Astigmatism is an incredibly common condition that causes blurry or distorted vision. It might sound scary but don’t worry, it’s not a disease or an infection. Astigmatism is just a condition, and it can be corrected with Lasik surgery.
What Causes Astigmatism?
Astigmatism is caused by having an irregularly shaped cornea. The cornea is one of the structures of your eye responsible for focusing light onto your retina. With this distortion, light is not focused properly, causing vision impairment. You can think about it like this: your cornea should be smooth, symmetrical and round like a soccer ball but instead it’s an oval, like a football.
In some cases, the lens inside your eye can also cause astigmatism. This is called lenticular astigmatism and is less common than corneal astigmatism.
Three Types Of Astigmatism
To fully understand the three types of astigmatism you’ll need to first visualize the meridians of your eye. Imagine the front of your eye is the face of a clock. A line connecting 12 and 6 o’clock is the vertical meridian, and a line connecting 9 and 3 o’clock is the horizontal meridian.
In regularly shaped eyes, your meridians should have the same amount of curvature. People with astigmatism have a difference in curvature between their principal meridians (the steepest and flattest parts of their eyes). The greater the difference between your principal meridians, the greater the corneal astigmatism you will have.
Myopic Astigmatism
When one or both of your meridians are nearsighted, light is focused before it reaches your retina.
Hyperopic Astigmatism
When one or both of your meridians are farsighted, light is focused behind the retina.
Mixed Astigmatism
When one meridian is nearsighted and the other is farsighted, you get mixed astigmatism.
Astigmatism can further be classified as regular or irregular. Regular astigmatism is the most common and happens when your principal meridians are at a 90° angle. Irregular astigmatism happens when your principal meridians are not perpendicular.
How Can You Fix Astigmatism?
If you’re living with astigmatism, Lasik surgery is an effective treatment option for improving your vision. With our Lasik procedure, we can restore your cornea to a spherical shape so that light focuses properly on your retina. Give us a call today to get started or schedule a free consultation for your Lasik procedure.