Astigmatism is one of many kinds of vision defects that a person can suffer from. Most people are familiar with nearsightedness, farsightedness, and also other eye defects such as glaucoma etc. But astigmatism is not something that many of us know about.

Astigmatism is one of the most common vision defects in a majority of people, but they could still be unaware of it. It usually occurs along with nearsightedness (distance vision problems) and farsightedness (close-up vision problems), and thus people may not even realize that they have astigmatism.

Causes Of Astigmatism

The normal shape of the cornea of the human eye is round. Sometimes, this normal shape is severely curved, instead of being smooth, which causes the cornea to become oval or oblong. In such an oblong shaped cornea, the rays of light, which should normally focus on one point, focus instead on two points, thus causing blurred vision or astigmatism.

Most cases are caused by an out of shape cornea and is known as corneal astigmatism. But sometimes, the lens of the eye, which is behind the cornea, can also be irregular in shape, leading to lenticular astigmatism.

Astigmatism is caused largely due to an inherited defect of the eye. People afflicted with this are usually born with an elongated cornea instead of a spherical one. The defect may not be very apparent at birth, but with time as they grow older, the sight problems worsen and they are diagnosed with astigmatism.

It can also be a result of the following:

• An injury to the eye, which has caused damage to the cornea.
• Some eye surgeries, if not performed properly, can also cause astigmatism.
• Keratoconus, an eye disease which causes a progressive and gradual thinning of the cornea, can alter the shape of the cornea, resulting in astigmatism.

Treating Astigmatism

Those who have a very small degree of astigmatism may not be aware of any vision problems, but untreated astigmatism can lead to headaches, eye strain and other vision problems. It can be corrected as well as cured.

1. Correcting astigmatism: Unless your astigmatism is very severe, it can easily be corrected by wearing eyeglasses or prescription contact lenses.

   A regular eyeglass prescription has only one part, but if yours has three numbers, then you may have some degree of astigmatism in either or both eyes. Eye glasses, which are made as per your prescription, can easily correct your astigmatism.

   Earlier, astigmatism could not be corrected by soft contact lenses. People could only wear hard contact lenses to correct their astigmatism. But now, soft contact lenses known as toric lenses can correct it if it is not very severe. The severity can only be determined by a proper eye exam.

2. Curing astigmatism: If your astigmatism is very severe, then you can also get it cured in one of the following two ways:

   ? Laser Eye Surgery
   ? Astigmatic Keratotomy

Both of these are surgical options for curing astigmatism. Depending on the kind that you have, and also its severity, your doctor will be able to determine the best treatment option for you.

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