I got my first set of glasses when I was 27, my optometrist told me I had mild astigmatism and most likely had it from birth. I still remember walking outside with my glasses on and being absolutely blown away by how crisp everything looked because I was under the impression that I had perfect vision and most people saw things the way I did.
I remember having the same experience! My vision has been slowly getting worse, especially at a distance, but I had no idea how much difference glasses would make. It was mind-blowing when I first put them on.
Holy shit, are we the same person??? Seriously though, I was the only person in my family to not wear glasses until I was recommended to go to the optometrist for "squinting too much" when looking at my laptop. It was explained that the squinting was me subconsciously attempting to squeese my astigmatised eyeballs into a better shape for viewing the bright screen :/
I remember being 17 and was asked by my friend of why im staring at a light source. Was telling her that i was wondering about the lines formed by the light, and she said "Everyone sees that you know". 2 years later, we met after being apart, and found out that we were both diagnosed with astigmatism.
I'm 18 and i Today visited eye doctor and i got -3 cyl and -3 cyl with -0.25 cylidnerical . They said its very high why you didn't noticed i said I'm doing online classes from past 3 years
I have an astigmatism. I didn’t know not everyone saw that “light streaking” until now. I thought that was normal. No wonder my husband looked at me strange when I mentioned it to him! This was an incredibly well done video on the condition. Thank you.
As someone with both nearsightedness and astigmatism, I find reading street signs extremely difficult (especially at night) even with corrective lenses. I wish they made them bigger so I could read them before I'm supposed to make turns.
Well, contact lenses exist, although my boyfriend can have problems with flare, from what he's told me. He has driven during night without any problems though.
@@chrisheartman9263I can't use contact lenses, some people I'm related to are allergic and the feelings that I'd poke my eye out is too high. Also don't got enough time for it
I've gotten so used to the light streaks during night that when I finally got some glasses to deal with my astigmatism, it just feels weird with the light streaks gone. I know it's weird but I honestly really liked the light streaks too, I've associated them with some of my best core memories during childhood, like going for a road trip during night and seeing the light streaks coming from the headlights of other vehicles. Edit: I should've probably worded this better. The light streaks aren't completely gone, but they look different with the glasses. Still feels weird tho
As someone with adhd the light streaks gave me a great distraction for night time driving as a child, was always fun to til my head and make them move….now that I drive it’s a bit of a pain but not the only reason why I don’t like driving at night
dont wear glasses? i dont. one of my eyes has astigmatism and both of them are nearsighted. unless you HAVE TO be able to read something that is far, you dont really need them
As a person with astigmatism, watching this video hurt my eyes. I could feel my eyes straining to try and clear up the picture, as they have been trained to attempt when I am not wearing my glasses. But since there was no helping that picture, they just worked and worked to no avail. Taking off my glasses helped. But then I just saw more astigmatism than intended...
when the first image popped up my eyes immediately tried to adjust and strain to clear it up, and then I suddenly remembered it's supposed to be like that lol
When the -1.00 with the rule on the tennis court came on, I took my glasses off and it made it more clear. Weird. It was hard looking at the images with my glasses on because of the strain, especially the medicine bottle. I had to look away finally.
I also thought everyone saw the streaks of light coming out of artificial lights at night. It wasn't until like a year ago that I found out it was a symptom of my astigmatism. I hate driving at night in general, but I especially hate driving at night when it is raining because the streaks are everywhere, including the in the water reflections.
Glasses with the anti glare coating can really help this effect. My last pair of glasses I didn't have the money to get the glare coating and basically lost my ability drive at night because the streaking was so insane to look at. Next pair I'm definitely shelling out for the coating even if it starts chipping off after a year or so
Same. Some people don't understand why I hate driving in the rain at night so much. I definitely need to re-up my prescription, as it's getting really bad again
I also was diagnosed with astigmatism many years ago but I just recently learned that my over-sensitivity to bright light is due to astigmatism (I mostly need sunglasses even if it is cloudy). I always thought I was weird. 😅
I'm sensitive to bright light as well but my optomertist said years ago it's likely due to the reduced amount of pigment in my eye colour. I have light blue eyes.
Also have astigmatism and struggle with lights, especially at night, but also during the day I almost always need sunglasses even on overcast days. I have brown eyes, but was told when I went for an eye checkup where they would typically dilate my pupils that they didn’t need to because mine seem to be naturally more dilated. Not sure if that’s because of the astigmatism or just a me thing. I also didn’t know until 4 days ago that the long lines from lights is from astigmatism. I assumed my whole life (almost 30 years old now) that everyone saw light that way.
the first comparison of the bottles is literally how i see things. ive never really been able to relate to vision comparison pictures where the other image is just blurry, but here u can see its more shaky looking than anything and its cool to finally find out its indeed astigmatism. didnt even know it affected more than your ability to see lights. also im getting new glasses today and i cant wait to see more clearly
@@trentcard the new glasses? theyre great since theyre varifocals! at first i felt rly dizzy walking because of that but got used to it in a few days lol
I have astigmatism and growing up my mom never believed that there was anything wrong with my eyes. But i sure everything was more blurry than it should be and I was sure I needed glasses. So sure that when she wouldn't get my eyes checked I did an at home test. All it told me was that I was neither near nor far sighted. Thought I'd just have to live with a blurry world and it was all in my head. I didn't even know what astigmatism was. It wasn't until I was getting migranes in college that I finally went to the eye doctor. Sure enough, perfect sight with just Astigmatism. It felt so good for the headaches to go away and to finally see things
No offense, but...a bit of a neglectful mother, if anything, to listen to your child inform they're having vision issues and to not even think about taking them to the optometrist. Even if you live here in the U.S., where all things healthcare can be expensive, there is Medicaid that can help pay for glasses if your family is low income (like mine was). Awful that she didn't want to even entertain the thought that maybe you need some type of corrective lenses. Happy you finally got a diagnosis, though.
i dont really know why it would give you headaches though maybe you were straining your eyes to see things too much but i have astigmatism in one of my eyes and both of them are nearsighted if thats the term. i just chose to not wear glasses or anything, its kind of a hassle and since i dont drive either, i dont really need to be able to see things clearly and im just used to it. no headaches
@@annipsy2185 when I was in high school I would get headaches almost every day but I thought it was just bc of studying/staring at the computer screen. Then I noticed how much I had a hard time reading numbers on the blackboard during math class and I went to the eye doctor, found out I had astigmatism. Once I started wearing eyeglasses the headaches went away.
I think it’s a widespread problem that people are diagnosed with astigmatism and are never told what that actually means. I was diagnosed in kindergarten with a very mild astigmatism in both eyes and I never knew what that actually meant. Imagine being told you have something like diabetes and never having the disease explained to you. Thank you!!
I was never diagnosed with it, although last time I got my eyes tested, they added some new information on my card and that was astigmatism strength. They never really told me why I have that, or even pointed it out. But now that I think about it and research about it, it does make sense.
@@Peter-ff1tp I wasn’t saying it that it is same thing I was saying that if you go to the doctors office when you are diagnosed with a condition they will usually sit down and explain that condition and treatment options. So I picked a random fairly common condition such as diabetes to show how crazy it is that people have no idea what astigmatism is and how it will affect them and their vision.
Great explanation! Astigmatism with the rule here. For years I carried all sorts of cleaning supplies and special cloths and paper towels in my car because I thought I had some sort of film on the windshield that I could not get clean. I probably had the cleanest car windows in town but still at night all lights looked smeared in a vertical streak. Finally got glasses and they help 90%. The more I age, the harder it is to drive at night though..
I’m constantly annoyed by my windshield, eyeglasses, and phone screens not being clear enough…and I’m not a clean freak- I just want to be able to see!
This helps me! Even with my glasses I don't like driving at night, always feel like I need more light and any speck of water on windscreen and smudge on glasses has to get cleaned immediately. My spouse will let the rain pile up on the windscreen till I don't know how he can see at all!
That’s interesting, whilst I have an astigmatism, I don’t get the single streak of light at night time, all lights I look at are just like massive star bursts or fireworks, but relatively uniform. It is making night time driving, even with my glasses on, especially on dark country roads, quite uncomfortable these days. Around town with more ambient light it isn’t as bad.
If you squint without your glasses, it will definitely show the lines. I've just tried and it seems I have with the rule and oblique (one slanting and one vertical line). Just that it's only -1.00 so I'm not worried hahah
I get starbursts/fireworks that are quite uniform too, but only since I had laser corrective surgery for short-sightedness. They did tell me something about the shape of my eyes and how there was a possibility that this would result in the type of experiences I have in the dark when looking at lights, but it’s been so long that I can’t recall their exact reasoning. I no longer even recall what it was like to see lights without starbursts.
@@GemmaFurbank I’ve heard the same things about possible side effects of corrective surgery which has mostly scared me off from going down that path. Even though I already have those issues, I don’t want them any worse! They say to use anti reflective coatings on glasses to help with the glare, I have Essilor lenses with Crizal coatings on all of mine, it probably helps a bit, but not enough unfortunately, even with super clean glasses and windscreen etc.
For those wondering, don't confuse astigmatism with night lights seen through car windscreens. The light refracts differently when looking through a glass pane/windshield. Don't panic like I did lol
Dont worry, you know when the age hits you; youll start to see these beautiful sizzling & fuzzy light balls, when it used to be nice sharp light. The farther you are, the bigger the shimmer is. I live far north and I guess my vision changed radically in one summer, so when the dark winter came, I was so confused.. Youll know when its time to go see a man about some glasses; the lights turn oddly pretty but weird and you dont recognize faces in the dark as quickly as you used to. Not seeing street signs in time when driving is another clue, in daytime too. Dont wait too long (out of vanity) like my mom, she waved at speed-limit sign as we drove by. Dont scare your family :)
I've been complaining about not being able to "focus" on letters even with my glasses. This 100% explains why I could always "guess" every letter on the optometrist's board even though I couldn't actually read them 🤡
You would "guess" them? The whole point of the eye exam was to let the optometrist know how clear you see the letters. Must have sucked to have glasses and not realize why you can't still make out the thing you were focused on. How long did it take for you/anyone else to figure it out?
I have astigmatism and I wear progressive bifocals to see properly. I hate driving at night especially if it’s raining , it’s a horrible experience for me. Thank you because now I can explain to my son what I see as opposed to what he sees. 🙏🏾🙏🏾
I can relate, I dealt with this up until I was in my early 60s and got cataracts. I had high myopia -11, and -3 diopters of astigmatism. I wore rigid Gas permeable lenses that were custom made and extremely expensive and often popped out of my eye or slid off and stuck to the white part of my eye. If this happened while driving it was life threatening. I got to the point where I could not safely drive at night. I wore glasses too, but because they were very thick, they would distort images while driving. My eye doc said, "pray for cataracts" and when I was diagnosed with them about seven years ago, I had lens replacement implants in both eyes and it CHANGED MY LIFE. I now can see distance day or night without glasses, and just need readers for close work reading or at the computer. Please know there is hope for you! The surgery was easy and safe and I have been thankful every day since. My insurance covered part of the surgery and I only paid $1900 out of pocket.
I cried the first time I saw the stars in the sky at night with my glasses. Up to that point I had never seen the Stars in the sky, I was about 10. I was shocked that all the streetlights at night weren't fuzzy splotches but rather distinct points of light. It was a truly great life-changing experience yet sad at the same time... It makes me very thankful and grateful for everything I can experience that others may not...
Are glasses supposed to get rid of the streaks?? I've been wearing glasses since I was 12, my vision is perfectly clear with my glasses but small lights are still streaky and splotchy
@@MCDesign199 I get that when my glasses have some kind of oil or sheen on them. Also when the lenses become damaged with scratches due to my landscape maintenance job.
Now I know the word to describe is known as “streak”. I was trying to explain to 2 different eye specialist at a government eye center in Singapore that I keep seeing a “long line across” at night time from lights. And was told they have never ever heard of such cases before 🙄 Despite not understanding me, they actually told me not to worry 😅 Thank you for this video 🙏🏻
I went to three optometrist's before I found one who was able to diagnose my problem and give me a prescription that actually worked. It was amazing to see the world without the double vision !
@@loritalbot3063 Astigmatism is a fairly common condition. I was tested for it as a child in the 80's. It's appalling you had to see 3 different optometrists before you got competent help. People can be so dense, even in their area of so-called expertise.
@@galamander_1327 Yeah I'm lucky that my first optometrist caught it next to my myopia when both conditions were pretty weak (roughly -0.75 myopia and -0.5 astigmatism, though I'm unsure which kind and I can't truly just check without looking at the papers; right seems to be with the rule, left is shadowed by the myopia because of asymmetry between the eyes), and my newer ones just kept on figuring it out (now I'm close to -2 for myopia and -1 for astigmatism, not sure which eye gets that)
I'm a professional artist with -9.75 vision and an against the rule astigmatism of 3.50. :') It's so hard explaining to people what it's like, and these videos, especially this one, is just amazing. Thank you for your clear and concise explanations!
@@dofehino5444 I know some impressionist artists were inspired & driven by their vision impairments. Not sure about abstract! Anyway, I'm just thankful I work digitally, so I can zoom in as much as I need to.
Is your vision ever completely crisp or is it always a little blurry no matter new glasses or not? Digit clocks and tv are always blurry but paper is a tad better. Just wondering if it’s normal!
This answers so many questions! I am nearsighted, with an astigmatism in both eyes. One eye goes with the rule, the other eye goes against the rule, and this has made night driving a real challenge as headlights have gotten much brighter in recent years. Holiday seasons are sometimes an overload of lights, and I lose a lot of detail in the decorations because of the streaks. A recent update in my prescription has helped immensely, and the addition of a bifocal lens has dramatically improved my reading clarity.
I can't even look at Christmas Lights and no longer use them because oh sweet lord!!! Same with neon lights, shop signs etc. I'd have so many accidents if I drove due to the number of times I have to close my eyes/squint because of oncoming vehicle lights...
I tried to explain to people what I was seeing when I drove at night and when it rained it was 1000x worse. No one understood my struggle. Then I worked for a sleep doctor and we got to talking about our vision and he explained that he had astigmatism and what it was and that’s how I figured out I had it. I was very annoyed because none of the eye doctors I went to had mentioned it. My most recent ophthalmologist put in some sort of feature in the prescription to correct it. It’s not 100% but it’s definitely better
My gut reaction is shocked that multiple optometrists didn't catch that?? But trying to think back, I don't think mine was flagged until I actually tried getting contacts. I might have only been around -1.00 for a while and it's only in one eye. It has since been upped to -1.25 to compensate for changes over the years but my point is that I don't have a very severe case that didn't affect glasses wearing at all. Maybe the case was similar in why no one brought it up for you. Who knows
@@insomnibusXP Yeah it’s concerning. I was bounced back and forth by doctors and optometrists for the headaches I’d been having, both saying we can’t help you. Eventually years later the optometrist said they could write me a prescription but it wouldn’t really be strong enough to change anything. I told them to just do it and voilà I have astigmatism and yes the glasses do help, they didn’t think it was worth it however so never said anything, very annoying. I was working in a mall then and the backlit signs and lights everywhere were horrible. I don’t understand why they didn’t just leave the decision of whether the price was worth it up to me. Glad we both got sorted tho.
When I learned how to drive I told my friends and family I wasn't going to drive at night, even if they asked and begged me to. I would leave parties, get together, and even important meetings early just to avoid having to battle figuring out how to get home and extreme light streaks. Everyone would get frustrated with me, to the point my Dad forced me to drive with him in the middle of the night to "get over my fears" When I found out I have a -2.45 oblique astigmatism, it was a huge relief. I could finally have a "reasonable" excuse and not just "I don't like to drive at night." Driving more and knowing streets better helped too. Never got a prescription of any kind, as other eye issues I had were a lot more concerning, but I think with everyone saying how much better it is Im thinking about looking into it.
Honestly, I thought the streaks of light were something that everyone saw... For the longest time I'd been doing theorycrafts in my head to figure out why. I thought it might be some sort of interaction with the humidity in the air or something like that.
i told my mom i thkught i had eye problems because the lights were lines and she said everyone had that. when i saw an eye dr and told her that no, not everyone has that, she refused to acknowledge it
@@misseselise3864 everyone sees lines around a light if they squint. What is this bullshit the doctors are saying ? Yeah lights don't appear as lines but you can easily see lines if you squint with healthy eyes...
I have really good vision, better than most of my friends but I see the lines at night. Strange thing is, I only see it in really bright things like car headlights but not traffic lights like other people. I am going to get my eyes checked however.
Finally! A clear explanation of astigmatism! I started to wear glasses 55 years ago and its taken this long to find an explanation thats straight forward to understand. I also thought everyone saw those streaks of light too. They've been getting more noticeable lately and I thought it was my eye lashes causing it. Now I know. Thank you :)
Actually the prime suspect in some cases is the eyelashes , I suffer from the same situation , but in my case I see them all the day even in daytime , they're just getting worse at a dark place , if I open my eyes wide those light streaks are gone and double vision too . Eyelashes are affecting the light that enters our eyes and I think this is what explains those lines . I've been to 3 doctors and none of them took me seriously !! just imagine how mysterious this issue can be .
