Astigmatism worries

[anonandafraid]

Hello,

I've been to the opticians several times this year about eye worries that started with seeing ghosted text above white letters on black or dark backgrounds. I noticed it mostly with the car dashboard, the Sky TV menu and dark apps on my phone like the Spotify interface.

My optician told me my eyes were probably dry, strained and tired after using devices all day as part of my job.

Since then (February) the problem hasn't really eased up, sometimes it has been there less than others but lately I'm really noticing it. I'm not sure if it's down to the astigmatism the diagnosed me with back then. It's a mild one but basically I want to know is:

Is there anyone else on here with an astigmatism and do you get the ghosting too? It's not so much that that bothers me, it's points of light, like the tiny white power LED on my Apple TV seems to have not quite what I'd describe as a halo around it, but more like slightly curvy lines in a sort of starburst.

Is this normal? I've had my eyes checked as recently as 3 weeks ago and they said everything looks healthy. I just want to put my worries about this to rest as I keep forgetting to mention "Is this just my astigmatism causing that to happen?".

Thank you.

---------- Post added at 09:54 ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 ----------

I should also mention, I got glasses to correct the astigmatism back in February. This didn't change the slight starry bursts I see around lights at all. I mentioned to the optician and she again suggested taking a break from devices but no real difference.

Happy to live with it if it's just the nature of astigmatisms, otherwise it's causing me worry :(

[kerryann]

i have this , its perfectly normal, easy for me to say but WORRY NO MORE, seriously it is nothing to be concerned about.

[anonandafraid]

Phew! Thank you Kerryann! Do you have an astigmatism too? It makes me feel so much better knowing that I'm not alone. I need to stop giving it attention as it seems to accentuate the problem.

---------- Post added at 12:16 ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 ----------

Yikes, just looked at this website to see if I could recreate what I'm seeing and looks like I DO get those kind of halos around street lights too - http://visionsimulations.com/ I thought halos referred to the outer ring some people experience, which I get sometimes until I blink.

My starbursts around small LED lights look like number 3 in the bottom image (but not as big and with a few more lines) - http://visionsimulations.com/galleries/kinds-of-starbursts

So I think I have halos, starbursts and a bit of ghosting too. I just worry there's a serious underlying issue the opticians haven't noticed, even though I've been 4 or 5 times this year :(

[saf138]

Hello
Yes astigmatism is perfectly normal and pretty common too i have it in both eyes and I have always had a slightly distorted vision and ever since I can remember when I was a little kid I always had little white orbs floating around which my mum told me it was just angels visiting me lol.
You say you have visited the opticians several times this year so remember that when looking into the eyes the optician can detect things like potential stroke, high cholesterol levels to even brain tumors so take reassurance that you had the all clear every time apart from the astigmatism which again is totally common.
All the best.

[anonandafraid]

Hey saf138, thanks for your reassuring reply :)

Do you get the starburst effect around lights with yours too? I've also noticed the odd orb or two in the past, glad to know I'm not alone there!

[saf138]

Yes I do get the starburst effect too I do a lot of driving through cities so it can get quite challenging at times when driving in the evening with all the streets lights,traffic lights especially vehicle headlights and brake lights. Very rarely I also get this very weird bluriness on the outside of my vision of both eyes its reminds me of when you turn your television channel to that static channel and all you see are those black and white pixels bouncing about when ever that happens I have to stop everything for at least half an hours and truth be told I have never worried about it.

[anonandafraid]

Thanks saf138, I feel MUCH better now! The static thing you say you rarely experience sounds a bit like the visual snow I have too (my eyes must be rubbish!).

I'll try to stop worrying, it's the one thing I have where when I don't have any other imaginary health issues to latch on to, my mind loves to drift back to this for some reason! Thanks again for the reassurance! :)

[Sparkling_Fairy]

Same here. I have astigmatism too and I have the halos. I have it a lot with text, and depending on the lighting I can see an extra edge around objects.
Had it for many years, never bothered me

[Carrie8484]

I've worked on an opticians for 7 years, and I have astigmatism too(and I'm short sighted)
It's very very common. You may find that a different optician will find a different prescription . It may be a case of fine - tuning until you get the correction you need to stop your symptoms of ghosting, reading text issues etc. It's nothing to worry about. The vision in my left eye (astigmatism eye) is shocking. I'm used to it though. Please try not to worry

[saf138]

Don't mention it my friend all the best.

[anonandafraid]

Wow I don't know what to say, thank you all so much - I honestly thought I was the only one getting these symptoms and it had me all wrapped up in a panic about it for so long now.

I feel like I can finally put it to rest. Thank you ALL!

[GadGirl]

I have astigmatisim in both my eyes, dry eye syndrome, and slot of symptoms everyone else has mentioned and have done since I was younger kind of just got used to it, it's defo not anything more serious

[Nim]

I have been experiencing a many of these same symptoms (Ghosting, Visual Snow, etc.) for a number of years now.

Only just this week I saw an ophthalmologist, who indicated to me that my eyes appear healthy, apart from astigmatism. So nothing has really changed in the years since my last checkup, other than my prescription. She could not really tell me why I'm experiencing these symptoms; as it stands I have a follow-up in a month to see if the new prescription will alleviate my problems.

Where my HA is concerned I guess my vision problems have always really been an obstacle to acceptance for me. Visual problems that couldn't be easily attributed to a physical problem with the eyes is a big scary neurological Boogeyman. Even having had an MRI that showed a happy healthy(?) Brain free of tumors of lesions, I'm still left with this niggling feeling that something must be wrong.

So yeah, it was nice to see this thread. It makes the possibility that I might be okay seem a little more real.

Nim

[anonandafraid]

Where my HA is concerned I guess my vision problems have always really been an obstacle to acceptance for me.

This describes me exactly.

I've had to just draw a line under it recently after a check up with the doctor a few weeks ago. I brought drawings of what the ghosting looked like, what streetlights look like to me and described my symptoms as well as the concerns of what might be causing it.

His response reassured me to no end. He told me "There are certain people who shouldn't Google symptoms, and you are one of those people that shouldn't Google symptoms." He had another look at my eyes, assured me that ghosting isn't anything to be concerned about and that my opticians would have picked something up by now if it was a concern.

He sent me for a blood test just to rule out diabetes as he mentioned he does so as a precaution for anyone with long term vision issues, which he reassured me would come back fine - it was absolutely fine (my first test which was an experience! Easily done but my HA was in overdrive for the week leading up to it).

But yeah, glad to hear I'm not alone. I've been doing good with it recently - I've reduced my triggers (having a dark phone lock screen resulting in white text and ghosting galore) and reassured myself that everything is ok. I'm just so annoyed with myself for the amount of time I've wasted this year worrying about this - pretty much since the new year and here we are coming towards the end of the year!

Onwards and upwards.

[Leah88]

Yes, when my H.A was really bad in my first year of uni, I started to notice the ghosting ( I have bad sight in my left eye) ... considered brain tumour, ms etc. that was almost a decade ago and I still have the ghosting but I don't notice it unless I think about it.

[AlexMR22]

Hello i have astigmatism too, but is not too much only about 1 dioptri but I have ghosting vision in all the objects and is too annoying watch tv and see the ghosts, also I have the starburst on lights, LED are worse for me to many rays. Do you think that is normal? I wear glasses but they don't fix these problems. Ophthalmologists say my eyes are fine and no more problems. I have to say when look my phone or read something ghosting gets worse. Thank you guys :)