How severe is a -.25 astigmatism? And what does x105 mean?

Question

I went to a new eye doctor today, and instead of my usual OD -2.75 sph, OS -1.75 sph prescription, the new one reads OD -2.75 -.25x105, OS -1.75 sph.

I did some research online and apparently this means I have an astigmatism in my right eye. I'm a little confused because the doctor did not discuss this with me, and at 29 years old, I've never been diagnosed with an astigmatism before. I've also never had blurry vision that I've noticed.

Is it possible to develop one this late in life? If so, how severe is this -.25? And what does x105 mean?

I have a couple of boxes of contacts that are not toric lenses... will it hurt me to continue wearing them?

Answer 1

No, it is not severe at all. no worries. The 105 is the curvery of the eye shape.

Answer 2

0.25 diopters is the smallest amount of astigmatism correction that a doctor could prescribe.  Really it is pretty negligable, which is why you have never noticed blurry vision with your correction before.  If a doctor found this astigmatism with you before, he or she may have just chosen not to correct it.

The x105 means axis 105.  This is a designation for the angle at which the astigmatism correction is ground into your lenses.  Basically, you need -2.75 correction at the 105 degree direction and -3.00 correction at the 15 degree direction (90 degrees away from the axis).  Like I said before, that 0.25 diopter difference is usually negligable, which is why a non-astigmatism correction has worked for you.  Astigmatism means that light comes into focus in two different places in your eye.  For you, though, these two places are very close, reducing the amount of blur from the astigmatism.

Your spherical (non-toric) contacts will not hurt your eyes and probably give you great vision.  I would suggest trying out the new prescription, though.  It may improve your vision a little.