Best Treatment For Astigmatism in Adult Years??
Question: I'm a 19 year old girl, who had a car accident in July '07 & have been having some vision problems since then. (I hit my head & lost conciousness for a few minutes)
I've just been on a visit with an eye doctor who told me I have an astigmatism in my left eye & have to wear glasses at all times. He said it's probably been there since birth & won't get better unless I have it fixed with laser surgery in about 2 years, but that will cost me $5000, (money which I'll don't have!)
I haven't had any eye tests since I was little & they didn't see anything wrong with my sight then, so does that mean that this astigmatism was caused by my accident and not from birth?
Other questions:Can it be cured any other means other than costly surgery or glasses? What if I put an eye patch over my better eye to strengthen my weak one & do some eye exercises?
I hate the fact that I have 1 football shaped eye and 1 soccerball shaped eye! Its especially noticable in photos & I hate it so much!
Answers: Lots of things... I'll try and take them in order.
Not everyone who has an Rx in just one eye has to have it corrected, astigmatic or not. Many people are happier leaving things alone, especially if they've acclimatised to that.
And even if the Rx is useful that doesn't mean it has to be worn all the time.
I would love to hear the doctor's justification for glasses all the time. From my point of view, in an adult, it's down to you and what you want to do.
A sudden change in refraction due to trauma would normally leave other signs in the eye, especially if it's a jump in astigmatism, so it's quite possible you've had it from an early age. But if it's never troubled you before, why have it corrected now? Given your history (untroubled bar recent trauma) the missing astigmatic correction in your left eye isn't likely to be at the bottom of your current problems.
The patching issue: did you have good vision in that eye at the test, as good as the right eye?
If you did, there is no amblyopia (lazy eye) and patching is unnecessary and won't do anything.
If the left eye was poorer even with test lenses, then there is some amblyopia and neither spectacles nor laser treament will, on their own, produce good vision in that eye.
*If* there is amblyopia, while 19 is somewhat old for this, a spectacle correction *plus* occlusion of the good eye and specific eye training ecercises may still produce considerable benefit.
And, importantly, any difference in facial symmetry is NOTHING to to with your astigmatic Rx. The astigmatism is purely on your cornea, doesn't show in the eyelids, and will be measured in a fraction of a millimetre in linear terms. No-one can see their astigmatism that way. To have a cornea that isn't perfectly round (looked at from the front) is not unusual, but occurs independently of the presence of any astigmatism.
(last little thing: it's not an astigmatism, it's just astigmatism.
a quantity, not an object. Everyone will have some if measured accurately enough but in most people it's not enough to appear on an Rx or turn into glasses.)
Optometrist, retired.
The astigmatism has nothing to do with the car accident. When the doctor said your eye is football-shaped rather than soccerball-shaped he was just putting it in exaggerated terms to get his point across. Any difference you see in the shape of your eyes has nothing to do with astigmatism because it's just fractions of a millimeter and you won't notice it in a mirror. If you've been doing fine without glasses for 19 years you probably won't need them. If you want to get a pair anyway, you could maybe to see a little better driving at night, or to see a little better out of your left eye. But the glasses might just annoy you because the astigmatism was probably there your whole life and you've adapted to it. Anyway, nothing to worry about here.
medical weed
I've just been on a visit with an eye doctor who told me I have an astigmatism in my left eye & have to wear glasses at all times. He said it's probably been there since birth & won't get better unless I have it fixed with laser surgery in about 2 years, but that will cost me $5000, (money which I'll don't have!)
I haven't had any eye tests since I was little & they didn't see anything wrong with my sight then, so does that mean that this astigmatism was caused by my accident and not from birth?
Other questions:Can it be cured any other means other than costly surgery or glasses? What if I put an eye patch over my better eye to strengthen my weak one & do some eye exercises?
I hate the fact that I have 1 football shaped eye and 1 soccerball shaped eye! Its especially noticable in photos & I hate it so much!
Answers: Lots of things... I'll try and take them in order.
Not everyone who has an Rx in just one eye has to have it corrected, astigmatic or not. Many people are happier leaving things alone, especially if they've acclimatised to that.
And even if the Rx is useful that doesn't mean it has to be worn all the time.
I would love to hear the doctor's justification for glasses all the time. From my point of view, in an adult, it's down to you and what you want to do.
A sudden change in refraction due to trauma would normally leave other signs in the eye, especially if it's a jump in astigmatism, so it's quite possible you've had it from an early age. But if it's never troubled you before, why have it corrected now? Given your history (untroubled bar recent trauma) the missing astigmatic correction in your left eye isn't likely to be at the bottom of your current problems.
The patching issue: did you have good vision in that eye at the test, as good as the right eye?
If you did, there is no amblyopia (lazy eye) and patching is unnecessary and won't do anything.
If the left eye was poorer even with test lenses, then there is some amblyopia and neither spectacles nor laser treament will, on their own, produce good vision in that eye.
*If* there is amblyopia, while 19 is somewhat old for this, a spectacle correction *plus* occlusion of the good eye and specific eye training ecercises may still produce considerable benefit.
And, importantly, any difference in facial symmetry is NOTHING to to with your astigmatic Rx. The astigmatism is purely on your cornea, doesn't show in the eyelids, and will be measured in a fraction of a millimetre in linear terms. No-one can see their astigmatism that way. To have a cornea that isn't perfectly round (looked at from the front) is not unusual, but occurs independently of the presence of any astigmatism.
(last little thing: it's not an astigmatism, it's just astigmatism.
a quantity, not an object. Everyone will have some if measured accurately enough but in most people it's not enough to appear on an Rx or turn into glasses.)
Optometrist, retired.
The astigmatism has nothing to do with the car accident. When the doctor said your eye is football-shaped rather than soccerball-shaped he was just putting it in exaggerated terms to get his point across. Any difference you see in the shape of your eyes has nothing to do with astigmatism because it's just fractions of a millimeter and you won't notice it in a mirror. If you've been doing fine without glasses for 19 years you probably won't need them. If you want to get a pair anyway, you could maybe to see a little better driving at night, or to see a little better out of your left eye. But the glasses might just annoy you because the astigmatism was probably there your whole life and you've adapted to it. Anyway, nothing to worry about here.
medical weed
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