Battling Vision

Astigmatism for a long time was an eye problem that could not be fully corrected with contact lenses. Mild astigmatism could be adequately improved with soft contact lenses, but there weren’t options for more severe cases. The eye problem itself results from a misshaped cornea - rather than being spherical like a ball, the cornea in people with astigmatism is oblong, shaped more like a football. Because of this shape, light rays can’t refract properly against the retina. Instead of focusing the rays on one spot, the odd shape causes light to refract in multiple locations on the retina, causing the blurred vision, regardless of distance, that is symptomatic of astigmatism.

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Astigmatism is a common eye problem in which a person’s cornea or lens has an irregular shape. These problems are known as Corneal astigmatism and Lenticular astigmatism respectively.

The cornea is a clear layer that completely covers the part of the eye that has color. Ideally, the shape of the cornea is round, like a tennis ball. The cornea’s job is to bend rays of light that enter the eye so that these light rays can be better focused on the lens enabling the retina to produce a clear image.

When the cornea has a more oval shape, like that of a football, light cannot focus properly. Instead of one focus point, as is what happens when the cornea is properly shaped, the misshapen cornea focuses light onto two areas of the retina. That is what results in blurred vision and/or the appearance of doubled vision. More →

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