Astigmatism

Astigmatism

Astigmatism is a refractive error that is fairly common to some extent in just about everyone. The shape of your eye is normally like a sphere with curvature similar in all directions, but for some of us, that is not the case. Oblong or football-shaped corneas (front of your eye) cause a refractive error known as astigmatism. The corneal curvature in the horizontal meridian is different than in the vertical one. If we trace the rays of light coming into the eye, we have two focal points that do not focus on your retina (macula). The correction is simple by using lenses to focus on those two main meridians. Astigmatism is correctable with toric lenses,  either in spectacles or in contact lenses. 

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Our Optometrist Can Correct Astigmatism!

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Large eyes that have football-shaped corneas have astigmatism, known as myopic astigmatism, and small eyes that are football-shaped have astigmatism, known as hyperopic astigmatism. The eye may have a shape that has both types of astigmatism, known as compound astigmatism. Finally, there is one more type of astigmatism known as irregular astigmatism which is a distortion of some form normally in the cornea.