Is it true that astigmatism gets worse over the years?

Question

omg i hope not but is this true?

Answer 1

Not necessarily. It got better for me because I learnt how to relax my eyes after reading and using the computer. However, for the vast majority of people, it seems to get worse. Here's some excerpts of Q & A sessions about astigmatism.

Astigmatism Q & A
Questions were answered by Dr. Burt Dubow and Dr. Charles Slonim

Q: Does astigmatism go away? — E., New York

A: Sorry, no. In fact, it usually gets worse with age...but slowly. It is probably partly hereditary and partly environmental. Studies have shown that people who move their eyes in a certain direction a lot, like scanning columns of numbers, will develop certain kinds of astigmatism. High amounts of astigmatism are commonly found in groups with lower socio-economic status, poor diets, etc. But not all astigmatism is explainable. Some is even internal rather than corneal, which complicates contact lens fitting a bit. Fortunately, it is not a fatal condition! — Dr. Dubow

Q: My eye doctor told me in my exam that my astigmatism got worse. Is this normal? I heard that astigmatism's not supposed to change. — T.J., Minnesota

A: OK, who's been blabbing about astigmatism again? Not supposed to change? Oops, you heard wrong!

Astigmatism, which means "no point" in Greek, I think, is a common vision error. In fact, most people have some. When you have astigmatism, light does not focus to a single point in your eye. Instead, it focuses to a blur because the eye is oval or football-shaped. And it can and does change throughout your life, usually for the worse with age. But astigmatism is not a disease and can be compensated for with glasses, contact lenses or refractive surgery. — Dr. Dubow

Hope you get a better insight of astigmatism after reading all that! =)

Answer 2

I'm 15 and have needed a stringer prescription of glasses each year for the last 4 years... I was curious once and asked why my eyes were getting steadily worse at one of the appointments and I'll try to put down as much of the optometrist's relatively short answer as i can remember: During childhood all parts of the body are growing steadily but this becomes even more obvious during the teenage years. Sometimes this causes the eyes to grow out of proportion with everything else, either lengthening too much or not lengthening as much as they should have. Often this can be a genetic thing but it's not uncommon for it to not be. The steadily decrease in eyesight at older age is different to that of teenagers and is caused by the gradual aging of the body and degeneration of many cells and parts. Well that's what i can remember at least... as for your eyes hurting without your glasses? as I think someone else said- that's just them working too hard to see stuff they probably can't see properly anyway. This will cause the headache and possibly the sickness as well. But as I'm not any type of professional in the field I'd advise going to one if the problems continually worry you.

Answer 3

My astigmatism got worse for a while, and now it's considered severe, but it's remained unchanged for probably the last 10 years. Don't worry so much! It can be corrected lots of different ways, and I promise you that you can live a normal life.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Um Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Answer 6

I never heard of it getting better over the years.

Answer 7

everyones vision gets worse over time no matter what. get laser surgery and stop worrying about it.

Answer 8

It probably won't change too much if it is mild and there is nothing else wrong with your eyes.

Answer 9

I have it and i think so