Astigmatism

In advance I apologise if this is in the wrong place, but it is vaguely related to health so I thought I'd try here.

Basically been to the optician today and I already knew I had an astigmatism, but when I've looked at my prescription the numbers in the axis box are very different in each eye. Basically right eye is 20 and left eye is 125. What does this mean? Which eye is most normal? What would you expect numbers wise in a normal eye? Which is the most common astigmatism?

Any ideas would be greatfully appreciated!

Reply 1

zain88

1

im pretty sure its 20/20? ive just heard that expression lots, 20/20 vision, and im sure theres some optician called 20 20 aswell.

Reply 2

Misogynist

18

Pretty large discrepancy.. I always thought 20 was the maximum vision strength?

Reply 3

Snowfall

10

I think astigmatism is something to do with the shape of your lens. I think it's slightly oval or something..Hope that helps. Perhaps you should google or wiki it.

Reply 4

jennyflake

OP

I've googled it and the axis is to do with the angle it lies at...what is bothering me is what would 'normal' be for an astigmatism

Reply 5

Profesh

20

jennyflake

In advance I apologise if this is in the wrong place, but it is vaguely related to health so I thought I'd try here.

Basically been to the optician today and I already knew I had an astigmatism, but when I've looked at my prescription the numbers in the axis box are very different in each eye. Basically right eye is 20 and left eye is 125. What does this mean? Which eye is most normal? What would you expect numbers wise in a normal eye? Which is the most common astigmatism?

Any ideas would be greatfully appreciated!

If true, it would probably imply that your left eye can identify incoming asteroids on a collision trajectory with Earth twenty years in advance of Hubble; so I can only assume that you 'saw' your prescription without the requisite augmentation.

Reply 6

Sazarina88

11

I think I'm 40 and 150 or something?

Reply 7

The Caretaker

5

well i have quite severe astigmatism. it is basically because your cornea is irregualrly shaped. I never actually really read the prescription my optitian gives to me as i trust they know what they are doing. I dont think the value you're talking about determines how serious your condition is as the number refers to the degree of rotation of "blurriness" and there is no one degree that is any better or worse than another (just means its blurry horizontally for one person and blurry vertically for another)

Reply 8

nusaybah

i have astigmatism and according to my doctor my cylindrical axis has greater degree...the angle and the shape of the cornea is supposed to be responsible for that..but i havent come across a 'normal astigmatism axis', mayb because astigmatism in itself is slightly abnormal.

Reply 9

purplemil

its the angle at which you see things blurry because the cornea isn't smooth like it should be
astigmatism is when you have problems seeing things in horizontal and vertical axes its hard to explain! but they test it by using a + which would be separated without lenses and then as they increase your prescription the cross gradually comes together
youve got quite a bit difference in your eyes but theres no normal value for an astigmatism i don't think