Astigmatism

For years people have suffered with the affects of Astigmatism. Astigmatism is a defect in which light entering the eye is unable to be brought to a single focus resulting in blurred vision at all distances.  Until recently treatment consisted of wearing glasses or contact lenses for your vision correction. Now the latest technology in lens implants after cataract surgery makes it possible to reduce or actually eliminate corneal astigmatism and significantly improve your distance vision.  The AcrySof ® Toric IOL provides quality distance vision leaving you without the need for glasses and contact lenses.  If you have been diagnosed with cataracts and astigmatism call our office to see if you might be a candidate for the new AcrySof ® Toric IOL lens implant after your cataract surgery.

Astigmatism occurs when the front surface of the eye has an irregular curvature. Normally, the cornea is equally curved in all directions. This gives the cornea a round shape, like a baseball. In astigmatism, the curve along one meridian is steeper than the curvature along the other. This causes the front surface of the cornea to be shaped more like a football.

Your doctor can prescribe spectacle corrective lenses to correct your astigmatic error. These lenses will bring the multiple focal points to a single focus onto the retina.

Contact lenses are another corrective option to move the focus of light back onto the retina. This corrective choice is both cosmetically pleasing and optically beneficial.

The newest option for the correction of astigmatism is laser surgical correction. This new procedure reshapes the irregular corneal curvature. Resulting in multiple focal points being refocused onto the retina.