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Doc says my astigmatism is gone? HUH?

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Tondalana

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Aug 22, 2001, 10:04:39 PM8/22/01
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Today I went to my eye doc for my dry eyes and blurry vision and as a side
thing, my doc measured my vision and astigmatism. I was told that "Wow, it
looks like your astigmatism is gone". HUH? I didn't really get into detail
with my doc, but how can this be? I've had astigmatism all my life, and Just 2
months ago this same doc gave me a prescriptiuon for glasses and in the
prescription was correction for a pretty high astigmatism. So tell me if this
makes sense. I figure it this way. right now, the glasses I have have the
prescription for astigmatism, she says I don't have astigmatism anymore. Could
this be the reason why my vision isn't so sharp (A little blurry)? because I am
wearing glasses to correct astigmatism even though I don't have it anymore? I
never heard of astigmatism going away. The only thing I can think of is that I
am taking steroid drops for recent inflamation in my eyes. the drops are called
LOTEMAX (Loteprednol etabonate ophthalmic suspension 0.5%). Could this be
temporarily lowering the astigmatism? I am at a loss.

Larry Bickford

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Aug 22, 2001, 10:38:36 PM8/22/01
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In article <20010822220439...@mb-ch.aol.com>,
tond...@aol.com (Tondalana) wrote:

> Today I went to my eye doc for my dry eyes and blurry vision and as a side
> thing, my doc measured my vision and astigmatism. I was told that "Wow, it
> looks like your astigmatism is gone". HUH? I didn't really get into detail
> with my doc, but how can this be? I've had astigmatism all my life, and Just
> 2
> months ago this same doc gave me a prescriptiuon for glasses and in the
> prescription was correction for a pretty high astigmatism.

Small amounts of astigmatism can certainly go away or become higher in
power. Large amounts of astigmatism can likewise reduce or increase.

> So tell me if this
> makes sense. I figure it this way. right now, the glasses I have have the
> prescription for astigmatism, she says I don't have astigmatism anymore.
> Could
> this be the reason why my vision isn't so sharp (A little blurry)? because I
> am
> wearing glasses to correct astigmatism even though I don't have it anymore?

Asbsolutely. An incorrect optical correction is one that results in
vision that is not corrected and not clear.

> I never heard of astigmatism going away.

Well, it happens. Prescriptions change. It's one of the reasons I have a
job!

>The only thing I can think of is that I
> am taking steroid drops for recent inflamation in my eyes. the drops are
> called
> LOTEMAX (Loteprednol etabonate ophthalmic suspension 0.5%). Could this be
> temporarily lowering the astigmatism? I am at a loss.

It's possible, though not likely. If it is the cause, you might expect
it to return. I would assume your doctor checked for signs that the
medication was having effects other than that for which it was intended.

--Larry

--
Larry Bickford, OD
Doctor of Optometry, Family Practice Eye Health and Vision Care

The EyeCare Connection
http://www.EyeCareContacts.com


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Tom S

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Aug 22, 2001, 11:35:35 PM8/22/01
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Usually fluctuations occur, such as 0.25D or 0.50D in either direction. If
you gave the specific numbers, it might help
"Tondalana" <tond...@aol.com> wrote in message
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Greatest Prime

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Aug 23, 2001, 2:08:47 AM8/23/01
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in article 20010822220439...@mb-ch.aol.com, Tondalana at
tond...@aol.com wrote on 8/22/01 7:04 PM:

There is a significant chance that you never had astigmatism. I think that
the "Which is better? One or two?" process prompts you to give an astigmatic
reply. In a way, I think it is like a "therapist" making certain that a
child has been abused by bugging the kid until the "correct" answer is
produced.

Bill

Mike Tyner

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Aug 23, 2001, 8:51:05 AM8/23/01
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It wouldn't be surprising for astigmatism to change if your first
measurement was with inflammation and the second measurement after treatment
with steroids. It changes morning to night, and I can change mine by
watching a movie with my head back.

How much astigmatism? To me, "high" astigmatism means -4.25 and I don't
think you mean that.

Your doctor's test for astigmatism isn't foolproof because it depends on
your understanding of what s/he's comparing with one-or-two. If "better"
means "round letters are less blurry" you're OK. If "better" means "vertical
parts of letters are clear" it can be way off.

Astigmatism is just a slight bend or warp in the cornea, nothing to get
emotional about. Your "true" astigmatism is probably somewhere between the
two values. At least that's the prescription I'd write if I couldn't get any
more information.

-MT

"Tondalana" <tond...@aol.com> wrote in message
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Dan Abel

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Aug 23, 2001, 2:04:27 PM8/23/01
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In article <B7A9EBFA.232E%Fish...@mediaone.net>, Greatest Prime
<Fish...@mediaone.net> wrote:


> There is a significant chance that you never had astigmatism. I think that
> the "Which is better? One or two?" process prompts you to give an astigmatic
> reply.


Interesting. I've always wondered about the "one" and "two". Does "one"
mean astigmatism or does "two" mean astigmatism?


:-)


(I assume that OD's are taught to switch "one" and "two" to make sure that
a patient isn't biased one way or another. Is that true?)

--
Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS
ab...@sonoma.edu
http://www.sonoma.edu/IT/AIS/people/Abel.html

Mike Tyner

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Aug 23, 2001, 2:04:08 PM8/23/01
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No, "one" would be more correction for astigmatism, and "two" would be less.
When you can't tell a difference between one and two, you're there.

Oh.. you were joking. OK.. the most common answer seems to be "TZVECL".

-MT

"Dan Abel" <ab...@sonoma.edu> wrote in message
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Tondalana

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Aug 23, 2001, 3:26:11 PM8/23/01
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No. I definetly always had astigmatism since I can remember. My last checkup
before this (Back in Jan. 2001) was: axis in right eye was 005 Axis in the left
was 160. The Cyl in the right eye was -.75 and in the left -1.00. This is what
my eyes were in January 2001. Now the other day I am told my astigmatism is
gone. Is something wrong here? Right now, my vision does seem a bit blurry.
this could be because the glasses I have are made for astigmatism and now I am
told I no longer have astigmatism. I didn't think astigmatism can change like
that. I also have had recent problems with my eyes (Floaters, red eyes, dry
eyes, and more). Could this be contributing? Man this is frustrating. Thanks.

Tondalana

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Aug 23, 2001, 3:25:48 PM8/23/01
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Tom S

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Aug 23, 2001, 5:11:07 PM8/23/01
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-0.75D and -1.00D of astigmatism was not really enough to need correction in
the first place, especially if you didn't have any spherical refractive
error. I have -1.50D and -2.00D of astigmatism, and I don't even notice it
(I don't wear correction). If you leave it uncorrected, your eye somehow
adjusts to cancel out the astigmatism in the cornea, or so I've heard.
I know that you've always had astigmatism, but that value can fluctuate
from exam to exam, in either direction. Yours must've fluctuated an
unusually large amount towards the good side in the last few months.
Usually, only the spherical error seems to change rapidly and largely, not
the astigmatism. You should feel good that it's gone now.
If I ever decide to get glasses again, I'm gonna make sure that I get
the spherical equivelant instead of an astigmatism correction. Whenever I
wore glasses for astigmatism, it seemed to make it worse.

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Tondalana

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Aug 23, 2001, 6:53:20 PM8/23/01
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But now, I have glasses that have a prescription for astigmatism. Could this be
the reason why my vision is blurry? Please note that this blurriness only
became apparent very recently. I can't imagine why my astigmatism would change
so rapidly. I had some recent inflamation of my eyes, and my eyes continue to
be red, though not as bad. Could the inflamation cause my cornea to resahpe? I
also wake up in the morning with really dry eyes. they hurt to open them up.
Thanks.

Tondalana

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Aug 23, 2001, 7:07:15 PM8/23/01
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o yeah, 1 more thing. I actually do have Spherical refractive error. It is in
the -4.25 range. I forgot to mention that in my original post.

Tom S

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Aug 23, 2001, 7:18:07 PM8/23/01
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If it's blurry, then don't wear them. I don't know if it'd reshape your
cornea or not (if it did, it'd only be temporary anyways), but it would
cause the layer of tears to not be there, and this can temporarely change
the refraction of your eye. Whenever you put in eye drops, it tends to make
your eyes temporarely have a more convex power to them. But I wouldn't
think that this would apply to astigmatism, so this probably wouldn't be it.
The inflamation could change your eyes for a short period of time, although
I don't know how.

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Tom S

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Aug 23, 2001, 8:10:24 PM8/23/01
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Well, that puts a whole new twist on it. Sometimes, you can reduce the
astigmatic power when the myopia increases (even if the astigmatism itself
doesn't change) and still get the same effect as before. Are you a rapidly
progressing myope, or has your progression already stopped? If your eyes
are still growing, then you can have big fluctuations in every part of your
prescription until your eyes stop growing (and even then, it can chage quite
a bit).

Tondalana

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Aug 24, 2001, 1:33:19 AM8/24/01
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Well, here's the deal. She checked my vision, and said the prescription was the
same, except for the fact that my astigmatism is gone. This doesn't make sense
though. how can my prescrition be the same if my astigmatism is down? Can this
explain the blurriness? I've been using artificial tears lately, can that be
it?

Tondalana

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Aug 24, 2001, 1:34:58 AM8/24/01
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Unfortunaetly I need to wear them. Without them, I cannot accomplish most
things in my life. Anyway, what can cause such a drastic change in such a short
period of time?

Tom S

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Aug 24, 2001, 10:24:58 AM8/24/01
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Your spherical prescription WAS the same, but your cylindrical wasn't.
Sometimes, they can decrease the astigmatism correction if your myopia goes
up and still get the same effect, even if your astigmatism doesn't change.
This, however, didn't apply to your case.
Have you gotten new glasses yet w/o the astigmatism correction? No
sense in wearing the ones that give you blurry vision. If I were you, I'd
get the new prescription w/o the astigmatism correction in it. Like I've
said before, astigmatism correction isn't really necessary anyways, unless
it's a very high level. Here's a breakdown of the levels of it:

Mild Astigmatsim = < 1.00 diopters
Moderate Astigmatism = 1.00 to 2.00 diopters
Severe Astigmatism = 2.00 to 3.00 diopters
Extreme Astigmatism = > 3.00 diopters

Since you've never really had astigmatism too much above the mild level, I
wouldn't worry about it one bit if it does come back. I'm in the moderate
range and it isn't that noticeable to me. Like somebody said before, you
might have not even had it in the first place, but your eyes accepted the
correction anyways. Maybe your eyes, when they were inflamed, didn't accept
what it was accepting before, or something like that. Hope this helps.

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