How Can You Correct Astigmatism?

It's quite common to have trace amounts of astigmatism that do not require correction. If you have greater amounts of astigmatism, your vision can typically be corrected through the use of eyeglasses, contact lenses or refractive surgeries such as PRK and LASIK.

Some companies advertise eye exercises as being able to "cure" or correct astigmatism. Techniques like eye exercises and vision therapy cannot correct astigmatism. Only eyeglasses, contacts and refractive surgery can.

Eyeglasses

All eyeglass prescriptions can be made to compensate for astigmatism. This simply involves an optician grinding an additional curvature into the eyeglass lens, to the curvature that already compensates for your myopia or hyperopia. Additionally, most sunglasses can be turned into prescription strength, allowing you to still enjoy the fashion of frames.

Also, wavefront technology is now being used to create wavefront lenses. The analysis during an eye exam can more accurately correct refractive errors, as well as design a lens that fits your particular needs for each eye.

Contact Lenses

Contacts that correct astigmatism are known as toric contact lenses. For many years, these were only available as hard lenses; if you had astigmatism you couldn't wear soft contact lenses.

That's changed — now soft lenses can correct astigmatism for many people. Soft toric lenses are now available as planned replacement lenses, disposable lenses, daily disposable lenses, multifocals and silicone hydrogel lenses. You can even change your eye color with colored contact lenses for astigmatism.

However, some people with more difficult toric prescriptions prefer the visual acuity offered by GP (or RGP, "rigid gas permeable") lenses, which are the modern replacement for old-fashioned hard lenses. The Contact Lens Manufacturers Association offers a consumer website that explains the advantages of GP lenses in general, and torics in particular.

Contact lenses, especially ones for astigmatism, can be expensive. To find out if you can receive a discount on contact lenses, learn more about your vision insurance plan and don't buy from any practice that doesn't ask you for a copy of your contact lens prescription.

These pages offer information on popular brands of soft toric contact lenses:

Refractive Surgery

When LASIK was first approved, it wasn't for people with astigmatism. But with refinements in the LASIK eye surgery procedure and the advent of custom LASIK, astigmatism can now be surgically corrected. Click on these links for more information:

LASIK complications can be rare, but serious. Complications arising from bladed LASIK include irregularly shaped and uneven corneal flaps, resulting in vision problems like irregular astigmatism. For this reason, some eye surgeons recommend having a bladeless LASIK procedure.