At 60+, I’ve had glasses for 45 years. Even with proper progressive lenses, I’m more and more frustrated trying to read small print or road signs when driving. It’s really debilitating. I need full light to read medical labels, etc. I put the interior light on when driving at night that helps get rid of those streaks. My doctor said the astigmatism is doing this.
Yes me too, I got glasses in my teens until then I had to tilt my head to the left to read the school blackboard, even then it was a lot of guess work, that was 60 years ago, I hate to think what life would have been like without them.
I have astigmatism in both eyes I think and I can't make out details more than about six inches in front of my face and have had bifocals for maybe six years or so. This is more information than I've ever been given about astigmatism, so I really appreciate it 😊 I've been wearing glasses since the middle of second grade and I'm close to my 39th birthday. Kinda sad, but things happen
Yep, I've got an astigmatism but didn't get first pair of glasses until i was 39. To say I was shocked at how clear everything was with new glasses is a massive understatement
Once I got my first pair of glasses I almost got emotonal at looking at the trees, there were so many leaves and I could see the boarders of each one, they moved with the wind. I think it was specially shocking to me because I love biology in general, so I would imagine that if I was a sports fan looking at a game at the stadium would have had the same effect.
@@gochadc 100% the first thing I noticed was all the textures in the tree bark. I can't believe I went so long without getting my eyes checked, but im so glad I did.
The brain adapts surprisingly well for some people, so they may not realize how much eye strain and post-processing is occurring, but getting new glasses is a great way to relieve the burden and also see what one has been missing.
I was trying to "reform" my eye since I had a bad eyesight, it worked well, but I forgot the back side, so I'm gonna have to suffer from atleast -3 astigmatism.
@@Jesusls basically just make ur hands do the work or something, gives pain then re attach the eye with like the skin thing whatever still works if ur lucky enough to not touch "bad sides"
Wow, I learned things I didn't know about my own vision defect. I'd always thought it was irregularities in the cornea or lens which caused astigmatism, not the shape of the eye itself. You learn something new every day!
in this video I used the term eyeball colloquially, but you’re right it is the irregularities in the cornea and lens! Thanks for picking that up my bad!
I'm 23, I've had glasses since first grade, and I just learned what astigmatism actually is for the first time. It was always just one of those words they threw around at the optometrist.
I was diagnosed with 4.75 against the rule astigmatism at the age of 7. I was obviously born with them and as a small child my mother used to think I was clumsy. I couldn’t catch a ball I kept tripping up steps I would go to take my cup off the table and miss it slightly and knock it over things like that. The first optometrist I went to was recommended by the school he said I had lazy eyes (even though I had no turning in either eye) so I wore a patch on one eye for a month then on the other for a month. So humiliating! Nothing changed then I went to another optometrist who said I was long sighted I got glasses for that. It helped a little. Then finally an optometrist diagnosed my very severe astigmatisms in both eyes and I finally could see. My hand eye coordination was totally off and under developed for my whole childhood and adolescent years I wasn’t good at any sport. As an adult I made a point to try and make it better with repeat exercises and it is better. I am now 50 years old and I get so excited when I catch something especially when it’s a random out of the blue like when someone throws something at you and says catch this. I celebrate hard when I catch it and people look at me like I am a weirdo. I also celebrate hard when I throw something at the bin and it goes in ! It’s the simple things.
I feel your pain, when I was in kindergarten they told my mom I was “retarded” (back then a commonly used word) .. turns out I couldn’t SEE! I’m legally blind so they mistook that as a severe mental handicap.. fml.. if they could see me know 😂😂 most definitely not “retarded”.
@@AzerinaM That's awful, particularly for a child who's development and fine-tuning is at a critical stage. I do wonder how frequently eye conditions have been misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all for kids. I hope things are much, much better everywhere and this rarely happens today. I'm glad things have improved on this front for you.
I didn't expect to learn so much about my condition today, thank you so much! I have myopia on both eyes, and astigmatism in one, it feels weird to think not everyone sees lines in the dark! One of my favorite thing to look at in the dark is xmas lights, i actually remove my glasses to look at the trippy lines of well lit trees... It's so beautiful! To think not everyone can enjoy this light effect makes me sad, this is an odd eye problem that can actually be fun to have in some occurences.
Omg yes!!! When I would ask people if they saw the cool starbursts in the lights and they would say no, I would be confused lol I think they're a blessing to mesmerize, at, something unique and special for us😊
Someone with perfect eyes could put on someone's glasses to temporarily get the effects (in the opposite direction of course). For example, if you want to know what it's like to be nearsighted, you need glasses from someone who is farsighted (reading glasses from the dollar store will do).
When my daughter was starting 2nd grade, I took her to the optometrist for a “happy” visit . If I hadn’t been in the exam room with her, I never would have believed how bad her vision was. She couldn’t name one letter on the chart. The optometrist said “I thought you said she could read!” The doctor looked at MY chart, then started putting lenses in front of her. Within minutes he had identified the problem. She had really bad astigmatism. He said it was a miracle she had learned to read. By the time she was 30 she had developed kerataconus. She had a cornea transplant when she was 35. Your video helped me understand how she saw things. I have astigmatism too, but it nowhere near the -5 or greater that she had. And to think that Stephan Curry is able to play so good in spite of his having kerataconus!
The -5 is eerily accurate. It's like taking off my glasses while they are on my face. That being said, when I was younger and didn't have glasses, I squinted to perfect vision. As a child I would be sitting somewhere while stretching my eye lids and people thought I was weird. Might not have thought so if they could have seen this video and realized the stretching my eye lids with my fingers changed it from that -5 non sense to to 0.
I also have astigmatism since I was 7 years old. By the age of 17, it had deteriorated a lot due to the fact that I did not wear the right glasses. I hope that it will not lead to such disorders.
Reading beyond the extreme basics is done using pattern recognition not of individual letters but words and sentences that provide context and redundancy. I was reading at 5th grade level in 3rd grade when I was first prescribed glasses for nearsightedness. Glasses have never had an appreciable effect on my ability to continue to read beyond the "normal" level, because I Iove to read and I exercise that skill intensively. I've memorized standard reading charts without intending to do so, simply from seeing them so many times. I wonder if opticians using standardized copyrighted charts are missing a lot of people who are good readers just starting to have vision problems - when they might be addressed with different reading habits.
I have spent my entire life being uncertain of what those lines when I looked at lights were all about. I remember asking my mom when I was little and her not really knowing what I was talking about. I've always known I've had astigmatism in both eyes, but I never knew that the two things were related. Also, it was kind of fun watching this video and trying to guess how much of what I was seeing was my own vision screwing with the image and how much of it was supposed to be there.
Ha ha it's so hard as a little kid trying to explain to adults visual phenomena they don't experience. I ended up getting glasses not because I was complaining of blurry vision (I spent most of my time reading which I could do without issue - wasn't even aware that my distance vision was poor), but because I complained of what I now know to be visual snow. It didn't make sense to my parents, they thought I was just describing blurry vision while reading - but it wasn't. The glasses were an absolute *revelation,* but the visual snow remained. I just stopped talking about it until I got much older and learned what it was. For a while before that, I'd convinced myself it was just a completely normal phenomenon *everyone* experiences that I was making a big deal about.
As a medical student, I found this video incredibly fun and informative. Up until now, a lot of the things I knew about astigmatism were only theoretical. I love how you showed what people with different types and severity of astigmatism see in real life ^_^
making contact lenses for astigmatism is challenging due to the long axis and short axis at various angles so it stays in position on the eye without the axis moving....tens of thousands of variations, whew!!
simple answer when people ask me about my "with rule astigmatism": if you read the letter N, I can only see 2 vertical lines. The diagonal line of the N is totally blurry. That's how it feels to have astigmatism in real life, and yes the video helps us to learn a lot, right?
@@mrrey8937 my glasses always cost more than US$300 while regular farsighted glasses cost only $100. I can only imagine the difficulty of making the contact lenses, sir
Oh my god! Thank you so much for this. I always thought everyone saw lights like that too but you've made me realise its my astigmatism! Its so irritating and makes driving at night, having fairy lights or any kind of reflections visible incredibly distracting. Now i just need to work out which type of astigmatism I have!
as someone who lives with only 0.5 in my right eye, I want to say that it's not only about sight, but I could never read for more than a few minutes without getting a headache (I also didn't know about the night-time light thing, I also thought it was normal) I appreciate this video :)
Lucky man. I have -9 and -10 eyes with astigmatism 🤣 Reading gives me headaches too. I don't read. I've been reading the same book for 4 years. I'll get to chapter 4 eventually...
@@sirkermy haha I wasn't trying to compete, I was just pointing out that at values even less than he was talking about, it's enough to effect your life
The night time light thing is actually visible for everyone when looking through almost any window, glass, or lens. When driving for example, everyone should see light streaks.
My mom has astigmatism and I do not, and she's always struggled to explain to me what it's like or why certain things are difficult. For example, we did some DIY projects together and she had a hard time cutting straight unless there was a straightedge/guideline, whereas I could just eyeball it. This really helped me understand how we can work together better, and she learned more about the type of astigmatism she has too. Thanks for the video!
I don't know if mine is oblique or with the rule - but before being diagnosed with astigmatism, I often told to others that when trying to read something I could see "ghosts of the words" because an opaque shadow would form downside the letters. This video is a great showcase of the thing I see and cannot put into words.
After watching your video, it now makes sense to me why I was seeing vertical lines at light sources when I drive every night (traffic lights, incoming lights sources from vehicles). I find the video very educational and explains a lot! I always thought that everyone is seeing the same lines on light sources as me. I'm still able to drive without needing to wear my glasses just fine, I mostly wear it when I'm at home.
The streaking of light from astigmatism and my aura from migraines were two things I always had and thought EVERYONE else saw, too, for the longest time. Doctors would ask me, “Are you sure you don’t see aura?” While it looked like I was watching them through static ahaha.
@@klxzz those are ocular migraines. I had them all my life, so did my mom. She called it "rick rack headaches". I didn't even know ocular migraines were a thing until I was finally diagnosed at 61.
I was diagnosed with Antimetropia when I was a pre-teen (nearsighted in one eye, farsighted in the other) and a double astigmatism. I never really knew what normal sight looked like, and thought lines in lighting were just how lights worked. This was very insightful!
this is exactly what I have! I never knew there was a term for the nearsighted in one, farsighted in the other, Antimetropia. thankful for your comment :)
I have nearsightedness but I’ve also seen lines at the back of cars so next time I’ll pay attention to it. Maybe I have astigmatism I don’t know if but hopefully not
I have always thought my vision was slightly poor but I think seeing obnoxiously large lines on light-sources just confirms my astigmatism and need for glasses.
I have antimetropia also. I have barrel distortion in my vision as straight lines curve outwards like a fishbowl effect. I see this barrel distortion most when I look at a flat monitor and also with and without glasses. Any ideas if this can be fixed? I've been to eye doctors and they seem to think contacts may be the answer but not sure.
I think it's great that videos like this exist. I was diagnosed with nearsightedness when I was in middle school, and it's crazy to think back to all those years of squinting to read the blackboard in elementary school and just thinking that was how everybody sees. The hardest part about eye problems is realizing that your eyesight is fucked, since you don't have a frame of reference, these videos help solve that very issue
Same here. I was 13, halfway back in the classroom looking at the teacher using an overhead proector and trying to figure out how they were seeing anything because I couldn’t. That was the lightbulb moment for me. My mom was skeptical (my mom with the Coke bottle glasses, lol) because she said my brother had insisted he needed glasses years before when he didn’t and he’d ended up ruining his eyesight. Yeah… she was also a nurse but that didn’t mean she was an expert in all things medical. Anyway, they found out about the astigmatism and that it mostly affected distance vision. Over the years I realized, as it grew steadily worse for a while, that I’d had bad vision for my whole life. I remember Christmas trees looking so much fuller when I was little (I dunno about streaking but lights look like puffballs without my glasses) and sweeping the hallways when I was 10, only to have my brother come along and chew me out for how much I was missing. He then took the broom and dust piles seemed to appear out of thin air. Yet it took that overhead projector… or maybe a few more years’ maturity… to work it out.
I had the same light bulb moment with the overhead projector at 8 years old in 3rd grade. I was watching the teacher write but couldn't see anything. I could see all of my classmates taking notes on what was being written. After a minute or two, I moved closer to the screen until I could see what was being written. I don't remember if the teacher noticed and told my parents or if I mentioned it when I got home that day but I have been wearing glasses ever since that school year.
Simliar story, but started in middle school for me. 7th grade my teacher called on me and I couldnt see sitting in the back despite the words being big af on the chalkboard lol
I got glasses at 12 but only used them at school. Until I failed to recognise my parents on the other side of the road. Short sighted and now I'm older I'm getting long sighted too. One thing that I find is that when you are short sighted, you can't even see colours clearly as they blur together. I love contact lenses. Just wish my night vision was better
Thank you so much for this video. I have oblique astigmatism in both eyes and I've always had trouble explaining what I see to others. This is so helpful! Thank you!
Lived with it whole life i dont pay attention to it now friday i find out how bad my eyes have gotten plus living in a dry environment is new to me just wish had someone to go to doc with me i forget so much
@@reportagebykonstantinos8030 YES because you dont know or realize how your eyes are. You may be fine 😌 😊 I'll take eye exam any day. Promise not as scary as you think. I haven't had my eyes checked in 6yrs. Dr I had retired learned ALOT from him over yrs. This new doc is a Army doc (my medical doc was a Navy doc haha). Hard to tell what I'll learn. Take a buddy with in room to get exam if you ask ahead a time probably will allow it. 😉. If you can remind me friday evening I'll answer any questions you have. 🙂
@@guppy0536 Thanks. You are right. Is not that scary. I feel so good after this comment.I will go Tuesday for a eye test.Thank you I feel confident 😊 Now after your comment am not scared anymore.I actually can't wait to go. To see the world clear. It has to be an amazing experience.🙂
I lived with terrible astigmatism for the first 11 years of my life, until someone finally noticed... the optometrist said my vision was 20/80 (left), and 20/200 (right). I remember bursting into tears when I first put my new glasses on, and really seeing the world around me for the first time.
I managed to guesswork my way through vision tests at school because I thought I was supposed to pass like a normal test. It wasn't until 6th grade I was more outspoken about the clarity and got fitted for glasses. I was legit somewhere in between 3 and 5 oblique and thought that's how people saw things. The absolute cringe and shame I felt when I understood people could see another person pick their nose clearly across a class room, hell even 5 feet away was a shock to me tbh.
It's pretty common in a lot of elementary schools (from my understanding and growing up in the United States at least) to have routine health checks each year, so very basic vision/hearing checks, height, and weight, to monitor for possible health issues, but i only remember having it done until about 4th or 5th grade (so like 9-10 years old ish) starting from kindergarten (5yo)
@@NobodyisAnybody Ironically where I grew up we had our vision and hearing checked but vaccinations were something we needed to do get on our own it was still required it just wasn't something the school did
Well I learned something today! Never been told about different types of astigmatism despite wearing glasses for it for 30 years! Evidently mine is nice simple with the rule, and guessing from the pictures 2-point-something. I’ve always been short sighted as well, to different degrees in each eye, so each lens is pretty different. I always describe my vision to people as “white things expand and go more fuzzy”, so white letters on a green sign are mostly ok, but black letters on a white sign is hopeless, the black will virtually disappear behind the white. So if I had to drive without glasses, I could see freeway signs but not read street names. And I really can’t handle driving at night on country roads, the headlights are overwhelming and I can’t see anything else. Question, if anyone knows: are the streaky lines supposed to go away when you’re wearing glasses?
I always felt that my vision was blurry, even though I always made eye doctors amazed by how well my vision was. One day, I decided to get tested for bad vision or health issues, and I got told I had -0.5 in one of my eyes, because of astigmatism. It was insane to see through the little correction class I could try, because I saw as well as before, but it was somehow not as blurry anymore, even though it was never really blurry? It was just sharper somehow, and now I’m just waiting for my eyes to get worse, so I’ll actually be able to buy glasses for it and not have to get them renewed every year as I don’t have the money for that.
