Explain Astigmatism?

Question

As dumb as this may sound...I kinda forgot.

And Wikipedia is too...scientific,simple words are better.

I have a bit of it,my Optometrist said.

From my dad.

=]

Answer 1

if you take a normal magnifying glass, and you hold it so that the sun shines through it, the light will focus at a point. You can start a fire from all that energy focused at that point.

The distance that the lens is from the focal point is determined by the power of the lens. The more powerful the lens, the closer to the lens that focal point will be.

The formula P=1/d where d is in meters determines the power.

If light coming from the left, goes through the lens and is focused at 1 meter away, that will be a +1.00 lens.

If the light is focused at a half meter away, +2.00.

third of a meter....+3.00

quarter of a meter....+4.00

fifth of a meter....+5.00

etc.

If you look at the lens from the side there will be a curve to the lens. From the front, that lens could be looked at sort of as if it were the face of a clock. The line going from 12 to 6, that corresponds to the curve of the lens, will be the same as the one going from 2 to 8 or 3 to 9 or 4 to 10 or....

This is a SPHERICAL lens. All the meridians have the same curve... all the light rays going through the lens, no matter what direction of the clock they hit the lens in, are all focused at that focal point over on the right.

What if we had a soft lens? And we have to bend the lens a little to fit in the frame of some glasses for instance? The curve from 3-9 is the same, but the one from 12-6 is more bent. Because it is more bent, it's power is more and the light rays going through the lens along that vertical axis will be focused closer to the lens.  When trying to focus the light rays through the lens, we'd see that there are two blurry focal points. One where it used to be corresponding to the 3-9 axis or horizontal axis, and the other closer to the lens that sort of focuses from the 12-6 axis. The lens looks the same, but it focuses in two areas. This is what astigmatism is.

If the power of one axis is one, and the power of the other axis is two, then the Rx will read +1.00 +1.00 x some axis number depending on if it's vertical or horizontal or in between. We could look at it from the more powerful side too...then we'd have a +2.00-1.00 at an axis 90 degrees the other way. Same lens, different way of writing the numbers.

The only people who know about this would be the person who measured your refraction. If you bother to wear the glasses, your Rx that 'corrects' for the astigmatism, you'll see clearer. After awhile you won't want to be without that correction.

Answer 2

I have it :( . Basically your vision is not as clear, especially with lights. You'll see a little "halo" around light sources such as light bulbs and street lights. Your vision will be more fuzzy or blurry compared to normal.

Answer 3

Astigmatism is a condition of the human eye which causes either blurred vision or a sense that each eye is seeing objects slightly differently. Sometimes astigmatism can be detected by an individual if he covers one eye to look at an object, and then changes to cover the other eye. By switching back and forth between covering each eye while looking at the single object or in one direction, it will become apparent with astigmatism that the object seems to move, as though each eye is seeing it in a slightly different location.

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. Astigmatism causes light to bounce unevenly off the flat and steep curves of the oval shaped eye, thus allowing light to more than one point in the eye. This impairs focusing ability, causing blurred vision.

Hope this Helps !!!

Answer 4

me 2! im sorta clueless...i think it means u dont see as well in 1 eye. because its shaped wierd..im not really sure but its in my left eye so i hope i helped!

Answer 5

It something like having irregularly shaped eyes/corneas and it might be accompanied by nearsightness (Myopia)...or farsightness or both ...it can cause blurred vision if not corrected with glasses or some other form of corrections.  Many of these patients can not wear contact lenses without some minor disconfort that they have to get used to. And are not elegible for lasik surgery either.

Answer 6

It is where the lens of the eye is shaped different so it refracts the light differently. That is why sometimes one of your eyes is near sighted and the other might be far sighted. They are very common and nothing to worry about. You can look into corrective lasic surgery to correct it if you want or be like the millions of others who wear glasses or contacts. Google it to find out more info.

Answer 7

one of your eyes are shaped weird

Answer 8

It's sort of where your eye is not perfectly round.

Answer 9

its when your pupil is more egg shaped rather than circular.

Answer 10

i have an atigmatism and they said that a normal eye is circular, but someone w/ an astigmatism has a football shaped eye and the cornea of a normal eye is round, but someone w/ an astigmatism, our eyes have more of a point and not completely round.Here's a good picture, the eye on the left has an astigmatism and the one on the right is a normal cornea. Don't worry no one can tell! :D

http://www.lasersurgeryforeyes.com/image...

Answer 11

you cant see things as clearly as you should aka blurry

(thats what the girl said on the contacts commercial) lol

Answer 12

The curve of your eye lens in not perfectly balanced.  It causes slight problems with focusing.