Astigmatism queries

Hi,

I am a 21 year old male and I have had perfect vision all my life. I have never worn glasses. Recently, I just happened to go for an eye checkup at the local optometrist as I was accompanying my sister to change her prescription glasses as my last eye checkup had been around 4-5 years ago.

After the test, I was informed that although I am not shortsighted or longsighted, I do have astigmatism.

My eye test result reads-

Right eye-> Spherical= Plus, Cyl= -1.25, Axis= 90
Left eye-> Spherical= Plus, Cyl= -1.00, Axis= 90

Now, I would like to know how serious is my astigmatism, given the test results.

Also, I have had no problems with my eyes so far. I tried the sample glasses which had been corrected for my astigmatism at the optometrist, and the only difference it made was that everything looked much sharper to me. Using an analogy, my vision quality went from being like the picture quality of a LCD screen TV to that of a Plasma TV, but that difference didn't seem enough for me to get those glasses made for myself. Yet.

Lastly, the small amount of blurness of vision I experience (which i didn't notice until today) doesn't affect my daily lifestyle at all and doesn't give me headaches or anything of that sort.

Moreover, I would also like to know if astigmatism increases in severity if I don't start wearing glasses now and what exactly causes astigmatism, so perhaps I can make the necessary lifestyle changes to ensure that it doesn't increase as I grow older.

Thanks beforehand.

Regds.

[aryaaputra]

Correction

In the test result, after Spherical, it should be written as PL, or Plano.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

1. Astigmatism is normally not a disease just a natural warping (aspherical) of the cornea.
2. Not wearing glasses will neither make your eyes stronger or weaker. You can decide whether you want things a little sharper.
3. Next time you have an eye exam (within a year) see a Eye MD ophthalmolgist physician  find one at www.aao.org

JCH MD

[aryaaputra]

Thank you for the advice, Doc. Really appreciate it as I feel a lot better after reading your reply. Will try to see an Eye MD soon.

Regds.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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