Slight astigmatism sucks this way, huh. Everything is sharp but somehow you can't read a street sign or a bus number, and it's somehow worse with the light-up text in the dark
Few years ago I went to check my vision because of headaches and pain around the eyes. I was prescribed glasses for astigmatism with -0,5 on one eye and -0,25 on the other. I only use them when I work on computer for longer periods, I try not to use them on a daily basis. Also I only use prescription sunglasses as it's more comfortable and safer while driving a car. You can order glasses with such low values, even as sunglasses. No need to wait :) Fun fact: I have a perfect vision when I tape up my brows and forehead so that it feels like botox with facelift xD I guess my upper face weights too much and causes my eyes to deform haha xD
I relate to this. My eyes were fine for a long time and I didn’t need glasses and then when my astigmatism got worse and I got glasses, I realised my vision wasn’t perfect. Even though it was fine, the glasses just sharpened everything. Everything is just that bit softer without glasses. But at night after work on dark streets with oncoming traffic I find it very hard to drive. On multiple recent occasions I’ve ended up repeating how much I hate driving and how I can’t keep driving home at night because I feel like I can’t see because of the light glares. Especially when it has rained or is raining.
just recently i went to the eye doctor just for a check in because my friends always looked at me funny when i told them that i couldn’t look at any lights at night because they were extremely blinding and full of streaks. my parents were really skeptical since i’ve had perfect or at least nearly perfect vision my entire life. the doctor told me the same thing, i had near perfect vision, but a really weird case of astigmatism. the doctor recommended i’d get glasses and so i did and it helped to some degree. i still have a difficult time driving at night even with my glasses on, but this video was extremely insightful into understanding astigmatism.
Have you ever heard of visual snow syndrome? If you also experience visual snow that might be the reason. I have both astigmatism and VSS and glasses sadly do not help 100% with the halos etc.
@@TurissChin Same, I was going to say that, I have that same issue at night with streetlights blinding me. I had no idea I was photosensitive until about a year ago I think- Bought me some prescription sunglasses lol
I was out of my teens by the time I learned that those streaks of light were caused by my astigmatism, and I thought all astigmatics saw them diagonally. Very cool to learn about the three separate types.
This video makes me want to cry I have keratoconus and driving at night is a nightmare even with my scleral lenses, my husband always gives me hard time when I take a roundabout way of getting somewhere just bc I'm trying to avoid a bunch of headlights on busy roads, I'm going to show him this video so he can hopefully understand
Both my kids have Astigmatism and I don't. They have only recently been diagnosed after complaining of headaches. They are now both wearing spectacles. Thank you for literally allowing me to see through their eyes and understand more of what they are experiencing, Thank you and be blessed
Have astigmatism in both eyes. Got my first pair of glasses when I was 22 and I was SHOCKED at how much easier it became to read signs and see addresses while driving at night. Also seeing faces in the distance while walking.
Yeah, everyone's face is kinda an indistinct blob at a certain distance. I'm like -2.2 or so, not the worst. You can tell it's a face, but you can't make out the features of the face. Very hard to describe.
I was diagnosed with having astigmatism years ago but when you showed the clip with the lights I was wowed. I’ve always thought that was normal as well. Now I know why I see the lights like that. I just never thought of it being my astigmatism. Thank you for this video.
You need to look at light source without windshield in front of you. If you see lines then yeah, you have astigmatism, but if you step out of vehicle and see none of that then your windshield is full of dirt or badly scratched by wipers. Together with the angle of curvature, it might create the same effect.
@@RadzioTheGreat I would think its safe to assume people with astigmatism know that glass can get dirty, and aren't idiots. You may be surprised to learn that sometimes we do look at the world when not in a vehicle. 🙄
That was the Best and only explanation of astigmatism. Thank you so much. No-one has ever explained to me why I can't drive at night like this. Makes it so obvious. Yet each time I ask an optometrist if they can fix my lenses so I can drive at night, I get no mention of my astigmatism. Also the same happens with any ball games, I can't judge where the ball is in the air. Thank you. I got my eye lenses fixed with new ones, hoping that would fix it but it didn't.🙏 (Cateract surgery)
My prescription is -10.00 and I wish more videos would cover this level of myopia, which is the true meaning of severe. I'd like to be able to show my friends and family how I see.
Absolutely!!!! I am minus 11 and people cannot understand that if I take my glasses off I cannot see them to put them back on. I have to grope around!!!!!
I had just had cataract surgery because I couldn't see very good with my hard contact lens. I also used the soft lens at -17 and -15 using those Biofinity xr toric lens and still could not correct vision. The soft lens were used during my time to get the cataract surgery exam as you have to be not be using hard lens for three weeks vs three days for soft. Currently waiting for my final right eye exam on Friday. Left eye operated on I can now see at -1.5 (so i still need corrective lens and I'm totally fine with it!} Right eye after surgery was seeing 20/20, but because of astigmastim need some type of lens correction. Good luck to all of you as your eye doctors can sometimes be your life saver
I'm sure as an optometrist you'll find this at least a bit interesting: I accidentally hit my eye with the back of a serrated knife after briefly touching a hot pan with my hand whilst holding said knife. The reflex from getting my hand away from the hot pan got the better of me. I had to get stitches in my eye, and had to follow a horrible schedule of 4 different types of eye drops. One every hour, one every two hours, one every four hours, and one every twelve. If I remember correctly, I was told one of them was to keep the inflammation down, since that could damage the eye even more, one was an antibiotic, since the doctors said there were foreign bodies in my eye, another was to open up my retina or something like that, and the other one was for keeping it moist and clearing out gunk that could be building up under my eye patch. Luckily, I made it out with only mild astigmatism, and its weird because it's not even throughout my whole vision, as in the examples. While using both eyes, I see just fine, but my right eye (the one with the scar) has trouble, but only at certain angles. I can read text fine with it, but it's kinda blurry, it takes a while longer to focus. Like it's doubled almost. But when trying to see something out of the corner of my eye, like looking back when riding a bike, all I see is a blur. I have to look back over my left shoulder to get a clearer view. Needless to say, it's been a humbling experience that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.
@@ariannasv22 It's not noticeable at first glance, but the iris has a small whiteish line across its normal concentric stripey pattern. I have somewhat dark brown eyes so the contrast is I think what makes it noticeable. I don't know if that white is in the iris itself of it is a distortion of light caused by my cornea (the part I was told got damaged).
Thank you for sharing! It’s horrible experience and I hope it doesn’t affect your life too much. It’s sad to lose sharpness of your eyesight, but it’s really good that your eye was saved. I think in this video they showed us a congenital astigmatism while you have a so-called acquired astigmatism (which you’ve got as consequence of eye damage). I wonder whether it can be corrected with eyeglasses or cannot? I have congenital astigmatism (-3.00 and -3.25) and it feels exactly as shown in the video.
That's my right eye. I can see fine when using both of my eyes but if my left eye is closed my right eye is blurry. I can see text close up, but anything more far is a bit troublesome
@@Beading_Kate I actually don't know. I should've gone and got it checked again but I couldn't be bothered as long as it works with both eyes for the most part I'm fine.
the streaks of light from streetlights, stoplights, and headlights have been one of my biggest pet peeves since i was a kid. they are sometimes so stretched out that they block my vision of the road and its markers (especially on rainy nights!). people who drive with their brights on are also a pet peeve of mine as i feel like i become even more blind after being forced to look at them
This is a super neat video, I didn't know there were different types of astigmatism. It's neat seeing them compared and compared to normal vision. It took me forever to realize that lights didn't streak like that for everyone
This is a video I can show to my husband to explain how I see things with astigmatism. So that he can see why I have to avert my eyes from headlights at night, why I have problems with bright lights in the morning and why I have trouble reading things on a television screen. Thank you for posting this. It is truly helpful.
I'm not sure this is due to astigmatism. My eyes are very sensitive to light. I can't see if I'm walking towards a low sun, I have to look at the ground if I don't have sunglasses. Even though I see everyone walking with their heads up, I can't. I've been told that it's because I have very light pigmentation on my retina and I also have large pupils.
@@LeeFlemingster Yup, similar to me. People with darker retinas are not as sensitive to light. Mine are green graish and I don't like being in the sun. It's uncomfortable.
I have myopia and oblique astigmatism in both my eyes and this was so enlightening! It was relieving to see that a doctor would agree that my condition is as annoying as I experience it to be lol
Thanks! This is very helpful. I used to wear toric lenses. 😊 My astigmatism comes and goes every few years. Eye excercises and proactively managing my stress levels make a significant difference in my vision levels. It's reassuring to know that l can make small, but significant improvements when l focus my intentions and practice regularly.
No way!! I thought that the streaks of light were what everyone else saw too. I find my astigmatism messes with my perception of scale (vertical to horizontal) often when drawing. It was one of my lecturers at art school that suggested I might need my eyes checking for this as he had the same proportional misrepresentations. Great video---cool to see the differences.
I hate driving at night because of this. Counter traffic headlights are absolutely blinding and forget it when its raining. I rather stay home then drive under those conditions.
In fact when you draw, you are rendering onto a flat surface what was projected onto a rounded surface, so it never works and anyone who thinks they draw exactly what they see is wrong. Take a video and move the camera and you'll see all the lines of walls and ceilings change their angles constantly. This does not happen with your eyes. The only way you could draw exactly what you see is if you draw on the inside of a sphere in which you are standing! Then the angles remain the same.I did a lot of my own research and experiments in this area about 18 years ago, and among other things, I concluded that you should never wear 3D glasses unless the screen is curved. But to return to your point, when you draw on a flat surface, you have to cheat again and again. Just think of the use of standard perspective drawing and vanishing points. How come all horizontal lines converge, but vertical lines are always parallel? This was the question that got me into my research. Imagine you stand on the 50th floor of a building that is 100 floors high, and do a drawing of an identical building that faces you. Looking up, the building walls converge. Looking down, they do the same. Therefore the vertical walls in your drawing must be curved. Or must they? Have a think about this yourself for a minute before I tell you how they are both curved and straight! Now imagine that you are standing drawing that building on the inside of a sphere. And that, my friend is exactly what is "drawn" on the inside of your eye. The lines of the walls will converge up and down, and be straight. Defying logic!! Very few people understand this. Including your lecturer. There is nothing wrong with your drawing abilities (or mine! I thought the same thing!), and never was!
This is crazy. I've been bothered by the light streaks my entire life, and I think my father at one point said everyone sees like that, so I just tried to live with it. Next time I'm getting new lens I will definitely mention this to my doctor.
The doctor should know when they test you without you needing to say anything. I wear contacts so I have to go to the doctor every year, and the tests they do before the main exam basically ballparks your prescription before the doctor has you do tests. Then they do the tests to fine tune and confirm what works best for you. It's definitely good to ask about your health so you can better advocate, but they definitely should already know if you have astigmatism or something isn't going right. Tbf glasses lenses are custom cut so they don't always explain them to the wearer, so they might already correct for astigmatism without telling you. Contacts for astigmatism are different so it's hard to not notice when you get them lol.
@@garnetavi I was about to say the same thing. When they do the test THEY will tell you if you have it or not. That's how I found out I had it. One of the test is to measure your eye for this specifically.
@@garnetavi I’ve been wearing contacts to correct my myopia but I just now realized they don’t correct my astigmatism… smh … I wonder why people would stop speaking to me at my job … it’s because they could see me at a distance that I couldn’t see them looking at me … so it would basically seem to them like I just stared at them and then turned my head without speaking lol… man I’ve been going for forever without correcting my astigmatism smh … and just the other day a friend of mine was looking at some shoes on the basketball court, and I asked me about them and I said I can’t see that far bro… i bet it’s because I have no astigmatism correction in my contacts …my eyes aren’t the worst of the worst but not correcting astigmatism seems to play a big part in just sharpening images just the slightest bit … im about to set up another eye exam so I can get my astigmatism correction measurements so I can finally get the correct contacts I need to see more clear smh lol
@@Muzicboy3 it really depends how much astigmatism you have, but if you can't get a good dialogue with your current doctor, you might try a different one. Mine is always asking if I like the way my contacts work and saying if I don't we can try a different prescription. I hated the astigmatism contacts, but I only had a .25 or .5 correction, which is barely any. I only notice astigmatism at night a tiny bit or in a movie theater with black/white text. With contacts I otherwise have better than 20/20 vision. But it really is so important to have a doctor you are comfortable talking to so you can tell them how it works for you, because that's going to be the key to getting it right. I feel like contacts are a little less exact than glasses so it's more important to discuss what works. Glasses are cut to fit, while contacts have to be rounded to the nearest premade integer. And contacts can over correct as well as under correct, but the most important thing is that they let you live your life properly. Good luck with the doctor.
A Dr found astigmatism in my eyes when I was in my forties. I've worn very strong glasses for nearsightedness since childhood. When it was corrected, my driving and circular saw cuts improved. No one has found it in any exam since, and the improved areas suffered.
At 18, my vision is so bad at just below -7.00 in both eyes. I started needing reading glasses when I was in 2nd grade, and then it gradually got worse from there. Thankfully it's stuck at that for now, but I just hope that it doesn't get any worse. Practically everyone else in my family needs/wears corrective lenses too: my cousins and their parents. So you can just imagine us cousins in a picture together like 🤓, every single one of us in glasses. It makes me laugh sometimes 😆
An almost universal part of aging is increased farsightedness starting after about age 40, presbyopia. Since you are already so nearsighted you might end up needing bifocals or something many years down the line. There are some things you can do like wearing sunglasses to block UV and only reading with adequate lighting that can help reduce lens damage over time.
I really appreciate this video. I’ve worn glasses since I was 10, I couldn’t see the chalk board. When I got my glasses I was so ecstatic I see, my Dad who drove me, cried and said he was sorry, he didn’t know. I ran into stuff all time, my parents just thought I was clumsy. I have astigmatism and now wear tri-focal glasses. Thank God I can see. Sometimes I feel like I know what it is like to blind, because if I get up at night I can feel my way pretty well. Having our sight is wonderful gift. Never once did I loose or break my glasses. I am extremely thankful for Optometrist! God bless you guys!
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:19-20 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10
I also didn't get glasses until I was around 10. One day my mom in another room asked me what the song on the TV was because the title was on the bottom of the screen. I told her I didn't know cuz I couldn't read it from the couch. She came in and said you can't read that? I was just confused because I thought everyone had to get closer to read things. Once I got my glasses it felt like I had HD vision I was amazed. Unfortunately it did not cure my clumsiness I still stub my toes on everything.
Wow, the streaking light blew my mind since I have an oblique astigmatism and I remember having this issue before it was treated. I never understood the diagonal streak. The angle of my astigmatism is rare and the eye doctor didn’t even have contacts that could treat it so I have to wear special ones. Great video!
@Andrea Islands of Oceania Hi, so im not too sure which astigmatism I have however it is specific enough that it requires specially made contact lenses; you would have to talk with your optometrist for them to be specially made for you specifically. In my case, one of my eyes had it more than the other, therefore, the lenses were different and could not go onto the other. My optometrist made it very clear though that if you were to somehow rip or lose them or whatever, you would have to wait a lot longer to receive an additional pair simply because of how specific it has to be. To sum that all up - just talk with your optometrist.
I have astigmatism in both eyes. This was so interesting to finally have a full and clear explanation of it. Thank you for taking the time to make this!
My astigmatism was diagnosed when I was 6, now I'm 40 and I didn't knew about those three variations of astigmatism. Thanks for the trick with evening lights I always thought like you did, that everyone can see lights like this those stretchd beams. Thank you! 👋👍👍👍
I've had glasses since i was a child and never knew i had an astigmatism until i was about 25, because i was looking up what my glasses prescription meant and found out my vision is 20/20 but the shape of my eyeball puts things off-focus. I Also thought the streaks on streetlights were normal and something everybody saw until recently hahaha. So interesting to see the comparison and variations of astigmatism.
It is "normal". Most people see things like this and say "oh, I have astigmatism" when they are really just thinking of the the refraction of light from their windshield/windows in their car when driving at night.
It's funny you should mention that, because the shape of my eyeball is what throws thing off for me as well, but when I look at my laptop or other devices or objects that are nearby (Like roughly a foot away for the absolute sharpest) they are really crisp/sharp, including pretty small print that a fair number of others seem to have difficulty in seeing. I think I might also be able to see noticeably more colourations than the average person as well (At least when I am around good lighting as I am pretty sure that my night vision is not exactly great, or maybe it is, I haven't exactly asked others what that is like for them, lolz), as stuff that seems to be the same shade to others is often times clearly different to me. Even with whites, as most of then look either gray (Like th text I see online/here/etc) or kind of yellowish beigey browns, at times with some blues, violets and even greens, so it is not often that I run across a white that I would actually consider as white...) and it is easy for me to get lost in the emotions of it all🥺🥹 One thing that I love is the lines that come from light, especially Christmas lights and Christmas tree lights as they are quite hypnotic with so many beautiful lines on light, so this condition does have it's advantages :) If my eyes were shaped properly, I would probably be diagnosed as having vision that is noticeably greater than 20/20, but it does make me wonder as to why eye doctors do not also measure how good a person' nearsightedness is and as to it's sharpest point/distance for people with this and other conditions...
dude same! i have 20/20 vision but with a minor astigmatism in one of my eyes. i always thought it was weird how one eye saw things differently than the other. i had assumed everyone saw things like this with the light streaks, though.
