When you have astigmatism...?

Question

Do glasses with an astigmatic component make your eyes look bigger, smaller, or different in shape?

Just wondering because I got new glasses, my supervisor at uni could (she is an optometrist) could tell I had astigmatism just by looking at my eyes while I was wearing my glasses.

Also, since getting this pair of glasses, when I look in the mirror, my face looks like it's changed shape slightly...is this normal for things to look like they are a slightly different shape when you have astigmatism?

Answer 1

hello. Sad to say, but i have astig too. :( That's very bad, and i regret  for not taking care of my eyesight when i was younger. Anyway, i think the lens of the glasses will be kind of different from those without astig. Like, when i wear normal glasses, my eyes look perfectly fine.

But when i wear my astig glasses, it seems to have some kind of reflection on the lenses. And makes my eyes appear to be "ugly". Hate it.

And getting contact lenses are expensive if u have astig too. :(

Answer 2

When you have an astigmatism the corner of your eye is kinda oval in shape like a football, so  you see everything differently, it's really easy to tell, believe me I have it bad.  I don't think your glasses would make any difference on what your face looks like though, except the obvious change of now having glasses, it could just be the frames themselves.  

Answer 3

I have astigmatism too and eyeglasses with any vision correction can change the appearance of your eye when you are wearing them.  If you are nearsighted, a minus lens is used which will make your eye appear smaller.  If you are farsighted or presbyopic, a plus lens is used that will make your eye appear larger.

Cylinder lenses are used to correct astigmatism and can be incorporated into a plus or minus lens prescription and will change the appearance of the eye in a horizontal or vertical and will make the appear larger or smaller on one direction.  

Yes it is normal for objects to have a slightly different shape when eyeglasses with an astigmatism correction are first worn.  Most people get used to it in a few days.  I was an exception to that and had horrible headaches and dizziness when I first started correcting my astigmatism so I ended up using contact lenses instead because they reduce minification/magnification because the correction is closer to your eye.

I hope this helps :)