A person with astigmatism may not be able to see properly because the lens or the cornea of the eye is not curved properly. This abnormal curvature may cause some patients to have blurry vision or cause a shadow in a person's vision. Some of the different types of astigmatism treatments that are available include eye glasses, contact lenses, and eye surgery. Each of these different astigmatism treatment methods attempts to correct or account for the condition. Different types of treatment may be prescribed, depending on the severity of the astigmatism.
Astigmatism often causes light to refract incorrectly in a person’s eye. Thus, different types of lenses are often used to correct it. Many people with astigmatism may have used glasses to help their vision, and there also are contact lenses that have been developed to correct or account for astigmatism. Depending on the severity of the condition, different types of contacts can be used as an astigmatism treatment.
Soft contact lenses do not correct for astigmatism as much as they account for it. The lenses refract light correctly into the eye so a person can see more clearly. Many people like to use soft contact lenses because they are comfortable. While soft lenses are a useful astigmatism treatment for mild versions of the condition, they can be ineffective for more severe forms. In such a case, other types of contact lenses can be used.
Some of the other types of contact lenses that can be used as an astigmatism treatment may include soft toric lenses, rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses, and toric RGP lenses. Soft toric lenses are one of the more comfortable types of toric lenses. These contacts work by having two different corrective powers on the lens. These differing powers are specially chosen and placed in the lens to counteract the effects of astigmatism. If the lens should shift while in the eye, however, it can result in blurry vision.
In cases where the astigmatism is so severe that other lenses have trouble keeping in place, toric RGP lenses are often used. Toric RGP not only contains powers that help correct astigmatism, but they also have a special shape that helps to keep the lens in place. In contrast, a RGP lens uses the person’s tears to help correct vision problems caused by astigmatism. The RGP lens is a sphere and when it is placed on the abnormally shaped cornea, the space between the cornea and the lens usually fills with the patient's tears. The tears then refract light correctly and thus correct the patient's vision.
If a patient does not want to wear contact lenses or glasses, he can opt for a surgical astigmatism treatment. Through the eye surgery, a surgeon can correct the shape of a person’s cornea. One such surgical option is Laser Assisted In situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) surgery, which uses a laser to help reshape the cornea. Of course, eye surgery does come with risks, such as loss of vision. The benefits, however, include clearer vision without the use of corrective lenses.