This was very educational for me! I have astigmatism and never knew there was with / against / oblique versions. Now, I need to check tonight to see which one I have!
I have Astigmatism in both eyes, my left being worse than my right, and I try to tell people what it's like and can't really explain it so this is SOOOO useful! My husbands mind was blown, he now understands why my depth perception is god awful without my glasses!
I've worn glasses ever since I was 5. Astigmatism is genetic for me, and it was never explained to me, so I just dealt with it. 16 years later I finally understand it fully thanks to this video, and although I've now self-diagnosed my type of astigmatism, I have booked a checkup with my optometrist to figure out what exactly is going on with my eyeballs. Tried watching this video without my glasses on... was a mistake...
Do you like reading a lot? I have a theory that reading causes vision problems. Or more generally focusing on near objects for extended periods of time. Or rather reading at a comfortable distance without focusing on very far, mid range, or very near object. In other words not exercising the eye muscles properly can cause them to get out of shape just like all the other muscles in the body can be strained and deformed. I say this because I do not like reading and I really like looking at landscapes, the sky, videos, and close up details on hand made things. I by far have the best vision of anyone in my family. They all have so called "genetic" vision problems. I mean, it is possible we are not all genetically related.
@@brendanwood1540 I think you should be asking if the person had the opportunity to be outdoors more than indoors. Yes, there is some folks who just loved to read more rather than look outside; however, and I’m afraid I don’t have any source on me, it’s been said that even those grown up in isolation and small spaces generally only see as far as the space they were in most of their lives. It’s very important to see distances.
That tidbit at the end was the most informative. I get those streaks a lot, particularly when viewing "dark mode" light text on a dark or black background. Even with corrected vision the words always look like fuzzy caterpillars even if everything else I see is relatively clear. The streaks are predominantly vertical, but there are also diagonal streaks, different direction in each eye, such that if I am looking at, say, a loading screen on my tablet, the streaks sometimes look like a letter Y overlaid on the text. No amount of glasses correction has ever been able to remove this effect. It's worse when I'm in the choir loft and the lights are shining on us - I get multiple streaks from each one. Worst thing is, nobody understands that the screens are illegible even when I try to explain why.
I’ve had an oblique astigmatism since I was 8 and my vision has worsened to -5.5 in my right eye and -4.75 in the left. I actually saw the way things use to look and continue to look in this video. This was extremely accurate in my opinion. The reading and light bending are spot on. Great video!
I had Lasik surgery to correct astigmatism. Took about 15minutes, and I was absolutely blown away by how well I could see things from the moment I opened my eyes.
Odd. The doctors told me that there was no surgery that could correct astigmatism. They said the best they could do was wait until I was old and put another glass lens in my eye to help me see better. (Edit: And my astigmatism isn't even considered that bad. Only one eye as low as -2.)
@@riatanina it depends. Technically it can be corrected with laser eye surgery. Mine can’t be corrected either because it wasn’t corrected properly as a child. So while you can technically correct the eye problem, vision is “made” in the brain. You brain learns to see in the first few years of your life. If that not corrected properly, you can’t get the laser surgery.
the lights at night one was a really good demonstration, even with glasses i hate driving a night, and in my area so many people insist on using high beams it really messes with my vision. The lil rays from sources of light just fills my field of vision, the glasses just make it so i get a little better detail. Was absolutely terrifying driving a winding hilly rural road and everybody was using high beams because there were no street lamps.
As a person with -3,25 and -6 Astigmatism I always thought these light streaks were normal. It´s always hard explaining people how I can still see me surroundings without my glasses but rather lose sight of details like letters numbers or faces in the distance. Thank you for this video!
3:55 This part is very interesting. I personally find -5 with the rule to be entirely illegible, while -3 against the rule is much easier to read. It suggests that people are better at deciphering the blur that they are used to, as opposed to one being harder or easier to read.
I think I'm -5.75 with rule but I am lucky that I had a doctor that cared enough to work with me since I was >1 till now (I'm 19) through many pairs of glasses and since I was 15 I have been wearing contacts.
I’ve had farsightedness for a big part of my life, diagnosed in elementary. The doctor told me since it’s not genetic, it should go away at around 16 when my eye fully develops, or something similar. The thing is, she kept giving me the wrong prescription, switching the eyes and stuff, the position, didn’t discover my astigmatism until later on. My vision kept worsening. I changed doctors and the new one was horrified. I got better glasses, but the damage has been done. Almost a year ago I got eye surgery, together with my boyfriend. Although his vision was worse, it wasn’t worsening as fast as mine. I had to get another mini surgery beforehand because my retina was extremely thin, would have broke in a few years, especially if I chose to give birth naturally. The day I got surgery was frightening, anesthetics don’t work well on me, I felt almost everything, but it was worth it. I have had bad eyesight for most of my life, I would have cried if I was aloud to when I saw the starts clearly that night for the first time. Me and my boyfriend, like some dumbasses, stayed at the window looking at the trees like: “wtf, you can see the leaves on the trees”. I was looking at a streetlight confused that I can see rays clearly. Previously, I didn’t really like to read because it made me feel dizzy because of my astigmatism. I just realized that now during the video. Now I enjoy reading. Thank you for the eye opening video (pun intended).
you super clarified everything for me. I got astigmatism after an upper eyelid surgery (ptosis repair + blepharoplasty + canthopexy). Doctor denies it has anything to do. But my vision was perfect before the surgery and now i have this light stretching exactly as you described. It is even described in literature that eyelid surgery can cause this. I wish i knew it before i would not have done this cosmetic surgery at all.
Thank you for such an informative explanation of Astigmatism. I am 73 years old and was diagnosed with the astigmatism in my early 20s. I had been wearing glasses since my teens, but my very mild astigmatism was not diagnosed at that time. I could not understand why my vision was still slightly blurry even with my new specs. It was only later on visiting a new optician, that the condition was diagnosed and my vision corrected. I have the oblique form, with about a ten degree difference in axial slant between each eye. Without my specs, I cannot read 1/4 inch high letters at arms length, but can just about manage to make out letters an inch high. Thank goodness for a good optician. I have been wearing corrective lenses for my astigmatism for the past 50 years. For the past 10 years I have been wearing varifocals which correct for my "Age Related" distance problems and combine correction for my astigmatism. This means that I now only need one pair of glasses for distance and close work and have no problems reading, driving and carrying out my hobbies and other activities which require visual precision. Thank you again for your informative video which allows non-sufferers to experience and understand the condition. I have "Subscribed" and "Liked" this video and look forward to watching your other videos. I will also share links with my friends.
This is a very good visualization of astigmatism :) Mine is with the rule, seemingly a minor case based on the examples, and I found myself trying to adjust my focus to fix things throughout the video even though I have my glasses on. I'm glad you pointed out that with light stretching vertically there is a horizontal stretch in the shape of the eye. It makes sense, but it's something easy to overlook.
Been wearing glasses since I was six months old due to being born three months early and weighing 1 lb 6 oz. I had to have major eye surgery as a baby to save my vision but it only worked in one eye. I have tons of eye problems including an astigmatism. I can relate to this video all too well! Thanks for sharing and educating others ❤
I was finally diagnosed with an astigmatism in my left eye last year--and to this day no one has helped me understand what it is nor how it affects my vision. Thank you very much! I also thought the lines on lights at night were normal...
I found this really interesting, my mum has a really bad astigmatism, it takes all afternoon to sort her glasses out. I also wore glasses from the age of 4 and have astigmatism you just get told that the cornea shape isn't round they don't tell you how it affects your sight. Thank you so much for this video :D
thank you for showing this, my optometrist was so unhelpful when telling me I had very light astigmatism. Many years ago when I was diagnosed with it, I asked what it actually did to my eyes and my vision and all the optometrist kept saying was just "oh the eye is just shaped like a football", despite me asking multiple times what it did to my vision. Then all she said eventually was just mentioning the light distortions.
Pretty much how my optometrist was as well. I also have very slight astigmatism, mostly only really noticeable to me when it comes to the light streaks, but I had no idea what it even meant until I looked it up when I was a teenager despite getting my first glasses when I was 5.
After watching your vid, Doc - I think I can say I’ve never had my astigmatism properly corrected - and that the eye doctors I’ve consulted - whether it be low or high end practices - have never given me a prescription that made my eyes feel at ease. Nor do I feel that my bifocals have been properly aligned, because the consultants measure off the old eyeware - despite asking them not to. And after 4 or 5 follow-up visits because you can just TELL that something is off - I just give up and live with it. Sorry for the rant - this is such an excellent clip that my whole lifetime of eyeware drama bubbled up at once!
I am actually nearsighted, but I've explained to people that I only wear glasses to read because everything else is blurry but distinguishable. Seeing the levels of astigmatism really helps me understand why that is.
I'll be honest, I didn't actually realize this was actually much different from just being nearsighted. I sort of have the whole bundle with astigmatism, nearsightedness, and double vision. I'm pretty sure the double vision part is what makes me not a candidate for contacts as well. I find it interesting how people straight up haven't experienced having double vision, since I've had that for almost all my life.
Is double vision when both eyes differ enough that they have different "sharpness"? Because in that case I have that too, but only mildly (luckily, its annoying enough as it is). I did take lenses once, a sort of trial for 3 months. However due to this I could only use one set for one eye, so I got two 3 month sets, leading up to half a year as a trial. Still expensive and threw over half away since I didnt like them and went back to my glasses
@@theknight1573 By sharpness do you mean like focus or something? At least in my case what I'm referring to is one of my eyes just straight up not looking at the same thing as the other one. I guess one term I've heard for it is lazy eye or something. Double vision is the best I can describe it because it's just seeing everything twice due to the images not lining up.
@@xdeathcon okay yeah I was indeed referring to a rather big difference in how clear an image was between the 2 eyes (severe case would be +4 in one eye and -4 in the other). So it is indeed completely different from what you referred to and I do not have that, tho I know multiple people who do
@@theknight1573 It's because there's something to influence the eyes to focus on the same spot rather than perpetually drifting to the side. They called it a prism when they told me about it, but really I don't actually know all that much about it since it's just kinda been that way most of my life. Afaik the issue is that contacts can't have the prism that helps me focus on the right spot since it causes eye strain to force them to focus myself. I guess in a way you could compare it to holding yourself cross-eyed for an extended period of time.
As someone with keratoconus, this is incredibly informative and easy to understand. This is a pretty frustrating condition, but the more knowledge we can collect on the subject, the better informed we can be for treatment
If you are age over 35 and have stable condition, you should be fine with adequate acrylic rgp contact lenses (that has to be replaced every 10-12 months), adequate hygiene and periodic specialist examinations. If you are under 35, the condition has to be monitored regularly, on the first signs of detoriation, more thorough tests must be done because of the possibility of cornea stretching outwards, which can lead to much more dangerous condition than keratoconus. If this scenario happens, after consulting your specialist probably the best recommendation is procedure known as cross-linking; in most cases, it stops cornea from further stretching and should make condition stable. In few severe cases that this operation fails, the only option left is cornea transplantation. Hope some of this information also helps, all the best.
You explained the light streaking thing far better than anyone else has! I didn't realise it was about the one streak being stronger, and had been skeptical because lights "streak" with or without my glasses on!
I got my first set of glasses when I was 27, my optometrist told me I had mild astigmatism and most likely had it from birth. I still remember walking outside with my glasses on and being absolutely blown away by how crisp everything looked because I was under the impression that I had perfect vision and most people saw things the way I did.
Glasses are amazing especially that time when we first got them ❤️
Keep telling my husband even if he thinks his vision is perfect he should still go check his eyes lol
it was so dizzying tho
I remember having the same experience! My vision has been slowly getting worse, especially at a distance, but I had no idea how much difference glasses would make. It was mind-blowing when I first put them on.
Holy shit, are we the same person???
Seriously though, I was the only person in my family to not wear glasses until I was recommended to go to the optometrist for "squinting too much" when looking at my laptop. It was explained that the squinting was me subconsciously attempting to squeese my astigmatised eyeballs into a better shape for viewing the bright screen :/
I remember being 17 and was asked by my friend of why im staring at a light source. Was telling her that i was wondering about the lines formed by the light, and she said "Everyone sees that you know". 2 years later, we met after being apart, and found out that we were both diagnosed with astigmatism.
I’m pretty sure like everyone has them
I'm 18 and i Today visited eye doctor and i got -3 cyl and -3 cyl with -0.25 cylidnerical . They said its very high why you didn't noticed i said I'm doing online classes from past 3 years
I thought everyone sees them 🧍♀️
@@sankyumiku i have 6/18 and 6/24 vision without glasses and i have -3 cyl power
@@sankyumiku same.
I have an astigmatism. I didn’t know not everyone saw that “light streaking” until now. I thought that was normal. No wonder my husband looked at me strange when I mentioned it to him! This was an incredibly well done video on the condition. Thank you.
I just learned this! I thought everyone saw the streaks.
@@nextchancenow7153 Same lol I just thought it was regular to see them
@@ZENXYY same here lol
Bro I didn't know I have agamatism
@@submarite
What an odd way to find out, huh! 😂
As someone with both nearsightedness and astigmatism, I find reading street signs extremely difficult (especially at night) even with corrective lenses. I wish they made them bigger so I could read them before I'm supposed to make turns.
same!
I usually end up guessing the street name based on length and maybe 1 letter, still difficult tho
Well, contact lenses exist, although my boyfriend can have problems with flare, from what he's told me. He has driven during night without any problems though.
🙏 yesssssss
Someone start that petition please!
@@chrisheartman9263I can't use contact lenses, some people I'm related to are allergic and the feelings that I'd poke my eye out is too high. Also don't got enough time for it
I've gotten so used to the light streaks during night that when I finally got some glasses to deal with my astigmatism, it just feels weird with the light streaks gone. I know it's weird but I honestly really liked the light streaks too, I've associated them with some of my best core memories during childhood, like going for a road trip during night and seeing the light streaks coming from the headlights of other vehicles.
Edit: I should've probably worded this better. The light streaks aren't completely gone, but they look different with the glasses. Still feels weird tho
Bruh this is the first time i know that i have this
As someone with adhd the light streaks gave me a great distraction for night time driving as a child, was always fun to til my head and make them move….now that I drive it’s a bit of a pain but not the only reason why I don’t like driving at night
dont wear glasses? i dont. one of my eyes has astigmatism and both of them are nearsighted. unless you HAVE TO be able to read something that is far, you dont really need them
@@annipsy2185 that doesn't really apply unless you have less than -2 vision
I hate driving at night. It really makes me nervous .
As a person with astigmatism, watching this video hurt my eyes. I could feel my eyes straining to try and clear up the picture, as they have been trained to attempt when I am not wearing my glasses. But since there was no helping that picture, they just worked and worked to no avail.
Taking off my glasses helped. But then I just saw more astigmatism than intended...
when the first image popped up my eyes immediately tried to adjust and strain to clear it up, and then I suddenly remembered it's supposed to be like that lol
I felt a real discomfort in my eyes seeing those videos. I wanted to look away. "With the rule" was the most disturbing for me.
I had to look away as it hurt my eyes terribly… to the point that it started to give me a headache
When the -1.00 with the rule on the tennis court came on, I took my glasses off and it made it more clear. Weird. It was hard looking at the images with my glasses on because of the strain, especially the medicine bottle. I had to look away finally.
Same😅
I also thought everyone saw the streaks of light coming out of artificial lights at night. It wasn't until like a year ago that I found out it was a symptom of my astigmatism. I hate driving at night in general, but I especially hate driving at night when it is raining because the streaks are everywhere, including the in the water reflections.
Yes for this reason I don't drive at night much.
@Boon2000 crazy, right?
Glasses with the anti glare coating can really help this effect. My last pair of glasses I didn't have the money to get the glare coating and basically lost my ability drive at night because the streaking was so insane to look at. Next pair I'm definitely shelling out for the coating even if it starts chipping off after a year or so
Same. Some people don't understand why I hate driving in the rain at night so much. I definitely need to re-up my prescription, as it's getting really bad again
I thought that was normal too lmao. too bad I don’t go outside anymore at night and can’t see the cool lights
I also was diagnosed with astigmatism many years ago but I just recently learned that my over-sensitivity to bright light is due to astigmatism (I mostly need sunglasses even if it is cloudy). I always thought I was weird. 😅
Omgg yesss same. I'm picking up my new glasses today for this reason!
