Astigmatism

Skewed vision

To see clearly, light rays must be bent or refracted to focus on the retina, the light- sensitive nerve layer that lines the back of the eye.  The cornea and lens of the eye work together to bend or refract light rays and focus them on the retina.  If a refractive error is present, the light is not focused directly on the retina, so images appear blurry.

Astigmatism occurs when the curvature of the cornea is oval like a football instead of spherical like a basketball, which causes light to focus on more than one point in the eye, resulting in blurred vision at distance or near.  Astigmatism often occurs along with nearsightedness or farsightedness.  As a result, vision is distorted.  Astigmatism may occur in conjunction with cataracts, but it is a separate vision problem.  Approximately two out of five cataract patients have pre-existing astigmatism which can be corrected.