Can you develop astigmatism or are you born with it?

Question

I'm 23 and have been wearing glasses since I was about 10 years old. I just had an eye test today and apparently I have astigmatism in my left eye! I have my eyes tested at least once every 2 years and this has never come up before. Although the optician also wrote on the form that I have a lazy left eye, which I definitely don't! So I'm wondering if he made a mistake with the astigmatism?

He prescribed some contact lenses but my vision was still not crisp, which makes me think he might have made some kind of mistake, but I don't know!

So can you develop astigmatism over time, or is it something you have since birth? I'm all confused!

xx Emmie

Answer 1

You can develop astigmatism with the years.

Answer 2

i had a contact lens check last week. the last guy used to ckeck my eyes, but he never found anything, but my new one said i had it in my right eye. he has ordered somw toric lenses which should help my eyes focus light better and so not tlet the astigmatism affect my learning.

so i researched it and discovered that your born with it. it develops in the womb.

Answer 3

It can be either, astigmatisn refers to the shape of your eyeball, when someone has astigmatism it just means it's a little bit rugby ball shaped.

For your prescription it just means a little extra power is needed at a certain angle.  For instance my prescription for my right eye is Sphere: -7.00, Cyl: -0.75, Axis, 150

Sphere is the general power of the lens, Cyl and Axis relate to the astigmatism, it means that I need an extra -0.75 but only on an axis/angle of 150 degrees.

Astigmatism is something that can develop in anyone and it's not harmful it just means a slight change to your prescription, and depending on the size of the astigmatism you would need a Toric contact lens, these are specially made for astigmatism and will sharpen your vision as opposed to non toric lenses.

Answer 4

No I am the same as you. I have had near perfect vision all my life, with a very mild case of long sightedness in one eye(dont need glasses tho) and 2 years ago suddenly my optician announced that I had astigmatism in my left eye and would need glasses at some point.

I thought he had made a mistake but apprently it is something that develops over time. As I have grown older my eye has become rugby shaped, and will get worse

Answer 5

I never wore glasses until I was 21. I had suffered a serious fall when I was 17 and the optician said this could have been the cause. Ever since then the astigmatism has continued to change and I need new specs every year.

Answer 6

I think every person who has an astigmatism is born with it. Therefore it gets worse as you get older, hence the need for spectacles.

Answer 7

You are born with it. My father is an eye doctor. I know these things.

Answer 8

I always thought it was something you were born with,perhaps it gets worse as you get older,but I can't understand why you didn't ask your Optician to explain.

Answer 9

you can be born with it but it can also develop over time, if your note happy with the vision for your contact lenses, go back to your optician. If you have never had correction for astigmatism before it can also take time to adapt to the correction.

There is no need to worry about, most people do have some form of astigmastim

Answer 10

i think it develops over time as you grow

your eyeball doesnot develop perfectly round, causing distortion in what you see as your lens cannot accurately focus the image on all of the retina at the same time.