I'm very sensitive to light, but I always thought it was because I have blue eyes and have autism. Maybe it is my eyes
I'm sensitive to bright light as well but my optomertist said years ago it's likely due to the reduced amount of pigment in my eye colour. I have light blue eyes.
oh damn, i didn't know that might be a reason. i have adhd and can't look at certain lights, some shopping centre display lights make my eyes BURN
Also have astigmatism and struggle with lights, especially at night, but also during the day I almost always need sunglasses even on overcast days. I have brown eyes, but was told when I went for an eye checkup where they would typically dilate my pupils that they didn’t need to because mine seem to be naturally more dilated. Not sure if that’s because of the astigmatism or just a me thing. I also didn’t know until 4 days ago that the long lines from lights is from astigmatism. I assumed my whole life (almost 30 years old now) that everyone saw light that way.
the first comparison of the bottles is literally how i see things. ive never really been able to relate to vision comparison pictures where the other image is just blurry, but here u can see its more shaky looking than anything and its cool to finally find out its indeed astigmatism. didnt even know it affected more than your ability to see lights.
also im getting new glasses today and i cant wait to see more clearly
Finally seeing clearly is SO nice
I have pretty bad astigmatism with far sightedness. In order to see properly I have to turn up the CPU.
well, how are they?
@@trentcard the new glasses? theyre great since theyre varifocals! at first i felt rly dizzy walking because of that but got used to it in a few days lol
I have astigmatism and growing up my mom never believed that there was anything wrong with my eyes. But i sure everything was more blurry than it should be and I was sure I needed glasses. So sure that when she wouldn't get my eyes checked I did an at home test. All it told me was that I was neither near nor far sighted. Thought I'd just have to live with a blurry world and it was all in my head. I didn't even know what astigmatism was. It wasn't until I was getting migranes in college that I finally went to the eye doctor. Sure enough, perfect sight with just Astigmatism. It felt so good for the headaches to go away and to finally see things
No offense, but...a bit of a neglectful mother, if anything, to listen to your child inform they're having vision issues and to not even think about taking them to the optometrist. Even if you live here in the U.S., where all things healthcare can be expensive, there is Medicaid that can help pay for glasses if your family is low income (like mine was). Awful that she didn't want to even entertain the thought that maybe you need some type of corrective lenses. Happy you finally got a diagnosis, though.
i dont really know why it would give you headaches though maybe you were straining your eyes to see things too much but i have astigmatism in one of my eyes and both of them are nearsighted if thats the term. i just chose to not wear glasses or anything, its kind of a hassle and since i dont drive either, i dont really need to be able to see things clearly and im just used to it. no headaches
I had the same issue as a kid. My doctor was stunned wondering how I was able to function for so long without glasses.
@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley Some think it's a sign of imperfection/weakness. Totally worried about what people would think.
@@annipsy2185 when I was in high school I would get headaches almost every day but I thought it was just bc of studying/staring at the computer screen. Then I noticed how much I had a hard time reading numbers on the blackboard during math class and I went to the eye doctor, found out I had astigmatism. Once I started wearing eyeglasses the headaches went away.
I think it’s a widespread problem that people are diagnosed with astigmatism and are never told what that actually means. I was diagnosed in kindergarten with a very mild astigmatism in both eyes and I never knew what that actually meant. Imagine being told you have something like diabetes and never having the disease explained to you. Thank you!!
I've had glasses since middle school, yet I was never told I had astigmatism until I asked about my prescription one year.
I was never diagnosed with it, although last time I got my eyes tested, they added some new information on my card and that was astigmatism strength. They never really told me why I have that, or even pointed it out. But now that I think about it and research about it, it does make sense.
@@Peter-ff1tp I wasn’t saying it that it is same thing I was saying that if you go to the doctors office when you are diagnosed with a condition they will usually sit down and explain that condition and treatment options. So I picked a random fairly common condition such as diabetes to show how crazy it is that people have no idea what astigmatism is and how it will affect them and their vision.
Lol think how I felt being diagnosed with Pyoderma Gangrenosum without being telt what it is :D
@@Peter-ff1tp that's an understandably difficult hardship and we can see you are short on patience and tolerance as a result
Great explanation! Astigmatism with the rule here. For years I carried all sorts of cleaning supplies and special cloths and paper towels in my car because I thought I had some sort of film on the windshield that I could not get clean. I probably had the cleanest car windows in town but still at night all lights looked smeared in a vertical streak. Finally got glasses and they help 90%. The more I age, the harder it is to drive at night though..
I’m constantly annoyed by my windshield, eyeglasses, and phone screens not being clear enough…and I’m not a clean freak- I just want to be able to see!
Wearing the glasses does it help you drive at night ?
This helps me! Even with my glasses I don't like driving at night, always feel like I need more light and any speck of water on windscreen and smudge on glasses has to get cleaned immediately. My spouse will let the rain pile up on the windscreen till I don't know how he can see at all!
That’s interesting, whilst I have an astigmatism, I don’t get the single streak of light at night time, all lights I look at are just like massive star bursts or fireworks, but relatively uniform. It is making night time driving, even with my glasses on, especially on dark country roads, quite uncomfortable these days. Around town with more ambient light it isn’t as bad.
Here I’ve used an optically pure system to demonstrate the effects of astigmatism, eye-brain interactions are much more complex! 😆
If you squint without your glasses, it will definitely show the lines. I've just tried and it seems I have with the rule and oblique (one slanting and one vertical line). Just that it's only -1.00 so I'm not worried hahah
That could be due to dry eyes as well, which can especially happen while night driving, because you blink less when focused.
I get starbursts/fireworks that are quite uniform too, but only since I had laser corrective surgery for short-sightedness.
They did tell me something about the shape of my eyes and how there was a possibility that this would result in the type of experiences I have in the dark when looking at lights, but it’s been so long that I can’t recall their exact reasoning.
I no longer even recall what it was like to see lights without starbursts.
@@GemmaFurbank I’ve heard the same things about possible side effects of corrective surgery which has mostly scared me off from going down that path. Even though I already have those issues, I don’t want them any worse!
They say to use anti reflective coatings on glasses to help with the glare, I have Essilor lenses with Crizal coatings on all of mine, it probably helps a bit, but not enough unfortunately, even with super clean glasses and windscreen etc.
For those wondering, don't confuse astigmatism with night lights seen through car windscreens. The light refracts differently when looking through a glass pane/windshield. Don't panic like I did lol
Dont worry, you know when the age hits you; youll start to see these beautiful sizzling & fuzzy light balls, when it used to be nice sharp light. The farther you are, the bigger the shimmer is. I live far north and I guess my vision changed radically in one summer, so when the dark winter came, I was so confused.. Youll know when its time to go see a man about some glasses; the lights turn oddly pretty but weird and you dont recognize faces in the dark as quickly as you used to. Not seeing street signs in time when driving is another clue, in daytime too. Dont wait too long (out of vanity) like my mom, she waved at speed-limit sign as we drove by. Dont scare your family :)
Damn bro I was actually panicking cause I see fine BUT I also see the damn lights like that. Thank you
@@janemiettinen5176 lmaoo
@@HomesickTCG Me, too... that's with looking outside of my car or home... yikes!
I thought it was normal bc I've heard others talk about it, lol.
@@janemiettinen5176 it's not age lol a lot of us just didn't know lights didn't get bigger the farter you go
I've been complaining about not being able to "focus" on letters even with my glasses. This 100% explains why I could always "guess" every letter on the optometrist's board even though I couldn't actually read them 🤡
You would "guess" them? The whole point of the eye exam was to let the optometrist know how clear you see the letters. Must have sucked to have glasses and not realize why you can't still make out the thing you were focused on. How long did it take for you/anyone else to figure it out?
Same! With my guesswork they said I had 20/15 vison and I'll the first to tell you that that is not true lol
I can read everything in those exams. But it's like, twice the amount of letters :')
@@umpoucodetudoealgumacoisa double vision! my sister has that it sucks.
Yep that’s what I have
I have astigmatism and I wear progressive bifocals to see properly. I hate driving at night especially if it’s raining , it’s a horrible experience for me. Thank you because now I can explain to my son what I see as opposed to what he sees. 🙏🏾🙏🏾
Same here, can't see well at night, nearsighted, astigmatism in both my eyes all my life.
Same problem. I purchased some polarized yellow night driving clip-ons that make the experience more tolerable.
I can relate, I dealt with this up until I was in my early 60s and got cataracts. I had high myopia -11, and -3 diopters of astigmatism. I wore rigid Gas permeable lenses that were custom made and extremely expensive and often popped out of my eye or slid off and stuck to the white part of my eye. If this happened while driving it was life threatening. I got to the point where I could not safely drive at night. I wore glasses too, but because they were very thick, they would distort images while driving. My eye doc said, "pray for cataracts" and when I was diagnosed with them about seven years ago, I had lens replacement implants in both eyes and it CHANGED MY LIFE. I now can see distance day or night without glasses, and just need readers for close work reading or at the computer. Please know there is hope for you! The surgery was easy and safe and I have been thankful every day since. My insurance covered part of the surgery and I only paid $1900 out of pocket.
I cried the first time I saw the stars in the sky at night with my glasses. Up to that point I had never seen the Stars in the sky, I was about 10. I was shocked that all the streetlights at night weren't fuzzy splotches but rather distinct points of light. It was a truly great life-changing experience yet sad at the same time... It makes me very thankful and grateful for everything I can experience that others may not...
Are glasses supposed to get rid of the streaks??
I've been wearing glasses since I was 12, my vision is perfectly clear with my glasses but small lights are still streaky and splotchy
@@MCDesign199 I'd say talk to an optician if you're worried, they could probably give you a better answer than youtube comments
@@MCDesign199 Get anti-reflective lenses. It makes the the lights less aggressive to the eyes especially when you're driving at night >_
me too
@@MCDesign199 I get that when my glasses have some kind of oil or sheen on them. Also when the lenses become damaged with scratches due to my landscape maintenance job.
Now I know the word to describe is known as “streak”. I was trying to explain to 2 different eye specialist at a government eye center in Singapore that I keep seeing a “long line across” at night time from lights. And was told they have never ever heard of such cases before 🙄
Despite not understanding me, they actually told me not to worry 😅
Thank you for this video 🙏🏻
I went to three optometrist's before I found one who was able to diagnose my problem and give me a prescription that actually worked. It was amazing to see the world without the double vision !
@@loritalbot3063 Astigmatism is a fairly common condition. I was tested for it as a child in the 80's. It's appalling you had to see 3 different optometrists before you got competent help. People can be so dense, even in their area of so-called expertise.
If you mentioned you see "long lines across" from lightsources at night and they couldn't understand you, they're simply incompetent.
@@galamander_1327 Yeah I'm lucky that my first optometrist caught it next to my myopia when both conditions were pretty weak (roughly -0.75 myopia and -0.5 astigmatism, though I'm unsure which kind and I can't truly just check without looking at the papers; right seems to be with the rule, left is shadowed by the myopia because of asymmetry between the eyes), and my newer ones just kept on figuring it out (now I'm close to -2 for myopia and -1 for astigmatism, not sure which eye gets that)
Turns out my right is oblique with barely any myopia, my left is pretty much purely myopia. Heh.
I'm a professional artist with -9.75 vision and an against the rule astigmatism of 3.50. :') It's so hard explaining to people what it's like, and these videos, especially this one, is just amazing. Thank you for your clear and concise explanations!
oh, and I thought my eyes were bad. do the best with it.
so you dont see shit, only colored shapes and even then, wonder if thats how abstract started out
@@dofehino5444 I know some impressionist artists were inspired & driven by their vision impairments. Not sure about abstract!
Anyway, I'm just thankful I work digitally, so I can zoom in as much as I need to.
Is your vision ever completely crisp or is it always a little blurry no matter new glasses or not? Digit clocks and tv are always blurry but paper is a tad better. Just wondering if it’s normal!
me too! I've just said "it's blurry, blobby" for as long as I can remember
This answers so many questions! I am nearsighted, with an astigmatism in both eyes. One eye goes with the rule, the other eye goes against the rule, and this has made night driving a real challenge as headlights have gotten much brighter in recent years. Holiday seasons are sometimes an overload of lights, and I lose a lot of detail in the decorations because of the streaks. A recent update in my prescription has helped immensely, and the addition of a bifocal lens has dramatically improved my reading clarity.
I can't even look at Christmas Lights and no longer use them because oh sweet lord!!! Same with neon lights, shop signs etc. I'd have so many accidents if I drove due to the number of times I have to close my eyes/squint because of oncoming vehicle lights...
I tried to explain to people what I was seeing when I drove at night and when it rained it was 1000x worse. No one understood my struggle. Then I worked for a sleep doctor and we got to talking about our vision and he explained that he had astigmatism and what it was and that’s how I figured out I had it. I was very annoyed because none of the eye doctors I went to had mentioned it. My most recent ophthalmologist put in some sort of feature in the prescription to correct it. It’s not 100% but it’s definitely better
I'm 54. My 1st eye exam when I was child said I had astigmatism.
Eye doctors not realizing this major problem?? That's insane!
My gut reaction is shocked that multiple optometrists didn't catch that?? But trying to think back, I don't think mine was flagged until I actually tried getting contacts. I might have only been around -1.00 for a while and it's only in one eye. It has since been upped to -1.25 to compensate for changes over the years but my point is that I don't have a very severe case that didn't affect glasses wearing at all. Maybe the case was similar in why no one brought it up for you. Who knows
@@insomnibusXP Yeah it’s concerning. I was bounced back and forth by doctors and optometrists for the headaches I’d been having, both saying we can’t help you. Eventually years later the optometrist said they could write me a prescription but it wouldn’t really be strong enough to change anything. I told them to just do it and voilà I have astigmatism and yes the glasses do help, they didn’t think it was worth it however so never said anything, very annoying. I was working in a mall then and the backlit signs and lights everywhere were horrible. I don’t understand why they didn’t just leave the decision of whether the price was worth it up to me. Glad we both got sorted tho.
When I learned how to drive I told my friends and family I wasn't going to drive at night, even if they asked and begged me to. I would leave parties, get together, and even important meetings early just to avoid having to battle figuring out how to get home and extreme light streaks. Everyone would get frustrated with me, to the point my Dad forced me to drive with him in the middle of the night to "get over my fears"
When I found out I have a -2.45 oblique astigmatism, it was a huge relief. I could finally have a "reasonable" excuse and not just "I don't like to drive at night." Driving more and knowing streets better helped too. Never got a prescription of any kind, as other eye issues I had were a lot more concerning, but I think with everyone saying how much better it is Im thinking about looking into it.
Honestly, I thought the streaks of light were something that everyone saw... For the longest time I'd been doing theorycrafts in my head to figure out why. I thought it might be some sort of interaction with the humidity in the air or something like that.
I always just assumed that it was a thing that happened with lenses.
i told my mom i thkught i had eye problems because the lights were lines and she said everyone had that. when i saw an eye dr and told her that no, not everyone has that, she refused to acknowledge it
@@misseselise3864 everyone sees lines around a light if they squint. What is this bullshit the doctors are saying ? Yeah lights don't appear as lines but you can easily see lines if you squint with healthy eyes...
I have really good vision, better than most of my friends but I see the lines at night. Strange thing is, I only see it in really bright things like car headlights but not traffic lights like other people. I am going to get my eyes checked however.
Also, I only see the streaks when I’m in the car. But when I’m not or if I have the windows down, I don’t see them. Weird.
Finally! A clear explanation of astigmatism! I started to wear glasses 55 years ago and its taken this long to find an explanation thats straight forward to understand. I also thought everyone saw those streaks of light too. They've been getting more noticeable lately and I thought it was my eye lashes causing it. Now I know. Thank you :)
Actually the prime suspect in some cases is the eyelashes , I suffer from the same situation , but in my case I see them all the day even in daytime , they're just getting worse at a dark place , if I open my eyes wide those light streaks are gone and double vision too . Eyelashes are affecting the light that enters our eyes and I think this is what explains those lines . I've been to 3 doctors and none of them took me seriously !! just imagine how mysterious this issue can be .
At 60+, I’ve had glasses for 45 years. Even with proper progressive lenses, I’m more and more frustrated trying to read small print or road signs when driving. It’s really debilitating. I need full light to read medical labels, etc. I put the interior light on when driving at night that helps get rid of those streaks. My doctor said the astigmatism is doing this.
Yes me too, I got glasses in my teens until then I had to tilt my head to the left to read the school blackboard, even then it was a lot of guess work, that was 60 years ago, I hate to think what life would have been like without them.
I have astigmatism in both eyes I think and I can't make out details more than about six inches in front of my face and have had bifocals for maybe six years or so. This is more information than I've ever been given about astigmatism, so I really appreciate it 😊
I've been wearing glasses since the middle of second grade and I'm close to my 39th birthday. Kinda sad, but things happen
Yep, I've got an astigmatism but didn't get first pair of glasses until i was 39. To say I was shocked at how clear everything was with new glasses is a massive understatement
Same
I made it to 29. Honestly amazed how well I was getting by without corrective lenses lol.
same. hahaha it took me 24years
Once I got my first pair of glasses I almost got emotonal at looking at the trees, there were so many leaves and I could see the boarders of each one, they moved with the wind. I think it was specially shocking to me because I love biology in general, so I would imagine that if I was a sports fan looking at a game at the stadium would have had the same effect.
