmatism is determined by the shape of your eyes, most people are born with it but are usually first diagnosed with nearsightedness.
Again, the best way to determine is if you have them checked out by a medical professional. Making sure you have the right prescription for your eyes is most important and especially so if you have astigmatism.
How does Astigmatism affect my eyes?
To help you understand, think about a diagram of an eye. It has two layers that are curved to bend light so we can see the world around us. These two layers are:
- The cornea is the clear outside surface of the eye.
- The lens is a section inside the eye that changes shape to help us focus on objects.
A regular-shaped eye would look like a perfectly inflated beach ball. When the light comes into your eye at the right angle an image can be formed.
However, if you have astigmatism, your eye will be slightly egg-shaped. Therefore, the light that comes into your eyes will also be distorted.
This is what causes blurry vision and strain on your eyes. They're either having to work too hard on trying to make the blurry image clear, or they are struggling to get the right shape (hence the squinting) so the image is more clear.
How does Astigmatism affect my prescription?
Thankfully there is not much of a difference in prescription with eyes that have astigmatism.
You would wear the same pair of glasses and they make contacts specifically for people with astigmatism.
As mentioned before, Invision Eyecare has the best equipment to get an accurate prescription for your eyes. We also have a large selection of frames for you to choose from.
Invision Eyecare is dedicated to making sure you can see the world you were meant to see, comfortably and clearly. Give us a call to start our eye care journey, today.
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