I was told I have astigmatism. But nobody ever explained what that means and everything I read is just really confusing. Can you explain it to me in plain English?
Astigmatism means that your cornea (the clear surface or ‘window’ of your eye) is not completely spherical. A cornea with Astigmatism is shaped like a section of a football. A cornea without astigmatism is shaped like a section of a baseball.
For the most part, almost every eye has some astigmatism. The question is how much astigmatism is present and, in the case of contact lenses, is it beneficial to where a lens for astigmatism.
When reading your eyeglass of contact lens prescription, it is easy to tell how much astigmatism you have. For example, if your prescription reads as:
-3.00 -1.00 x 180
This means your overall sphere correction needed is -3.00
In the vertical axis of your cornea (straight up and down) you need a -4.00 (-3.00 + (-1.00) = -4.00)
This means you have 1 diopter of astigmatism.
Contact lenses are readily made to correct astigmatism. If you have a lot of astigmatism, you may need a custom lens. Either way, you can wear contacts if you choose.