@@gochadc 100% the first thing I noticed was all the textures in the tree bark. I can't believe I went so long without getting my eyes checked, but im so glad I did.
The brain adapts surprisingly well for some people, so they may not realize how much eye strain and post-processing is occurring, but getting new glasses is a great way to relieve the burden and also see what one has been missing.
I just learned recently what astigmatism was and thought I had perfect vision 😂 to say it was a eureka moment is an understatement
ya while also making your eye lazy and worse, your better off training your eye than constantly making them worse as time goes on
I was trying to "reform" my eye since I had a bad eyesight, it worked well, but I forgot the back side, so I'm gonna have to suffer from atleast -3 astigmatism.
@@ChraO_o You were trying to do what now? Care to explain how an eye "reform" works?
@@Jesusls
basically just make ur hands do the work or something, gives pain
then re attach the eye with like the skin thing whatever
still works if ur lucky enough to not touch "bad sides"
Wow, I learned things I didn't know about my own vision defect. I'd always thought it was irregularities in the cornea or lens which caused astigmatism, not the shape of the eye itself. You learn something new every day!
in this video I used the term eyeball colloquially, but you’re right it is the irregularities in the cornea and lens! Thanks for picking that up my bad!
@@AntonioTheOptom Have you seen a patient who uses there eyes separately? One eye nearsighted and one eye farsighted with one being a lazy eye.
Considering those are the biggest parts of your eye, I'm pretty sure those irregularities affect the overall shape of your eye...
@@adrycough Um... have you every looked at a diagram of the human eye? I assure you, the cornea and lens are NOT the largest parts of the eye!
I thought everyone sees the streaks of light. Wow, I learn something new every day. Great video, TFS!
I'm 23, I've had glasses since first grade, and I just learned what astigmatism actually is for the first time. It was always just one of those words they threw around at the optometrist.
Right, I thought I had A 'stigmatism'
I was diagnosed with 4.75 against the rule astigmatism at the age of 7. I was obviously born with them and as a small child my mother used to think I was clumsy. I couldn’t catch a ball I kept tripping up steps I would go to take my cup off the table and miss it slightly and knock it over things like that. The first optometrist I went to was recommended by the school he said I had lazy eyes (even though I had no turning in either eye) so I wore a patch on one eye for a month then on the other for a month. So humiliating! Nothing changed then I went to another optometrist who said I was long sighted I got glasses for that. It helped a little. Then finally an optometrist diagnosed my very severe astigmatisms in both eyes and I finally could see. My hand eye coordination was totally off and under developed for my whole childhood and adolescent years I wasn’t good at any sport. As an adult I made a point to try and make it better with repeat exercises and it is better. I am now 50 years old and I get so excited when I catch something especially when it’s a random out of the blue like when someone throws something at you and says catch this. I celebrate hard when I catch it and people look at me like I am a weirdo. I also celebrate hard when I throw something at the bin and it goes in ! It’s the simple things.
Nothing ever changed my "lazy eye". it's 100 pts lower than my left eye so it need gets used.
This is so heartwarming
I feel your pain, when I was in kindergarten they told my mom I was “retarded” (back then a commonly used word) .. turns out I couldn’t SEE! I’m legally blind so they mistook that as a severe mental handicap.. fml.. if they could see me know 😂😂 most definitely not “retarded”.
I was also born with -5 eye sight which made me see difficultly. I have been wearing glasses since i was 5-6yrs
@@AzerinaM That's awful, particularly for a child who's development and fine-tuning is at a critical stage. I do wonder how frequently eye conditions have been misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all for kids. I hope things are much, much better everywhere and this rarely happens today. I'm glad things have improved on this front for you.
I didn't expect to learn so much about my condition today, thank you so much! I have myopia on both eyes, and astigmatism in one, it feels weird to think not everyone sees lines in the dark! One of my favorite thing to look at in the dark is xmas lights, i actually remove my glasses to look at the trippy lines of well lit trees... It's so beautiful! To think not everyone can enjoy this light effect makes me sad, this is an odd eye problem that can actually be fun to have in some occurences.
Omg yes!!! When I would ask people if they saw the cool starbursts in the lights and they would say no, I would be confused lol I think they're a blessing to mesmerize, at, something unique and special for us😊
Yes! The Christmas lights! 😁👍🏻
Someone with perfect eyes could put on someone's glasses to temporarily get the effects (in the opposite direction of course). For example, if you want to know what it's like to be nearsighted, you need glasses from someone who is farsighted (reading glasses from the dollar store will do).
Yess!! Christmas lights look way cooler without my glasses because all the colours blend in a funky way :p
I think I might have astigmatism then because I also enjoy looking at the weird light streaks of Christmas trees
This is the best explanation I’ve seen/heard in my life! Thank you 🤗
When my daughter was starting 2nd grade, I took her to the optometrist for a “happy” visit . If I hadn’t been in the exam room with her, I never would have believed how bad her vision was. She couldn’t name one letter on the chart. The optometrist said “I thought you said she could read!” The doctor looked at MY chart, then started putting lenses in front of her. Within minutes he had identified the problem. She had really bad astigmatism. He said it was a miracle she had learned to read. By the time she was 30 she had developed kerataconus. She had a cornea transplant when she was 35.
Your video helped me understand how she saw things. I have astigmatism too, but it nowhere near the -5 or greater that she had. And to think that Stephan Curry is able to play so good in spite of his having kerataconus!
The -5 is eerily accurate. It's like taking off my glasses while they are on my face.
That being said, when I was younger and didn't have glasses, I squinted to perfect vision. As a child I would be sitting somewhere while stretching my eye lids and people thought I was weird. Might not have thought so if they could have seen this video and realized the stretching my eye lids with my fingers changed it from that -5 non sense to to 0.
I also have astigmatism since I was 7 years old. By the age of 17, it had deteriorated a lot due to the fact that I did not wear the right glasses. I hope that it will not lead to such disorders.
Reading beyond the extreme basics is done using pattern recognition not of individual letters but words and sentences that provide context and redundancy. I was reading at 5th grade level in 3rd grade when I was first prescribed glasses for nearsightedness. Glasses have never had an appreciable effect on my ability to continue to read beyond the "normal" level, because I Iove to read and I exercise that skill intensively. I've memorized standard reading charts without intending to do so, simply from seeing them so many times. I wonder if opticians using standardized copyrighted charts are missing a lot of people who are good readers just starting to have vision problems - when they might be addressed with different reading habits.
To be fair, idk if it affects his ability to see a ball and a basketball goal, as long as he's still got decent spatial perception/ awareness
I have spent my entire life being uncertain of what those lines when I looked at lights were all about. I remember asking my mom when I was little and her not really knowing what I was talking about. I've always known I've had astigmatism in both eyes, but I never knew that the two things were related. Also, it was kind of fun watching this video and trying to guess how much of what I was seeing was my own vision screwing with the image and how much of it was supposed to be there.
Ha ha it's so hard as a little kid trying to explain to adults visual phenomena they don't experience. I ended up getting glasses not because I was complaining of blurry vision (I spent most of my time reading which I could do without issue - wasn't even aware that my distance vision was poor), but because I complained of what I now know to be visual snow. It didn't make sense to my parents, they thought I was just describing blurry vision while reading - but it wasn't. The glasses were an absolute *revelation,* but the visual snow remained. I just stopped talking about it until I got much older and learned what it was. For a while before that, I'd convinced myself it was just a completely normal phenomenon *everyone* experiences that I was making a big deal about.
Wait do your telling me the lines from the lights isnt normal...
@@the_phantom_nova6200 the lines that go all around are normal, but the drastically larger line in one of the directions is not normal.
As a medical student, I found this video incredibly fun and informative. Up until now, a lot of the things I knew about astigmatism were only theoretical. I love how you showed what people with different types and severity of astigmatism see in real life ^_^
making contact lenses for astigmatism is challenging due to the long axis and short axis at various angles so it stays in position on the eye without the axis moving....tens of thousands of variations, whew!!
simple answer when people ask me about my "with rule astigmatism": if you read the letter N, I can only see 2 vertical lines. The diagonal line of the N is totally blurry. That's how it feels to have astigmatism in real life, and yes the video helps us to learn a lot, right?
@@mrrey8937 my glasses always cost more than US$300 while regular farsighted glasses cost only $100. I can only imagine the difficulty of making the contact lenses, sir
Oh my god! Thank you so much for this. I always thought everyone saw lights like that too but you've made me realise its my astigmatism! Its so irritating and makes driving at night, having fairy lights or any kind of reflections visible incredibly distracting. Now i just need to work out which type of astigmatism I have!
as someone who lives with only 0.5 in my right eye, I want to say that it's not only about sight, but I could never read for more than a few minutes without getting a headache (I also didn't know about the night-time light thing, I also thought it was normal)
I appreciate this video :)
Lucky man. I have -9 and -10 eyes with astigmatism 🤣
Reading gives me headaches too. I don't read. I've been reading the same book for 4 years. I'll get to chapter 4 eventually...
@@sirkermy haha I wasn't trying to compete, I was just pointing out that at values even less than he was talking about, it's enough to effect your life
The night time light thing is actually visible for everyone when looking through almost any window, glass, or lens. When driving for example, everyone should see light streaks.
My mom has astigmatism and I do not, and she's always struggled to explain to me what it's like or why certain things are difficult. For example, we did some DIY projects together and she had a hard time cutting straight unless there was a straightedge/guideline, whereas I could just eyeball it. This really helped me understand how we can work together better, and she learned more about the type of astigmatism she has too. Thanks for the video!
I don't know if mine is oblique or with the rule - but before being diagnosed with astigmatism, I often told to others that when trying to read something I could see "ghosts of the words" because an opaque shadow would form downside the letters.
This video is a great showcase of the thing I see and cannot put into words.
While reading back in school, I was always skipping a line horizontally on text.
You just explained why I have so much trouble reading music
I sometimes see those "ghosts of words" looking at black text on a white background on a phone screen.
YES!
Is that like seeing a second image imposed atop the first but slightly out of alignment downward?
After watching your video, it now makes sense to me why I was seeing vertical lines at light sources when I drive every night (traffic lights, incoming lights sources from vehicles).
I find the video very educational and explains a lot!
I always thought that everyone is seeing the same lines on light sources as me.
I'm still able to drive without needing to wear my glasses just fine, I mostly wear it when I'm at home.
The streaking of light from astigmatism and my aura from migraines were two things I always had and thought EVERYONE else saw, too, for the longest time. Doctors would ask me, “Are you sure you don’t see aura?” While it looked like I was watching them through static ahaha.
Gosh, the migraine auras are the worst. Whenever I see one, I just know in about 20 minutes I'm going to be miserable.
Oooo. I always get the auras beforehand. But I know it's going to be a "bad one" when I get the zig zags that lightning bolt across my vision.
@@klxzz those are ocular migraines. I had them all my life, so did my mom. She called it "rick rack headaches". I didn't even know ocular migraines were a thing until I was finally diagnosed at 61.
@@derricktucker1533 I’d happily take the vision fuzzies if it meant I didn’t have to be in debilitating pain anymore
@@klxzz I’m so sorry! I hope you have means of relief for your migraines - bad and worse!
I was diagnosed with Antimetropia when I was a pre-teen (nearsighted in one eye, farsighted in the other) and a double astigmatism. I never really knew what normal sight looked like, and thought lines in lighting were just how lights worked. This was very insightful!
this is exactly what I have! I never knew there was a term for the nearsighted in one, farsighted in the other, Antimetropia. thankful for your comment :)
I have nearsightedness but I’ve also seen lines at the back of cars so next time I’ll pay attention to it. Maybe I have astigmatism I don’t know if but hopefully not
Antimetropia gang!
I have always thought my vision was slightly poor but I think seeing obnoxiously large lines on light-sources just confirms my astigmatism and need for glasses.
I have antimetropia also. I have barrel distortion in my vision as straight lines curve outwards like a fishbowl effect. I see this barrel distortion most when I look at a flat monitor and also with and without glasses. Any ideas if this can be fixed? I've been to eye doctors and they seem to think contacts may be the answer but not sure.
I think it's great that videos like this exist.
I was diagnosed with nearsightedness when I was in middle school, and it's crazy to think back to all those years of squinting to read the blackboard in elementary school and just thinking that was how everybody sees. The hardest part about eye problems is realizing that your eyesight is fucked, since you don't have a frame of reference, these videos help solve that very issue
Same here. I was 13, halfway back in the classroom looking at the teacher using an overhead proector and trying to figure out how they were seeing anything because I couldn’t. That was the lightbulb moment for me. My mom was skeptical (my mom with the Coke bottle glasses, lol) because she said my brother had insisted he needed glasses years before when he didn’t and he’d ended up ruining his eyesight. Yeah… she was also a nurse but that didn’t mean she was an expert in all things medical.
Anyway, they found out about the astigmatism and that it mostly affected distance vision. Over the years I realized, as it grew steadily worse for a while, that I’d had bad vision for my whole life. I remember Christmas trees looking so much fuller when I was little (I dunno about streaking but lights look like puffballs without my glasses) and sweeping the hallways when I was 10, only to have my brother come along and chew me out for how much I was missing. He then took the broom and dust piles seemed to appear out of thin air. Yet it took that overhead projector… or maybe a few more years’ maturity… to work it out.
i remember first getting glasses and being shocked about how i could see carpet (from a distance) so much clearer lmao
I had the same light bulb moment with the overhead projector at 8 years old in 3rd grade. I was watching the teacher write but couldn't see anything. I could see all of my classmates taking notes on what was being written. After a minute or two, I moved closer to the screen until I could see what was being written. I don't remember if the teacher noticed and told my parents or if I mentioned it when I got home that day but I have been wearing glasses ever since that school year.
Simliar story, but started in middle school for me. 7th grade my teacher called on me and I couldnt see sitting in the back despite the words being big af on the chalkboard lol
I got glasses at 12 but only used them at school. Until I failed to recognise my parents on the other side of the road. Short sighted and now I'm older I'm getting long sighted too. One thing that I find is that when you are short sighted, you can't even see colours clearly as they blur together. I love contact lenses. Just wish my night vision was better
Thank you so much for this video. I have oblique astigmatism in both eyes and I've always had trouble explaining what I see to others. This is so helpful! Thank you!
Thank you. I have had astigmatism my whole life but nobody has ever explained it as clearly as you!
Same 😊
Lived with it whole life i dont pay attention to it now friday i find out how bad my eyes have gotten plus living in a dry environment is new to me just wish had someone to go to doc with me i forget so much
@@guppy0536 Are glasses worth?I am 14 and am thinking to go to eye test.I know I don't have good vision but am kinda scared.
@@reportagebykonstantinos8030 YES because you dont know or realize how your eyes are. You may be fine 😌 😊 I'll take eye exam any day. Promise not as scary as you think. I haven't had my eyes checked in 6yrs. Dr I had retired learned ALOT from him over yrs. This new doc is a Army doc (my medical doc was a Navy doc haha). Hard to tell what I'll learn. Take a buddy with in room to get exam if you ask ahead a time probably will allow it. 😉. If you can remind me friday evening I'll answer any questions you have. 🙂
@@guppy0536
Thanks. You are right. Is not that scary. I feel so good after this comment.I will go Tuesday for a eye test.Thank you I feel confident 😊 Now after your comment am not scared anymore.I actually can't wait to go. To see the world clear. It has to be an amazing experience.🙂
I lived with terrible astigmatism for the first 11 years of my life, until someone finally noticed... the optometrist said my vision was 20/80 (left), and 20/200 (right). I remember bursting into tears when I first put my new glasses on, and really seeing the world around me for the first time.
I have the same, but flipped. 20/200 (left) and 20/80 (right), with Astigmatism.
i’m 20/200 in my left and 20/160(?) in my right. when i put my glasses on it’s like i’m in a whole different world
Relatable
you was still luckier than me i got to see the real world after 17
I managed to guesswork my way through vision tests at school because I thought I was supposed to pass like a normal test. It wasn't until 6th grade I was more outspoken about the clarity and got fitted for glasses. I was legit somewhere in between 3 and 5 oblique and thought that's how people saw things. The absolute cringe and shame I felt when I understood people could see another person pick their nose clearly across a class room, hell even 5 feet away was a shock to me tbh.
Sorry, what? You had vision tests?
@@NobodyisAnybody I googled and apparently this is required in about 40 states in the US.
