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Astigmatism is the result of blurred vision?

If you have been diagnosed with the nearsightedness or farsightedness, you may experience some blurred vision, especially when you're not wearing your glasses or contact lenses. But did you know it may also have a common condition known as astigmatism? Astigmatism can also cause blurred vision and headaches and discomfort eyes.

What is astigmatism?

Astigmatism is caused by an irregular corneal shape or an irregular curvature of the lens inside the eye. Any of these conditions can prevent light from focusing properly on the retina, and blurred vision at any distance can result, as both the cornea and lens are responsible for focusing light entering the eye.

Astigmatism, nearsightedness and farsightedness are known medically as refractive errors because each of these conditions affect the shape of the eyes "refract" or bend light.

An astigmatic eye is not uniformly spherical shape which gives a clear vision. Instead, it has an oval or irregular shape caused by a scar on the cornea or a defect in the lens. An oval shape has two curves:

• A more pronounced curvature in the short side, and
• A flatter curve on their longest side

A scar or other irregularities also has several curves. Each curve bends incoming light differently, giving several images of the retina or in front of her. Blurred vision is the result.

Astigmatism Test

His thorough visual examination with a qualified ophthalmologist measures how to focus the light of the eyes. This helps your ophthalmologist to determine a prescription to help you correct your vision blurred. Some of the sophisticated diagnostics used in Bellevue Cornea Lasik and Seattle, Washington include:

• Visual acuity – This is done through a refractor, chin and forehead against the rest of designated areas and looks through an opening in the Snellen chart. The eye doctor or assistant flips between different lenses, you are asked to read the line smallest letters you can see. This test measures the error of your eyes' of refraction leads to a corrective prescription for glasses or contacts.
• Keratometry – A keratometer measures the corneal curvature. A circle of light is focused on the cornea and its reflection is measured. This is a fundamental measure to determine the adjustment suitable for contact lenses.
• Corneal topography, a more sophisticated, you can use for more information on how of the cornea.

Measurements of these tests and help others to your eye doctor to determine if you have astigmatism, to what extent, and that option would be the most effective treatment to help you achieve your best vision.

Diagnosis and treatment of astigmatism

Doctors do not know why there is astigmatism. In some cases seems to be inherited. In many cases, is present at birth, but symptoms may not be evident until early adulthood. Astigmatism can improve or worsen over time.

To determine if astigmatism is blurred vision help, a visit to an ophthalmologist with experience is necessary for a complete eye examination. If astigmatism is diagnosed, treatment can be:

• Glasses or contact lenses to alter the way your eyes refract light.
• Vision correction laser as LASIK or any of its variants. LASIK changes the way the cornea by removing a small amount of corneal tissue. A high precision laser vaporizes tissue according to its detailed treatment plan.
• Orthokeratology (Ortho-K), which is painless, noninvasive corneal changes the way through specially designed rigid contact lenses.

About the Author

Your first step in improving your vision is to contact a qualified and experienced eye surgeon such as Dr. Kent Leavitt,

The Harman Eye Clinic, World Class Eye Surgery North of Seattle

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 8:06 am and is filed under Laser Eye Surgery Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.