Greetings Once Again!

As the leaves start to fall and the temperatures start to moderate, I hope that everyone had an enjoyable summer, had a chance to slow down and spend some quality time with family and friends, and survived the sweltering heat of July (remember that)?

A question I get asked almost daily, in fact twice the day I wrote this, is “What is a stigmatism“? followed a few seconds later by “Is it going to make me blind”?  Many patients also comment that  “My previous eye doctor told me I can’t wear contact lenses because of my stigmatism“.  Besides being mispronounced, ASTIGMATISM, in my experience, is widely misunderstood, so much so that I am devoting a newsletter to help clarify the condition.

Astigmatism is not an eye disease nor will you go blind from having one.  Simply, it is a very common visual disorder, similar to nearsightedness and farsightedness.  It also causes similar symptoms, such as blurry vison, squinting, headaches, and/or eye strain.  Astigmatism is caused by  the irregular shape of either the cornea (the most common cause) or the lens, which is located inside your eye.  Many people  think that the cornea (the front of your eye) is perfectly round like a ball or sphere. However, when you have an astigmatism this is not true.   To demonstrate this, picture a tennis ball cut in half which represents the cornea. Then squeeze the sides of the ball slightly closer together to make it not round and shaped more like a football cut in half. This creates a surface that is astigmatic, or not spherical.

As I mentioned earlier, astigmatism is very common.  In my estimation, about 80% of people have some degree of an astigmatism.  Small amounts of astigmatism usually do not require treatment and do not affect vision. Even moderate amounts can be easily corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or laser refractive procedures.   However, larger amounts require more precise measurements by the doctor.  The more astigmatism you have, the less room for error when determining your glasses or contact lens prescription.  Contact lenses are available for those with a lot of astigmatism, but you may need a custom design.

Other Stuff

We have a nice selection of Gucci eyeglasses and a few sunglasses that need to move out so that new frames can come in.  The eyeglass frames are already priced affordably at $269.00.  But through the end of November we are lowering the price to $209.00.  So now is your chance to own a designer, high quality, fully warranted, Italian frame at a very reasonable price.  Come by our office and take a look at the selection.  If you would like to see Gucci’s entire collection, we can easily log onto their website.  Then, you can choose frames to be sent to our office for you to review.  Friends and family are also eligible for this discount.

Have a wonderful autumn and thank you once again for your patronage.  We’ll talk again in a few months.

Dr. Mike Wojton