It's pretty common in a lot of elementary schools (from my understanding and growing up in the United States at least) to have routine health checks each year, so very basic vision/hearing checks, height, and weight, to monitor for possible health issues, but i only remember having it done until about 4th or 5th grade (so like 9-10 years old ish) starting from kindergarten (5yo)
@@JoyCopperMoth I only remember getting vaccinated
@@NobodyisAnybody Ironically where I grew up we had our vision and hearing checked but vaccinations were something we needed to do get on our own it was still required it just wasn't something the school did
Well I learned something today! Never been told about different types of astigmatism despite wearing glasses for it for 30 years! Evidently mine is nice simple with the rule, and guessing from the pictures 2-point-something. I’ve always been short sighted as well, to different degrees in each eye, so each lens is pretty different. I always describe my vision to people as “white things expand and go more fuzzy”, so white letters on a green sign are mostly ok, but black letters on a white sign is hopeless, the black will virtually disappear behind the white. So if I had to drive without glasses, I could see freeway signs but not read street names. And I really can’t handle driving at night on country roads, the headlights are overwhelming and I can’t see anything else. Question, if anyone knows: are the streaky lines supposed to go away when you’re wearing glasses?
I always felt that my vision was blurry, even though I always made eye doctors amazed by how well my vision was. One day, I decided to get tested for bad vision or health issues, and I got told I had -0.5 in one of my eyes, because of astigmatism. It was insane to see through the little correction class I could try, because I saw as well as before, but it was somehow not as blurry anymore, even though it was never really blurry? It was just sharper somehow, and now I’m just waiting for my eyes to get worse, so I’ll actually be able to buy glasses for it and not have to get them renewed every year as I don’t have the money for that.
Slight astigmatism sucks this way, huh. Everything is sharp but somehow you can't read a street sign or a bus number, and it's somehow worse with the light-up text in the dark
Few years ago I went to check my vision because of headaches and pain around the eyes. I was prescribed glasses for astigmatism with -0,5 on one eye and -0,25 on the other. I only use them when I work on computer for longer periods, I try not to use them on a daily basis. Also I only use prescription sunglasses as it's more comfortable and safer while driving a car. You can order glasses with such low values, even as sunglasses. No need to wait :)
Fun fact: I have a perfect vision when I tape up my brows and forehead so that it feels like botox with facelift xD I guess my upper face weights too much and causes my eyes to deform haha xD
@@gabajamrozinska3347 I did, same story
@@tlomazina YES. i hate dark mode themes for this reason, too. it's so much worse with the high concentration of light coming from the text
I relate to this. My eyes were fine for a long time and I didn’t need glasses and then when my astigmatism got worse and I got glasses, I realised my vision wasn’t perfect. Even though it was fine, the glasses just sharpened everything. Everything is just that bit softer without glasses.
But at night after work on dark streets with oncoming traffic I find it very hard to drive. On multiple recent occasions I’ve ended up repeating how much I hate driving and how I can’t keep driving home at night because I feel like I can’t see because of the light glares. Especially when it has rained or is raining.
just recently i went to the eye doctor just for a check in because my friends always looked at me funny when i told them that i couldn’t look at any lights at night because they were extremely blinding and full of streaks. my parents were really skeptical since i’ve had perfect or at least nearly perfect vision my entire life. the doctor told me the same thing, i had near perfect vision, but a really weird case of astigmatism. the doctor recommended i’d get glasses and so i did and it helped to some degree. i still have a difficult time driving at night even with my glasses on, but this video was extremely insightful into understanding astigmatism.
Oh my go to a better doctor. They’d give you prescription glasses for that. That’s not hard to diagnose at all, even if you have a very mild case.
@@Linaelinaeyathey said they already got glasses
Unfortunately, it can be hard to diagnose. With a complex cornea sharp astigmatism can vary with dilation of the eye pupil.
Have you ever heard of visual snow syndrome? If you also experience visual snow that might be the reason. I have both astigmatism and VSS and glasses sadly do not help 100% with the halos etc.
@@TurissChin Same, I was going to say that, I have that same issue at night with streetlights blinding me. I had no idea I was photosensitive until about a year ago I think- Bought me some prescription sunglasses lol
I was out of my teens by the time I learned that those streaks of light were caused by my astigmatism, and I thought all astigmatics saw them diagonally. Very cool to learn about the three separate types.
This video makes me want to cry I have keratoconus and driving at night is a nightmare even with my scleral lenses, my husband always gives me hard time when I take a roundabout way of getting somewhere just bc I'm trying to avoid a bunch of headlights on busy roads, I'm going to show him this video so he can hopefully understand
Both my kids have Astigmatism and I don't. They have only recently been diagnosed after complaining of headaches. They are now both wearing spectacles. Thank you for literally allowing me to see through their eyes and understand more of what they are experiencing, Thank you and be blessed
My pleasure Artemis! 👍 and thank you
Have astigmatism in both eyes. Got my first pair of glasses when I was 22 and I was SHOCKED at how much easier it became to read signs and see addresses while driving at night. Also seeing faces in the distance while walking.
dude fr sometimes when i forget my glasses i find myself trying to make out faces down the hall and accidentally staring at people lmfao
Yeah, everyone's face is kinda an indistinct blob at a certain distance. I'm like -2.2 or so, not the worst. You can tell it's a face, but you can't make out the features of the face. Very hard to describe.
I was diagnosed with having astigmatism years ago but when you showed the clip with the lights I was wowed. I’ve always thought that was normal as well. Now I know why I see the lights like that. I just never thought of it being my astigmatism. Thank you for this video.
Same here!
Same here!
Same. I hate to drive at night
You need to look at light source without windshield in front of you. If you see lines then yeah, you have astigmatism, but if you step out of vehicle and see none of that then your windshield is full of dirt or badly scratched by wipers. Together with the angle of curvature, it might create the same effect.
@@RadzioTheGreat I would think its safe to assume people with astigmatism know that glass can get dirty, and aren't idiots. You may be surprised to learn that sometimes we do look at the world when not in a vehicle.
🙄
That was the Best and only explanation of astigmatism. Thank you so much. No-one has ever explained to me why I can't drive at night like this. Makes it so obvious. Yet each time I ask an optometrist if they can fix my lenses so I can drive at night, I get no mention of my astigmatism. Also the same happens with any ball games, I can't judge where the ball is in the air. Thank you. I got my eye lenses fixed with new ones, hoping that would fix it but it didn't.🙏 (Cateract surgery)
My prescription is -10.00 and I wish more videos would cover this level of myopia, which is the true meaning of severe. I'd like to be able to show my friends and family how I see.
I'm in the same boat. It frustrates me when people talk about how they have a -5D prescription and call it extremely high like no that's mid at max
One eye is around -8.00, the other is approx -12.00.
Absolutely!!!! I am minus 11 and people cannot understand that if I take my glasses off I cannot see them to put them back on. I have to grope around!!!!!
@@debraticehurst2583 like Velma from scooby doooooo
I had just had cataract surgery because I couldn't see very good with my hard contact lens. I also used the soft lens at -17 and -15 using those Biofinity xr toric lens and still could not correct vision. The soft lens were used during my time to get the cataract surgery exam as you have to be not be using hard lens for three weeks vs three days for soft. Currently waiting for my final right eye exam on Friday. Left eye operated on I can now see at -1.5 (so i still need corrective lens and I'm totally fine with it!} Right eye after surgery was seeing 20/20, but because of astigmastim need some type of lens correction. Good luck to all of you as your eye doctors can sometimes be your life saver
I'm sure as an optometrist you'll find this at least a bit interesting: I accidentally hit my eye with the back of a serrated knife after briefly touching a hot pan with my hand whilst holding said knife.
The reflex from getting my hand away from the hot pan got the better of me.
I had to get stitches in my eye, and had to follow a horrible schedule of 4 different types of eye drops. One every hour, one every two hours, one every four hours, and one every twelve.
If I remember correctly, I was told one of them was to keep the inflammation down, since that could damage the eye even more, one was an antibiotic, since the doctors said there were foreign bodies in my eye, another was to open up my retina or something like that, and the other one was for keeping it moist and clearing out gunk that could be building up under my eye patch.
Luckily, I made it out with only mild astigmatism, and its weird because it's not even throughout my whole vision, as in the examples. While using both eyes, I see just fine, but my right eye (the one with the scar) has trouble, but only at certain angles. I can read text fine with it, but it's kinda blurry, it takes a while longer to focus. Like it's doubled almost. But when trying to see something out of the corner of my eye, like looking back when riding a bike, all I see is a blur. I have to look back over my left shoulder to get a clearer view.
Needless to say, it's been a humbling experience that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.
I'm now kind of curious to know what that scar looks like, as someone who was born with astigmatism
@@ariannasv22 It's not noticeable at first glance, but the iris has a small whiteish line across its normal concentric stripey pattern. I have somewhat dark brown eyes so the contrast is I think what makes it noticeable.
I don't know if that white is in the iris itself of it is a distortion of light caused by my cornea (the part I was told got damaged).
Thank you for sharing! It’s horrible experience and I hope it doesn’t affect your life too much. It’s sad to lose sharpness of your eyesight, but it’s really good that your eye was saved.
I think in this video they showed us a congenital astigmatism while you have a so-called acquired astigmatism (which you’ve got as consequence of eye damage). I wonder whether it can be corrected with eyeglasses or cannot?
I have congenital astigmatism (-3.00 and -3.25) and it feels exactly as shown in the video.
That's my right eye. I can see fine when using both of my eyes but if my left eye is closed my right eye is blurry. I can see text close up, but anything more far is a bit troublesome
@@Beading_Kate I actually don't know. I should've gone and got it checked again but I couldn't be bothered as long as it works with both eyes for the most part I'm fine.
the streaks of light from streetlights, stoplights, and headlights have been one of my biggest pet peeves since i was a kid. they are sometimes so stretched out that they block my vision of the road and its markers (especially on rainy nights!). people who drive with their brights on are also a pet peeve of mine as i feel like i become even more blind after being forced to look at them
This is a super neat video, I didn't know there were different types of astigmatism. It's neat seeing them compared and compared to normal vision. It took me forever to realize that lights didn't streak like that for everyone
Hello, I, my husband and my son have astigmatism but I never knew what difference it was to normal sight. So thank you. My eyes hurt’ to see this.
This is a video I can show to my husband to explain how I see things with astigmatism. So that he can see why I have to avert my eyes from headlights at night, why I have problems with bright lights in the morning and why I have trouble reading things on a television screen. Thank you for posting this. It is truly helpful.
I'm not sure this is due to astigmatism. My eyes are very sensitive to light. I can't see if I'm walking towards a low sun, I have to look at the ground if I don't have sunglasses. Even though I see everyone walking with their heads up, I can't. I've been told that it's because I have very light pigmentation on my retina and I also have large pupils.
@@LeeFlemingster Yup, similar to me. People with darker retinas are not as sensitive to light. Mine are green graish and I don't like being in the sun. It's uncomfortable.
I have myopia and oblique astigmatism in both my eyes and this was so enlightening! It was relieving to see that a doctor would agree that my condition is as annoying as I experience it to be lol
Same here friend, same here.
Thanks! This is very helpful. I used to wear toric lenses. 😊 My astigmatism comes and goes every few years. Eye excercises and proactively managing my stress levels make a significant difference in my vision levels. It's reassuring to know that l can make small, but significant improvements when l focus my intentions and practice regularly.
No way!! I thought that the streaks of light were what everyone else saw too. I find my astigmatism messes with my perception of scale (vertical to horizontal) often when drawing. It was one of my lecturers at art school that suggested I might need my eyes checking for this as he had the same proportional misrepresentations. Great video---cool to see the differences.
I hate driving at night because of this. Counter traffic headlights are absolutely blinding and forget it when its raining. I rather stay home then drive under those conditions.
In fact when you draw, you are rendering onto a flat surface what was projected onto a rounded surface, so it never works and anyone who thinks they draw exactly what they see is wrong. Take a video and move the camera and you'll see all the lines of walls and ceilings change their angles constantly. This does not happen with your eyes. The only way you could draw exactly what you see is if you draw on the inside of a sphere in which you are standing! Then the angles remain the same.I did a lot of my own research and experiments in this area about 18 years ago, and among other things, I concluded that you should never wear 3D glasses unless the screen is curved.
But to return to your point, when you draw on a flat surface, you have to cheat again and again. Just think of the use of standard perspective drawing and vanishing points. How come all horizontal lines converge, but vertical lines are always parallel? This was the question that got me into my research. Imagine you stand on the 50th floor of a building that is 100 floors high, and do a drawing of an identical building that faces you. Looking up, the building walls converge. Looking down, they do the same. Therefore the vertical walls in your drawing must be curved. Or must they? Have a think about this yourself for a minute before I tell you how they are both curved and straight!
Now imagine that you are standing drawing that building on the inside of a sphere. And that, my friend is exactly what is "drawn" on the inside of your eye. The lines of the walls will converge up and down, and be straight. Defying logic!! Very few people understand this. Including your lecturer. There is nothing wrong with your drawing abilities (or mine! I thought the same thing!), and never was!
@@aaronwalderslade Wow, that's really interesting.
i don't see those streaks... i see an aura around everything(like tv burn in).... it's always been like that for me
This is crazy. I've been bothered by the light streaks my entire life, and I think my father at one point said everyone sees like that, so I just tried to live with it. Next time I'm getting new lens I will definitely mention this to my doctor.
The doctor should know when they test you without you needing to say anything. I wear contacts so I have to go to the doctor every year, and the tests they do before the main exam basically ballparks your prescription before the doctor has you do tests. Then they do the tests to fine tune and confirm what works best for you. It's definitely good to ask about your health so you can better advocate, but they definitely should already know if you have astigmatism or something isn't going right. Tbf glasses lenses are custom cut so they don't always explain them to the wearer, so they might already correct for astigmatism without telling you. Contacts for astigmatism are different so it's hard to not notice when you get them lol.
@@garnetavi I was about to say the same thing. When they do the test THEY will tell you if you have it or not. That's how I found out I had it. One of the test is to measure your eye for this specifically.
@@garnetavi I’ve been wearing contacts to correct my myopia but I just now realized they don’t correct my astigmatism… smh … I wonder why people would stop speaking to me at my job … it’s because they could see me at a distance that I couldn’t see them looking at me … so it would basically seem to them like I just stared at them and then turned my head without speaking lol… man I’ve been going for forever without correcting my astigmatism smh … and just the other day a friend of mine was looking at some shoes on the basketball court, and I asked me about them and I said I can’t see that far bro… i bet it’s because I have no astigmatism correction in my contacts …my eyes aren’t the worst of the worst but not correcting astigmatism seems to play a big part in just sharpening images just the slightest bit … im about to set up another eye exam so I can get my astigmatism correction measurements so I can finally get the correct contacts I need to see more clear smh lol
@@Muzicboy3 it really depends how much astigmatism you have, but if you can't get a good dialogue with your current doctor, you might try a different one. Mine is always asking if I like the way my contacts work and saying if I don't we can try a different prescription. I hated the astigmatism contacts, but I only had a .25 or .5 correction, which is barely any. I only notice astigmatism at night a tiny bit or in a movie theater with black/white text. With contacts I otherwise have better than 20/20 vision. But it really is so important to have a doctor you are comfortable talking to so you can tell them how it works for you, because that's going to be the key to getting it right. I feel like contacts are a little less exact than glasses so it's more important to discuss what works. Glasses are cut to fit, while contacts have to be rounded to the nearest premade integer. And contacts can over correct as well as under correct, but the most important thing is that they let you live your life properly. Good luck with the doctor.
A Dr found astigmatism in my eyes when I was in my forties. I've worn very strong glasses for nearsightedness since childhood.
When it was corrected, my driving and circular saw cuts improved.
No one has found it in any exam since, and the improved areas suffered.
At 18, my vision is so bad at just below -7.00 in both eyes. I started needing reading glasses when I was in 2nd grade, and then it gradually got worse from there. Thankfully it's stuck at that for now, but I just hope that it doesn't get any worse. Practically everyone else in my family needs/wears corrective lenses too: my cousins and their parents. So you can just imagine us cousins in a picture together like 🤓, every single one of us in glasses. It makes me laugh sometimes 😆
An almost universal part of aging is increased farsightedness starting after about age 40, presbyopia. Since you are already so nearsighted you might end up needing bifocals or something many years down the line. There are some things you can do like wearing sunglasses to block UV and only reading with adequate lighting that can help reduce lens damage over time.
Have you looked into Eye Exercise programs?
@@BaptistJoshua When you are a twinkie away from being blind and needing a seeing eye dog I don't think eye exercises work.
@@BrightAmbition Have you looked into it?
My family is the same. All the cousins need glasses, except for one, and I am the only one with astigmatism...
I learnt just yesterday that I have 1.75 astigmatism in my left eye. Well done big brother, well done.
I really appreciate this video. I’ve worn glasses since I was 10, I couldn’t see the chalk board. When I got my glasses I was so ecstatic I see, my Dad who drove me, cried and said he was sorry, he didn’t know. I ran into stuff all time, my parents just thought I was clumsy.
I have astigmatism and now wear tri-focal glasses. Thank God I can see.
Sometimes I feel like I know what it is like to blind, because if I get up at night I can feel my way pretty well.
