Skip to main content

Astigmatism is when the eye has an abnormally shaped, or abnormally curved, cornea (the clear front cover of the eye) or an abnormally curved lens inside the eye. Most eyes are round like a baseball or basketball. If a cornea is oblong – shaped more like an American football, for example – then it distorts the light that is projected onto the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, and the patient sees a blurred or distorted image.