Eye Problems Archives

astigmastism

went to my eye doctor last august and he told me that i have a little astigmatism. should i be worried? my eye doctor gave me some eye glasses with a low prescription. my eye doctor gave me a 0.25 prescription for my glasses. think they are too low. barely see clearly with it. have some blurry vision. also think that i'm nearsighted becuse i have trouble seing the blackboard from far at school. always seat in front. my eye doctor has not diagnosed me yet with nearsightness. so should that be a concern or not? been on glasses on and off. sometimes i go for a eye exam and they tell me that i need glasses and sometimes they tell me i don't. what should i do? have this problem since middle school. now i'm in high school now. i'm about to be a senior. any advice will be helpful thank you

Follow Ups:

• Re: astigmastism LT [1203.1394] 13:20:14 7/11/05 (0)
• Re: astigmastism Alexandria Dumas [169.20] 09:19:49 7/11/05 (1)
  • Re: astigmastism (Archive in eyes. ) Good description. Walt Stoll [93.1889] 07:50:38 7/12/05 (0)
• Re: astigmastism Walt Stoll [93.1889] 07:34:52 7/11/05 (0)

In Reply to: astigmastism posted by julliette [3880.1399] on July 10, 2005 at 20:25:50:

Hi, Julliette.

Is your "eye doctor" an optometrist or an ophthalmologist?

Walt

In Reply to: astigmastism posted by julliette [3880.1399] on July 10, 2005 at 20:25:50:

The prescription they wrote you for astigmatism is the lowest prescription possible, it's practically like not wearing glasses at all.

After reading for a reasonable length of time, or concentrating at the near point, like a desk, studying, you could be basically locking your focusing mechanism in on the near point, which is what is making the blackboard blurry. When you get your eyes checked at the eye doctor, you haven't been studying--using near point concentration--that's why they don't pick up your slight nearsigntedness.

You probably are a little bit nearsighted, -.50 to -.75 of a diopter. If you get glasses that make the blackboard clear, do not wear them to read. You may also find that not sitting on your tailbone, sitting up straight when you read and study, will help.

If you had a pair of reading glasses (+.50 to +.75) that you wore religiously when you studied, and make sure you keep good posture while reading and studying, you may never need distance glasses unless you go to med school, law school, etc., and then there's no hope. You would then become a myope. (That's not a bad thing, really.) Myopia or nearsightedness is basically building in a pair of reading glasses.

Follow Ups:

• Re: astigmastism (Archive in eyes. ) Good description. Walt Stoll [93.1889] 07:50:38 7/12/05 (0)

In Reply to: astigmastism posted by julliette [3880.1399] on July 10, 2005 at 20:25:50:

Perhaps not related to your question, but what i discovered in high school, college and grad school is that if I sit about 3 seats back from the front at the beginning of the semester, that would allow me to see the board and what was written, but it was still a bit blurry. By the end of the semester, I could see it fine -- the exercise helped by eyes. When I would take the summer off, I would noticed that my eyes hadn't been exercised and I would see the board blurry again -- but by sitting just far enough back to exercise my eyes without straining too much, they would get better.

Then I had to go in the real world and get a real job. My eyes then were blurry for good because they didn't get the same exercise.

I have had glasses since 6th grade and have been able to keep my nearsightedness in check for a very long time. Now in my fourties, that's unfortunately changing :-(

In Reply to: Re: astigmastism posted by Alexandria Dumas [169.20] on July 11, 2005 at 09:19:49:

Thanks, Alexandria.

Good information.

Walt