Having our sight is wonderful gift. Never once did I loose or break my glasses. I am extremely thankful for Optometrist! God bless you guys!
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:19-20
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10
I also didn't get glasses until I was around 10. One day my mom in another room asked me what the song on the TV was because the title was on the bottom of the screen. I told her I didn't know cuz I couldn't read it from the couch. She came in and said you can't read that? I was just confused because I thought everyone had to get closer to read things. Once I got my glasses it felt like I had HD vision I was amazed. Unfortunately it did not cure my clumsiness I still stub my toes on everything.
@@BaptistJoshua Keep sharing the Truth Joshua, people need Jesus, so they may have eternal life and are not left behind.
@@CherylMotherofSeven thank you! I keep those verses saved to my phone so I can easily paste them into comments, reviews, and e-mails.
@Baptist Joshua when not relevant it's possibly the most annoying thing you could. If I posted Islamic teachings like that you'd be upset
Wow, the streaking light blew my mind since I have an oblique astigmatism and I remember having this issue before it was treated. I never understood the diagonal streak. The angle of my astigmatism is rare and the eye doctor didn’t even have contacts that could treat it so I have to wear special ones. Great video!
Wait. Don't lights from moving vehicles naturally streak in normal vision?
@Andrea Islands of Oceania Hi, so im not too sure which astigmatism I have however it is specific enough that it requires specially made contact lenses; you would have to talk with your optometrist for them to be specially made for you specifically. In my case, one of my eyes had it more than the other, therefore, the lenses were different and could not go onto the other. My optometrist made it very clear though that if you were to somehow rip or lose them or whatever, you would have to wait a lot longer to receive an additional pair simply because of how specific it has to be. To sum that all up - just talk with your optometrist.
I have astigmatism in both eyes. This was so interesting to finally have a full and clear explanation of it. Thank you for taking the time to make this!
This is fascinating, I really had no understanding of what astigmatism was before this.
My astigmatism was diagnosed when I was 6, now I'm 40 and I didn't knew about those three variations of astigmatism. Thanks for the trick with evening lights I always thought like you did, that everyone can see lights like this those stretchd beams. Thank you! 👋👍👍👍
I was 10 i get it hard to explain 😪 even at 54 still hard
I thought everyone saw the lines as well. It didn't even register until now that I don't see them like that with my glasses on.
I've had glasses since i was a child and never knew i had an astigmatism until i was about 25, because i was looking up what my glasses prescription meant and found out my vision is 20/20 but the shape of my eyeball puts things off-focus. I Also thought the streaks on streetlights were normal and something everybody saw until recently hahaha. So interesting to see the comparison and variations of astigmatism.
It is "normal". Most people see things like this and say "oh, I have astigmatism" when they are really just thinking of the the refraction of light from their windshield/windows in their car when driving at night.
It's funny you should mention that, because the shape of my eyeball is what throws thing off for me as well, but when I look at my laptop or other devices or objects that are nearby (Like roughly a foot away for the absolute sharpest) they are really crisp/sharp, including pretty small print that a fair number of others seem to have difficulty in seeing.
I think I might also be able to see noticeably more colourations than the average person as well (At least when I am around good lighting as I am pretty sure that my night vision is not exactly great, or maybe it is, I haven't exactly asked others what that is like for them, lolz), as stuff that seems to be the same shade to others is often times clearly different to me.
Even with whites, as most of then look either gray (Like th text I see online/here/etc) or kind of yellowish beigey browns, at times with some blues, violets and even greens, so it is not often that I run across a white that I would actually consider as white...) and it is easy for me to get lost in the emotions of it all🥺🥹
One thing that I love is the lines that come from light, especially Christmas lights and Christmas tree lights as they are quite hypnotic with so many beautiful lines on light, so this condition does have it's advantages :)
If my eyes were shaped properly, I would probably be diagnosed as having vision that is noticeably greater than 20/20, but it does make me wonder as to why eye doctors do not also measure how good a person' nearsightedness is and as to it's sharpest point/distance for people with this and other conditions...
dude same! i have 20/20 vision but with a minor astigmatism in one of my eyes. i always thought it was weird how one eye saw things differently than the other. i had assumed everyone saw things like this with the light streaks, though.
This was so clear and easy to understand. Thank you. I’ve always wondered why I can read better with my left eye closed…
You’re welcome 👍
Same
This is an awesome and very informative video. Thank you for taking the time to make this.
This was very educational for me! I have astigmatism and never knew there was with / against / oblique versions. Now, I need to check tonight to see which one I have!
I have Astigmatism in both eyes, my left being worse than my right, and I try to tell people what it's like and can't really explain it so this is SOOOO useful! My husbands mind was blown, he now understands why my depth perception is god awful without my glasses!
I have astigmatism also, and I have ridiculous depth perception. I never connected the two.
My left is also worse than my right!!
Same!!!! I’m about to show my bf this!!
My left eye is horrible.. I always describe it as looking at everything with a out of focus lens
Right
I've worn glasses ever since I was 5. Astigmatism is genetic for me, and it was never explained to me, so I just dealt with it. 16 years later I finally understand it fully thanks to this video, and although I've now self-diagnosed my type of astigmatism, I have booked a checkup with my optometrist to figure out what exactly is going on with my eyeballs. Tried watching this video without my glasses on... was a mistake...
without my contacts, i wouldn't even be able to see anything >.< just moving blobs and colors x_x
%0 years for me lol. I knew it was about oval lenses and that was about it.
And yes I also thought those streaks were normal 🙆♂
Do you like reading a lot? I have a theory that reading causes vision problems. Or more generally focusing on near objects for extended periods of time. Or rather reading at a comfortable distance without focusing on very far, mid range, or very near object. In other words not exercising the eye muscles properly can cause them to get out of shape just like all the other muscles in the body can be strained and deformed. I say this because I do not like reading and I really like looking at landscapes, the sky, videos, and close up details on hand made things. I by far have the best vision of anyone in my family. They all have so called "genetic" vision problems. I mean, it is possible we are not all genetically related.
@@brendanwood1540 I think you should be asking if the person had the opportunity to be outdoors more than indoors. Yes, there is some folks who just loved to read more rather than look outside; however, and I’m afraid I don’t have any source on me, it’s been said that even those grown up in isolation and small spaces generally only see as far as the space they were in most of their lives. It’s very important to see distances.
That tidbit at the end was the most informative. I get those streaks a lot, particularly when viewing "dark mode" light text on a dark or black background. Even with corrected vision the words always look like fuzzy caterpillars even if everything else I see is relatively clear. The streaks are predominantly vertical, but there are also diagonal streaks, different direction in each eye, such that if I am looking at, say, a loading screen on my tablet, the streaks sometimes look like a letter Y overlaid on the text. No amount of glasses correction has ever been able to remove this effect. It's worse when I'm in the choir loft and the lights are shining on us - I get multiple streaks from each one. Worst thing is, nobody understands that the screens are illegible even when I try to explain why.
I’ve had an oblique astigmatism since I was 8 and my vision has worsened to -5.5 in my right eye and -4.75 in the left. I actually saw the way things use to look and continue to look in this video. This was extremely accurate in my opinion. The reading and light bending are spot on. Great video!
This is incredibly important for people to inform themselves, yet I still see people not informed about eye health
I had Lasik surgery to correct astigmatism. Took about 15minutes, and I was absolutely blown away by how well I could see things from the moment I opened my eyes.
Odd. The doctors told me that there was no surgery that could correct astigmatism. They said the best they could do was wait until I was old and put another glass lens in my eye to help me see better. (Edit: And my astigmatism isn't even considered that bad. Only one eye as low as -2.)
Doctors told me in no way was I a candidate because of my astigmatisms.
@@coloringwithd me too, and mine is fairly mild
I also had my astigmatism corrected with laser surgery... Can't remember what specific type it was, anymore, it was 7 - 10 years ago, lol
@@riatanina it depends. Technically it can be corrected with laser eye surgery. Mine can’t be corrected either because it wasn’t corrected properly as a child. So while you can technically correct the eye problem, vision is “made” in the brain. You brain learns to see in the first few years of your life. If that not corrected properly, you can’t get the laser surgery.
the lights at night one was a really good demonstration, even with glasses i hate driving a night, and in my area so many people insist on using high beams it really messes with my vision. The lil rays from sources of light just fills my field of vision, the glasses just make it so i get a little better detail. Was absolutely terrifying driving a winding hilly rural road and everybody was using high beams because there were no street lamps.
As a person with -3,25 and -6 Astigmatism I always thought these light streaks were normal. It´s always hard explaining people how I can still see me surroundings without my glasses but rather lose sight of details like letters numbers or faces in the distance.
Thank you for this video!
@Ana Amaro I don't know about you, but when people's fingers are in 1.5 m from me I can't really count how many fingers
I have -6.0 and -6.5 sight
3:55 This part is very interesting. I personally find -5 with the rule to be entirely illegible, while -3 against the rule is much easier to read. It suggests that people are better at deciphering the blur that they are used to, as opposed to one being harder or easier to read.
I think I'm -5.75 with rule but I am lucky that I had a doctor that cared enough to work with me since I was >1 till now (I'm 19) through many pairs of glasses and since I was 15 I have been wearing contacts.
Of course they are. That is why just 1 day with glasses can fuxx you up.
I can read -5.0 with the rule, but anything above -3 on against the rule or oblique I cannot read
Maybe you have with the rule astigmatism that cancels out the against the rule astigmatism
I find 1 diopter painful to look at regardless of direction.
I’ve had farsightedness for a big part of my life, diagnosed in elementary. The doctor told me since it’s not genetic, it should go away at around 16 when my eye fully develops, or something similar. The thing is, she kept giving me the wrong prescription, switching the eyes and stuff, the position, didn’t discover my astigmatism until later on. My vision kept worsening. I changed doctors and the new one was horrified. I got better glasses, but the damage has been done. Almost a year ago I got eye surgery, together with my boyfriend. Although his vision was worse, it wasn’t worsening as fast as mine. I had to get another mini surgery beforehand because my retina was extremely thin, would have broke in a few years, especially if I chose to give birth naturally.
The day I got surgery was frightening, anesthetics don’t work well on me, I felt almost everything, but it was worth it. I have had bad eyesight for most of my life, I would have cried if I was aloud to when I saw the starts clearly that night for the first time. Me and my boyfriend, like some dumbasses, stayed at the window looking at the trees like: “wtf, you can see the leaves on the trees”. I was looking at a streetlight confused that I can see rays clearly. Previously, I didn’t really like to read because it made me feel dizzy because of my astigmatism. I just realized that now during the video. Now I enjoy reading. Thank you for the eye opening video (pun intended).
you super clarified everything for me. I got astigmatism after an upper eyelid surgery (ptosis repair + blepharoplasty + canthopexy). Doctor denies it has anything to do. But my vision was perfect before the surgery and now i have this light stretching exactly as you described. It is even described in literature that eyelid surgery can cause this. I wish i knew it before i would not have done this cosmetic surgery at all.
Thank you for such an informative explanation of Astigmatism.
I am 73 years old and was diagnosed with the astigmatism in my early 20s.
I had been wearing glasses since my teens, but my very mild astigmatism was not diagnosed at that time.
I could not understand why my vision was still slightly blurry even with my new specs.
It was only later on visiting a new optician, that the condition was diagnosed and my vision corrected.
I have the oblique form, with about a ten degree difference in axial slant between each eye.
Without my specs, I cannot read 1/4 inch high letters at arms length, but can just about manage to make out letters an inch high.
Thank goodness for a good optician. I have been wearing corrective lenses for my astigmatism for the past 50 years.
For the past 10 years I have been wearing varifocals which correct for my "Age Related" distance problems and combine correction for my astigmatism.
This means that I now only need one pair of glasses for distance and close work and have no problems reading, driving and carrying out my hobbies and other activities which require visual precision.
Thank you again for your informative video which allows non-sufferers to experience and understand the condition.
I have "Subscribed" and "Liked" this video and look forward to watching your other videos. I will also share links with my friends.
I've been diagnosed with astigmatism for about 3 years now but that's actually the first time someone explains to me what astigmatism actually is
This is a very good visualization of astigmatism :) Mine is with the rule, seemingly a minor case based on the examples, and I found myself trying to adjust my focus to fix things throughout the video even though I have my glasses on. I'm glad you pointed out that with light stretching vertically there is a horizontal stretch in the shape of the eye. It makes sense, but it's something easy to overlook.
Been wearing glasses since I was six months old due to being born three months early and weighing 1 lb 6 oz. I had to have major eye surgery as a baby to save my vision but it only worked in one eye. I have tons of eye problems including an astigmatism. I can relate to this video all too well! Thanks for sharing and educating others ❤
I was finally diagnosed with an astigmatism in my left eye last year--and to this day no one has helped me understand what it is nor how it affects my vision. Thank you very much! I also thought the lines on lights at night were normal...
I found this really interesting, my mum has a really bad astigmatism, it takes all afternoon to sort her glasses out. I also wore glasses from the age of 4 and have astigmatism you just get told that the cornea shape isn't round they don't tell you how it affects your sight. Thank you so much for this video :D
thank you for showing this, my optometrist was so unhelpful when telling me I had very light astigmatism. Many years ago when I was diagnosed with it, I asked what it actually did to my eyes and my vision and all the optometrist kept saying was just "oh the eye is just shaped like a football", despite me asking multiple times what it did to my vision. Then all she said eventually was just mentioning the light distortions.
I think we went to the same one...
Pretty much how my optometrist was as well. I also have very slight astigmatism, mostly only really noticeable to me when it comes to the light streaks, but I had no idea what it even meant until I looked it up when I was a teenager despite getting my first glasses when I was 5.
After watching your vid, Doc - I think I can say I’ve never had my astigmatism properly corrected - and that the eye doctors I’ve consulted - whether it be low or high end practices - have never given me a prescription that made my eyes feel at ease. Nor do I feel that my bifocals have been properly aligned, because the consultants measure off the old eyeware - despite asking them not to. And after 4 or 5 follow-up visits because you can just TELL that something is off - I just give up and live with it. Sorry for the rant - this is such an excellent clip that my whole lifetime of eyeware drama bubbled up at once!
I am actually nearsighted, but I've explained to people that I only wear glasses to read because everything else is blurry but distinguishable. Seeing the levels of astigmatism really helps me understand why that is.
I'll be honest, I didn't actually realize this was actually much different from just being nearsighted. I sort of have the whole bundle with astigmatism, nearsightedness, and double vision. I'm pretty sure the double vision part is what makes me not a candidate for contacts as well. I find it interesting how people straight up haven't experienced having double vision, since I've had that for almost all my life.
Is double vision when both eyes differ enough that they have different "sharpness"? Because in that case I have that too, but only mildly (luckily, its annoying enough as it is). I did take lenses once, a sort of trial for 3 months. However due to this I could only use one set for one eye, so I got two 3 month sets, leading up to half a year as a trial. Still expensive and threw over half away since I didnt like them and went back to my glasses
@@theknight1573 By sharpness do you mean like focus or something? At least in my case what I'm referring to is one of my eyes just straight up not looking at the same thing as the other one. I guess one term I've heard for it is lazy eye or something. Double vision is the best I can describe it because it's just seeing everything twice due to the images not lining up.
@@xdeathcon okay yeah I was indeed referring to a rather big difference in how clear an image was between the 2 eyes (severe case would be +4 in one eye and -4 in the other). So it is indeed completely different from what you referred to and I do not have that, tho I know multiple people who do
@@xdeathcon I wonder why that makes it so you cannot wear/use contact lenses. It seems to me that would be better suited than glasses
@@theknight1573 It's because there's something to influence the eyes to focus on the same spot rather than perpetually drifting to the side. They called it a prism when they told me about it, but really I don't actually know all that much about it since it's just kinda been that way most of my life. Afaik the issue is that contacts can't have the prism that helps me focus on the right spot since it causes eye strain to force them to focus myself. I guess in a way you could compare it to holding yourself cross-eyed for an extended period of time.
As someone with keratoconus, this is incredibly informative and easy to understand. This is a pretty frustrating condition, but the more knowledge we can collect on the subject, the better informed we can be for treatment
If you are age over 35 and have stable condition, you should be fine with adequate acrylic rgp contact lenses (that has to be replaced every 10-12 months), adequate hygiene and periodic specialist examinations. If you are under 35, the condition has to be monitored regularly, on the first signs of detoriation, more thorough tests must be done because of the possibility of cornea stretching outwards, which can lead to much more dangerous condition than keratoconus. If this scenario happens, after consulting your specialist probably the best recommendation is procedure known as cross-linking; in most cases, it stops cornea from further stretching and should make condition stable. In few severe cases that this operation fails, the only option left is cornea transplantation. Hope some of this information also helps, all the best.
You explained the light streaking thing far better than anyone else has! I didn't realise it was about the one streak being stronger, and had been skeptical because lights "streak" with or without my glasses on!