Astigmatism - that annoying eye condition that causes you to see things blurred owing to a curvature of either your cornea or your lens. Eyeglasses can act as a symptom solution for those suffering from this.

You’re looking out at the world and you want to see things clearly but everything you look at has a fuzzy edge. Blurred vision is a symptom of a number of eye problems and diseases and a definite reason to head off to your optometrist or eye doctor for a check-up. In most cases, unless there are additional symptoms which are bothering you, chances are that your problem is something called ‘astigmatism.’

Statistics show that two thirds of people suffering from myopia (nearsightedness), also suffer from astigmatism.

Astigmatism occurs when your eyes are curved in a way which is not normal or regular. Basically, the surface of your eye should be smooth but in the case of someone with astigmatism, some parts of your eye will be flat while others will be steep. In short, because of the way your eyes are curved, you may or may not be able to focus as necessary for crisp sight. Usually, the condition does not worsen or get better with time, but the symptoms can be helped with corrective eye wear.

The condition of astigmatism can occur in two ways: either corneal astigmatism, if your cornea is the area of your eye that is distorted; or lenticular astigmatism, if it is the lens of the eye that is curved.

Basically, following a simple check up, your ophthalmologist or optometrist will be able to tell you the severity of your astigmatism and advise vision correction for you. Your eye care specialist will diagnose astigmatism in one of three ways:

Keratometer – testing the amount of light reflected from the surface of your cornea in order to find out the severity of corneal astigmatism.

Keratoscope – to determine how the light reflects off the cornea in order to measure the severity of the cornea’s curve.

Videokeratoscope – a corneal topography that identifies the changes in corneal surface curvature and the severity of the astigmatism.

Eyeglasses have long been a tried and tested treatment for astigmatism. The thing to remember is that glasses (as well as most other tools for vision correction) only correct your astigmatism when you’re wearing them. Also, if your doctor tells you to wear your eyeglasses all the time, listen to him/her. If he tells you to wear them part of the time, listen; if he tells you to wear them full time, do the same! Your eyes are not something to be played around with, so take note of what the experts say and heed their advice.

Corrective lenses manufactured according to an updated eyeglasses prescription help your eyes to adjust as necessary so that the light is able to bounce off your eyes in the correct way, enabling you to see clearly. Your eyesight is precious - don’t play around with it! If you are looking to buy glasses frames in order to permanently correct your vision, it is impossible - although it’s necessary to note that that same rule applies to contact lessons (which are usually less comfortable).