Evaluating Your Options When You Have Astigmatism

A whopping 150 million Americans are unable to see clearly thanks to a refractive error, and astigmatism is the most common. If your eyesight is less than perfect because of astigmatism and you want to achieve better vision, the good news is that this condition is highly treatable and you have options.

At Vision and Ortho-K, our team of experienced optometrists, led by Dr. Curtis Frank, is well-versed in helping clients with astigmatism. In the following, we explore what astigmatism is and how we can help you see more clearly.

Astigmatism at a glance

When you have astigmatism, it means the shape of your cornea and lens are irregular. Under ideal circumstances, these areas should be well-rounded, which allows light to enter your eye and pass through your lenses correctly. This light then focuses onto your retina, which sends the information through your optic nerve to your brain.

When your cornea and/or lenses are irregularly shaped, the way your cornea and lenses bend light is affected. As a result, the light doesn’t focus properly on your retinas, which can lead to problems with your vision.

In addition to blurry vision, you may also experience eye strain, problems with night driving, and headaches.

Treatment options for astigmatism

There are several ways in which astigmatism can be treated, including:

Eyeglasses

If your astigmatism is mild to moderate, wearing eyeglasses is a great way to snap your vision into focus. With glasses, we can filter the refractive error through corrective lenses to give you 20/20 vision.

Contact lenses

If you don’t like the idea of eyeglasses, you can opt for contact lenses. If your eyes aren't too misshapen, you have the option of wearing soft contact lenses. If your astigmatism is moderate to severe, we might recommend toric or rigid gas permeable lenses.

Orthokeratology

With this unique approach to astigmatism, we outfit you with lenses that you wear overnight. These ortho-k hard lenses reshape your eyes while you sleep so that you can see more clearly the next day. You need to keep wearing the ortho-k lenses overnight as your eyes will go back to their original shape.

Surgery

If you’re not keen on the idea of corrective lenses of any kind, then astigmatism surgery, such as LASIK, may be a great solution. With this type of surgery, your corneas are reshaped to improve how they bend light. We don’t perform astigmatism surgery here, but we do offer LASIK co-management services to help guide you through the process.

As you can see, there are plenty of treatment options for your astigmatism. To figure out which one is best for you, schedule an appointment at one of our offices in Boston or Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts.