Out of the two photos above, which view do you see when you are in the car at nighttime? Normal people without astigmatism see the world from the perspective of the right side and people with astigmatism see the world from the perspective of the left side. Astigmatism, though in most cases, causes short or far-sightedness and blurred vision, it may not affect your vision at all. It may only affect the way you view light, which I believe is the case for me. Other symptoms include, headaches, eye strain, discomfort in the eye, and trouble seeing in the night.
As someone with 20/20 vision, I never felt the need to go to a regular eye exam. The only eye exams I had were the ones where you cover one eye and read letters. Apparently, this is not enough. When you go to an ophthalmologist, you get your eyes dilated for the doctor to run a couple of tests. I tried these past couple of days to go see an ophthalmologist, but unfortunately, I am only able to see a physician at Fenway Health under the university health insurance. This is so frustrating to me because the next available appointment is on the last day of January of 2021.
Fortunately, astigmatism is easily curable with eye glasses, contact lenses, or surgery. It is also a very common eye condition, so if you found out for the first time that you are viewing the world differently than most people, there is no need to worry at all! Also, I am in no way a doctor or a trained professional in the medical field; I am just an individual who found out I have been seeing the world completely differently than the rest of the people I know. If you think you might have astigmatism, please get an eye exam and get a formal diagnosis from a medical professional.
