Astigmatism is an interesting condition that affects about one-third of all people. It can range from extremely mild to severe. While it's not a refractive error involves distance, it does cause blurry vision. Some people live with astigmatism and don't need any vision intervention, while others have to resort to lenses or even surgery like LASIK. If you're dealing with astigmatism and have had enough, Chapel Hill Ophthalmology in Chapel Hill, NC, can help.
Astigmatism: Odd Curves and Strange Shapes
Normally, a cornea is a nicely curved dome that sits at the front of the eye. You have something called meridians on this dome. These lines travel from one side of the cornea to another as if it were a clock face. You might have one that travels from 12 to 6 and another that travels from 9 to 3. You have two principal meridians that are 90 degrees off from each other (such as in the just-used example).
In non-astigmatic vision, the meridians are symmetrical. When they are not symmetrical, however, you can end up with focal points on different parts of your cornea. For example, one meridian might be a lot flatter than the other, resulting in a cornea where the dome is more egg-shaped than round. That's astigmatism. A rare form of astigmatism has the principal meridians crossing at degrees other than 90 degrees.
Mild astigmatism might not affect vision to the point where you need glasses if you're not also near- or farsighted. But the worse the astigmatism, the blurrier your vision, so you may still need glasses anyway if your astigmatism is prominent enough.
LASIK is one way to remedy astigmatism. If you're sick of wearing glasses or contact lens and you want a permanent solution, LASIK may be the answer you’ve been looking for.
Talk to Our Ophthalmologist in Chapel Hill about Eye Surgery Near Me
Chapel Hill Ophthalmology in Chapel Hill, NC, offers LASIK and other therapies for conditions like astigmatism. Call us at (919) 942-8701 to arrange to see an eye doctor and discuss ways to solve your astigmatism issue. You'll want to know about what LASIK involves and what side effects to expect, but know that the procedure has a generally good track record of helping people with astigmatism.