What is astigmatism?

Astigmatism is when the front surface of your eye is not perfectly round; it can be described as being shaped like a football. Astigmatism can cause distortion of both near and far objects.  more

Astigmatism is a refractive error that occurs when the cornea or the lens is irregularly curved. Instead of having a uniform curvature, some areas may be flatter or steeper than others. This distortion results in multiple focal points, which produce blurred vision at all distances. Astigmatism is generally present from birth, and the condition remains relatively constant over time. Like farsightedness and nearsightedness, astigmatism is treatable with laser vision correction. Limbal relaxing incisions have also proved effective in correcting this common refractive error.

A. Astigmatism is a condition that occurs when the cornea has more than one curvature (like a football as opposed to a basketball). These multiple curvatures bend light differently and blurred vision is the result. Light entering the eye focuses on or in front of the retina, multiple focal points.  more

Astigmatism results from an irregularly shaped cornea with more than one curvature (football-shaped). Light rays scatter within the eye, do not focus on a single point, and blurred vision results. Astigmatism can occur by itself or with nearsightedness or farsightedness. Laser vision correction can be used to reduce or eliminate astigmatism.  more

Astigmatism occurs when the cornea is irregularly shaped. There is another, less common form of astigmatism – lenticular astigmatism, which occurs when the lens is irregularly shaped. Astigmatism causes light rays to converge at two points on the retina instead of just one. Contact lenses can help to correct astigmatism. For more information about, please see here.  more

An astigmatic eye generally has two different meridians, at 90degrees to each other, which cause images to focus in different planes for each meridian. The meridians can each be either myopic, hyperopic or emmetropic. The correction for astigmatism is a lens power at a particular direction of orientation [ see section 4.1 ] Astigmatism causes images to be out of focus no matter what the distance. It is possible for an astigmatic eye to minimise the blur by accommodating, or focusing to bring the "circle of least confusion" onto the retina. URL: http://www.west.net/~eyecare/astigmatism.html - details and pictures to explain the condition. URL: http://www.web-xpress.com/vhsc/astigm.html - diagrams and questions and answers about the causes, symptoms of astigmatism. URL: http://www.sna.  more

The cornea of an eye with astigmatism is shaped like the end of a football, with one meridian being steeper than the other. This produces distorted and blurred images both up close and far away.  more

Astigmatism exists when the front surface of your eye is not perfectly round; it can be described as being oblong or oval, like a football as opposed to spherical, like a basketball. Astigmatism can cause distortion of both near and far objects.  more

Read more: http://www.optometrist.com.au/astigmatism.htm Although the name sounds awful, astigmatism is a simple condition whereby the cornea (the clear front of the eye) is oval in shape, rather than round (i.e., like a football rather than a soccer ball). This causes objects at any distance to appear unclear, as light will not focus to a point onto the retina. People with myopia or hyperopia can also have astigmatism.  more