Can an astigmatism be misdiagnosed as myopia?

Question

I have an astigmatism, but am also nearsighted. i have a theory, based on the progression of myopia over the years. i would get tested, they'd "find" that I needed a stronger perscription, and immediately afterwards Id have headaches, for TWO DAYS! Im thinking that in those days they didnt know about this disorder and well, thats how I may have been misdiagnosed!

well rockinout, what I do find interesting about astigmatism (yes Im aware of what it physically is) is that noone can give me a difinative answer about what causes it. Obviously, Im going into this with a theory that too many people were misdiagnosed. I am 36, from a time when opthamology was somewhat primitive.
PS: The way I experience astig is that my left eye will shade over when i flip a light out to my left. Also, I think its a horizontal haze.

Answer 1

The reason no one can give you an answer to the cause is because no one knows for sure what causes myopia (nearsightedness) or astigmatism. There are many theories out there but nothing absolutely concrete yet.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if it can be misdiagnosed. I'm sure just like anything else the possibility exists. I am also nearsighted and have astigmatism. I wear contacts, but I was always told that astigmatism had to do with the shape of your eye. I don't know a lot about it, because my astigmatism is not that bad, but I can't see as well out of my left eye (which has the astigmatism) as my right eye.

Answer 3

The typical lens, including the ones in your eyes, is spherical, and photons arriving from a small object are focused at a single point on the retina, regardless of where they impact the lens. But there is a common lens aberration called astigmatism, in which the lens has a cylindrical component as well as spherical, and if this is the case photons striking one part of the lens will be focused differently than those striking another. Thus, a glasses prescription contains a number to correct the spherical component, if that is off, and also a magnitude and direction for a cylindrical correction, if that is off. Myopia is an error in the spherical component which puts distant objects out of focus. The only real cause of these errors is simply slightly uneven growth in the eye components -- and spectacles can do a decent job of correcting them.

Answer 4

Astigmatism occurs when light rays entering the eye are bent in such a way that they do not allow a sharp focusing on the retina, therefore you have fuzzy vision.

As for the headaches, it's just a matter of your eyes adjusting to the new Rx. Some people have no problems at all, and I've seen some that can up to a week to adjust.

Answer 5

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