What is astigmatism?

Question

I've been trying to find out what astigmatism is, but i havent gotten any answers...

1-what is astigmatism?

2-what are the simptoms in your vision when you have astigmatism?

helpppp ,,,,

i'll be chosing a best answer (10 free points for the best answer), thanks all ***

Answer 1

To put it shortly, your eye is shaped like a football instead of a sphere. Because of this, the focus is off because light is bent at several different angles. There are really no obvious symptoms of astigmatism. The optometrist will be able to detect it. If you have an astigmatism you will need special glasses or contacts in order for them to work correctly. Oh, and these will be more expensive than regular ones.

Answer 2

1st of all Astigmatism is measure on your cornea (the clear front part of your eye).

i'm going to start with the opposite of astigmatism first.  if you DON'T have astigmatism that means your cornea is shaped like a perfect round sphere...imagine a beach ball or a basketball,  it has the same curvature all the way around.  so when light enters the eye, it has ONE focal point.

Now, if you HAVE astigmatism, that means some parts of your cornea are more curved than other parts.  So rather than a basketball, you can imagine a football where the curvature of the ball is different at different points.  If light enters an eye with astigmatism, there will be many focal points, depending on what part of the eye the light is hitting.  

When you have astigmatism, one of the biggest symptoms is not being able to see well while out at night, or when there is not enough light around you.  Why?  because when there is not enough light around, your pupil (that black circle in your eye) gets larger, and so now you are "looking through more" of the random curvature of the eye.  Other symptoms are just difficulty with long term detailed near or distance work.

hmm...i hope this was not confusing!

Answer 3

Astigmatism is when the shape of your eyeballs changes and becomes more football shaped.  I don't know if there are any symptoms you would notice, the optometrist found mine.

Answer 4

Maybe search at www.webmd.com?  I have very bad vision, my prescription is -11.50, which is very poor, but I do not have astigmatism, which as the first answerer stated, means your lens is football shaped.

Answer 5

im 15 and i have astigmatism and it causes to see not as goog as u should

which is why i use Acuve Astigmatism and it works sooo good lol

Answer 6

Astigmatism is basically a "wrinkle" in the eyeball.  It causes a little distortion in the image that is put onto the retina.  It can very from eye to eye.  You won't experience anything consciously because the brain tries to compensate for the problem.

When you wear contact lenses, this can be a problem, but will only give you a slight less image clarity.

good luck