What is astigmatism?

Question

I have astigmatism, but I don't even know what it is. All I know is that i have two diffrent prescriptions for my contacts.

Answer 1

Astigmatism is a vision condition that occurs when the front surface of your eye, the cornea, is slightly irregular in shape. This irregular shape prevents light from focusing properly on the back of your eye, the retina. As a result, your vision may be blurred at all distances.

Basically it means that your cornea is oddly shaped. I have it in both eyes so I know what you are going through.

Answer 2

An eye condition, which is a distortion of the image on the retina caused by irregularities in the cornea or lens. It results in blurred vision.

Astigmatism is a condition of the human eye which causes either blurred vision or a sense that each eye is seeing objects slightly differently.

Astigmatism is not a vision problem, but a structural problem with the eye. The human eye is usually shaped in a sphere, like a ball, but with astigmatism, the cornea of the eye is curved instead into an oval shape, more like a football. When the eye is not curved properly, or has uneven curves like a football, light will not travel in and out of the eye normally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astigmatism

Answer 3

The basic prescription to correct your vision (say -2.5 diopters) assumes that your lens shape is spherical (or axi-symmetric). But in truth, many eyes have irregularities, which cause astigmatism in addition to the near-sighted or far-sighted issue.
Your eye doctor corrects for this by describing your asymmetry (in each eye) and adding a modification to the basic lens prescription.

Answer 4

Astigmatism is when the cornea is not round. It is generally on the outside of the cornea. Sometimes on the inside, I have it on the inside and so do my kids. They wear contacts. They find that their vision is better with the contacts.

Answer 5

It is the condition where your eyes can not see as sharply as they could.