Do reading glasses treat Astigmatism?

In simple terms, ‘No’.

Reading glasses are needed for a whole other situation known as presbyopia. Don’t know what’s that?

Presbyopia is an age-related vision problem in people above 40 where the elasticity of your eyes diminishes. The reduced flexibility restricts smooth eye movements and clear vision at reading distances which is why you get readers.

However, astigmatism is a type of refractive error that occurs due to an ill-shaped cornea. Many people have a good understanding of eye conditions such as myopia or hyperopia but when they hear astigmatism, they seem quite lost.

Many people have astigmatism to a slight extent but they get confused since the name is not as suggestive as nearsightedness or farsightedness. If you are also one of those people, read further to gain a better understanding of a common yet neglected eye problem known as astigmatism.

What is astigmatism?

It is a common refractive error after myopia and hyperopia. In this condition, the cornea resembles the shape of an oval rugby ball instead of a perfectly round football.

This affects your eye’s natural curvature and the light is either reflected behind or in front of your retina when it is supposed to reflect on the retina. When the light is not focused on the retina wall but scatters on different points, the image formed is blurry.

• In case of myopic astigmatism, the light is reflected on and before the retina. Thus, distant objects become blurry.
• If the astigmatism is hyperopic, the light has two focal points, one on the retina and another one behind it. People with this condition struggle to see nearby objects clearly.
• In mixed astigmatism, the light gets reflected before and behind the retina. People with mixed astigmatism have bad vision at every focal length.

Symptoms of astigmatism

The one common symptom of astigmatism is blurred or distorted vision. If you have to squint to see your television or computer screen, you might have this problem. In some cases, people have also reported wavy peripheral vision as its noticeable symptom.

However, astigmatism ranges from mild to severe. While you may not experience any signs if it is mild, severe astigmatism includes:

• Squinting
• Headache
• Poor night vision
• Eye strain

If you have been putting up with these symptoms for a while, schedule an appointment with an eye doctor. They will examine your vision and may even recommend prescription glasses for your situation.

If you are above 40 and squinting, you might need readers. You can buy reading glasses online to help your vision in old age.

What causes this problem?

Apart from genetic factors, there is still not much known about what exactly causes this problem.

As we have already told you earlier, the oddly-shaped cornea is what leads to astigmatism. The natural curvature of the eyes helps in bending the light so it falls directly on the retina. When you have an astigmatic eye, the curvature is odd and instead of bending the light on the retina, it scatters the light across different focal points.

Eye injuries and surgical history also contribute to this problem. The scarring of the cornea due to an injury can alter its shape and give rise to this condition. If you have gone through any surgery related to your eyes, you have better chances of developing this problem.

Keratoconus is a rare condition that results in thinning of the cornea. This makes your cornea bulge outwards and trigger problems such as sensitivity to light, blurred vision, double vision, myopia and astigmatism.

How to treat astigmatism?

This condition can be treated with LASIK surgery. However, there is not an eye problem that can’t be taken care of with eyeglasses.

With affordable cost and harmless procedure, glasses remain the first preference of people to treat their astigmatism.

Single vision lenses

If your astigmatism is causing either myopia or hyperopia, single vision lenses will help you see clearly. These glasses have a single power distributed all over the lens surface to cater to your specific vision need. You can get your prescription from your optometrist and buy online glasses for your specific vision deficiency.

Multifocal lenses

If your condition is causing poor vision at both near and far distances, bifocals and varifocals with multiple vision power will help you. The lenses have different lens powers where the top most part is reserved for distance viewing and the lower part is solely for reading. The small area in the middle segment gives a better intermediate vision.

The takeaway

We hope you are not going to use reading glasses for your astigmatic eyes. There are specialised glasses that are made for your vision needs. Consult your eye doctor and know which glasses will help you the best. But, if the ageing has taken the toll on your eyes, you can get reading glasses online or from a local store near you.