Services for Children

Astigmatism: “Two Focal Points”

If the corneal surface were perfectly round like a marble or a ball-bearing, then all of the light rays that constitute an image would pass through cornea equally and come into focus on a single spot of the retina.   However, human body parts are not “perfect” and the corneal surface is never perfectly round.  This deviation from perfect roundness is microscopic, but it is enough so that light rays passing through one area in the cornea are focused differently from light rays that pass through other areas.  When one image is focused into two spots, this is called astigmatism.  Most people have some degree of astigmatism – it is only a problem when the degree of astigmatism is enough to blur the vision.   To correct astigmatism, both of the focal points need to be put into a single focal point on the retina.  To achieve this, an artificial lens is placed in front of the eye (glasses or a contact lens) to shift the two images onto the same single spot of retina.      

Oh no!  This astigmo, sticky-mo, Aston-Martin, stigma… WHATEVER you call it is a serious disease!    Not at all. While astigmatism has a funny sounding name, it is no worse (or better) than having myopia (“near sighted”) or hyperopia (“far sighted”) or attached earlobes or unattached earlobes.  The most accurate way to think of astigmatism is to imagine two spots of light – at least one (and maybe both) are missing their target.  With glasses or contacts lenses (or, with LASIK) both spots of light are put into sharp focus exactly on target.  Really, that’s the whole shebang!  Having astigmatism is not nearly as serious as a case of the cooties, and it hurts less than a pizza burn.