How is Astigmatism Treated?
Unless it is extreme, astigmatism can be compensated with eyeglasses or contact lenses.
If your eyeglass or contact lens prescription contains three parts rather than one, your eye care practitioner has found some astigmatism in one or both of your eyes. A prescription with three parts looks like this: -2.75 -1.25 x 90.
- The first part indicates your main spherical correction meaning the amount of power required in a lens to sharpen your visual acuity to an acceptable level, usually 20/20. In this example, the person has myopia and requires a concave lens to correct it.
- Part two shows the extent of the astigmatism in diopter. Again, the minus sign means a concave lens is needed.
- Part three is the axis of the cylinder required to bend certain light rays to compensate for the cornea's oval shape.
Many people with astigmatism believe that they can't wear contact lenses or that only rigid contact lenses (RGPs, also called GP lenses) can correct astigmatism.
This was true many years ago, but now soft toric contact lenses can correct astigmatism. Toric lenses have a special correction built into them and may also contain a prescription for nearsightedness or farsightedness if you need it.
While soft torics work well for many people, if you have severe astigmatism, you'll likely do better with RGP contact lenses or eyeglasses. Your eye care practitioner will advise you.
Depending on the type and severity of your astigmatism, you may also be able to have it corrected with refractive surgery. Discuss with your eye doctor with procedure is best to correct your astigmatism, and review your options in our LASIK & Vision Surgery section.
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