Causes | Symptoms | Treatment
What is Irregular Astigmatism?
Astigmatism is a common eye condition that’s usually corrected by eyeglasses, contact lenses, or surgery. Irregular astigmatism creates distortion in your vision and may not be correctable with spectacles, as compared to medically necessary contact lenses. Often, irregular astigmatism patients are free of any eye disease or injury.
Astigmatism is caused by an eye that is not completely round and occurs in nearly everybody to some degree. For vision problems due to astigmatism, glasses, contact lenses, and even vision correction procedures are all possible treatment options.
A person’s eye is naturally shaped like a sphere. Under normal circumstances, when light enters the eye, it refracts, or bends evenly, creating a clear view of the object. However, the eye of a person with astigmatism is shaped more like a football or the back of a spoon. For this person, when light enters the eye it is refracted more in one direction than the other, allowing only part of the object to be in focus at one time. Objects at any distance can appear blurry and wavy.
Our doctors have been helping patients see their best by correcting their vision corrections such as irregular astigmatism so don’t despair, there’s hope!
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CausesAstigmatism is a natural and commonly occurring cause of blurred or distorted vision that is usually associated with an imperfectly shaped cornea. The exact cause is not known. However, irregular astigmatism usually causes some type of distortion in your vision and neither spectacles, nor medically necessary contact lenses, correct the vision. The exact cause of irregular astigmatism without the presence of eye disease or injury is not known. There may be some forms of irregular astigmatism that are genetic and could be caused by large amounts of astigmatism that rapidly progress in teen years and eventually stretch the cornea and distort the vision. |
SymptomsPeople with undetected astigmatism often have blurred vision, which can be associated with fatigue and eyestrain. While these symptoms may not necessarily be the result of astigmatism, you should schedule an eye exam if you are experiencing one or more symptoms. |
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TreatmentAstigmatism correction can usually be easily incorporated into eye glasses. Alternatively, special soft contact lenses called toric lenses can be prescribed. Soft toric lenses have greater light-bending power in one direction than the other. One common problem with soft toric contact lenses is rotation of the contact lens on the cornea. Soft contact lenses use a ballast design to orient the astigmatic correction on the eye. Getting a soft contact lens to remain in one position throughout the day of wear can be a challenge and can create fluctuations in one’s vision during wear. Other options, particularly for higher amounts of astigmatism and irregular astigmatism, are gas-permeable rigid contact lenses and hybrid contact lenses. More recently, scleral contact lenses are being utilized for the more normal eye with astigmatism and irregular astigmatism. Scleral contact lenses have become a better choice because of the excellent comfort and superior vision achieved. These scleral contact lenses are also great for sports and water activities and have a much higher safety margin than soft contact lenses. Scleral lenses never rotate on the eye and fluctuations in vision are eliminated. After performing various tests, your eye doctor will determine the ideal prescription for your astigmatism. Please call our office at 214.739.8611 Ext 1 for more information. A member of our experienced staff will answer any questions you may have. |
