Magda writes about her astigmatism cure:

Dear Alex,

I am so excited to tell you — I was prescribed by the glasses shop -3.50 and 4.25 recently. I persuaded him to reduce them to my old prescription of -2.75 and -3, but he also added a ton of astigmatism adjustments, 40 and 80.

Three weeks later I just now purchased and tried on a pair of glasses with a straight focal plane, both measuring -2.50. My eyes relaxed and released in a way that I almost cannot describe. It felt almost like ecstasy. My eyes feel euphoric! I can see through the sides of the glass instead of peering through the center like a prisoner from behind bars, with my head in a vice. I can use my peripheral vision and see a panorama all around me. I can push focus and it’s easy. I am euphoric! My eyes are euphoric! It’s simply amazing, and it’s criminal how the vision industry systematically destroys people’s lives by systematically destroying their vision.

Thank you so very much for doing what you do!

***

We talk a bit about astigmatism and astigmatism cure related subjects in this category of the blog.

In so many cases, there isn’t even a need for any sort of astigmatism cure. The truth is, in many myopia cases below -3.00, astigmatism correction is entirely unnecessary. Of course if you have had astigmatism correction for years, this isn’t something you may want to just stop overnight. A bit of careful evaluation of your eyesight, and prescriptions is a good idea before making any decisions.

I do want to emphasize that glasses prescriptions are not something to play with. It is important to have a good understanding of your eyesight, how to measure, gauging symptoms, and understanding the premises of diopter changes.

That being said, Magda’s case is something I have encountered many times, and wholeheartedly agree with.

Astigmatism correction can significantly limit your eyesight potential.

We frequently talk about reducing prescription complexity. If you have read up on the basics about myopia causes, in particular lens-induced myopia, this probably makes sense to you already. Astigmatism correction further locks you in to needing glasses, and your eyes do adjust to that further complexity of refractive change. The more you wear these things, the more you need them. Which of course, is a basic tenant of a successful business strategy – making the customer depend on the product.

Astigmatism Cure Is Nothing More Than Careful Prescription Management.

This is absolutely not something the establishment wants to hear. It is the sort of thing that, if you are practicing in the field, can get your license looked at closely – rocking the boat that provides the key revenue for all of optometry just isn’t a good idea.

The #1 search result on Google for “astigmatism cure” is WebMD, which offers corrective lenses and surgery as the only cures for astigmatism. It seems then that cases like Magda’s are just miracles outside of the bounds of medical science.

That or the premise of “just don’t buy the nonsense” isn’t advice that makes business sense. This isn’t something an active practitioner would likely dare to say in a public forum. But since your friend Alex is now just another retiree, I’m glad to share these thoughts with you.

If you just have a small -2 diopter prescription and no other complications with your eyesight, you most likely don’t need all sorts of cylinder and axis correction (for astigmatism). With Internet ordered lenses being so cheap, getting your prescription without the astigmatism correction isn’t a big gamble. As long as you don’t initially use it for driving or other 20/20 task, there is no harm in it at all.

And you can always send me an e-mail, or try the Vision Improvement Course, which also discusses astigmatism in much greater detail.

As always, there are exceptions. In some cases astigmatism correction is necessary (very few though, compared to what is being prescribed). In some case the concept of an astigmatism cure is more involved than simply removing all that additional correction.

I am always so very excited to receive e-mails like Magda’s. I’m glad to answer your questions, and I am even more grateful for when you take the time to share your positive experiences.

Hopefully you enjoyed this post, and do feel free to drop me a line anytime!