bea@alice.UucP (Bea Chambers) (12/05/85)
There are two types of astigmatism, lenticular and corneal. For corneal astigmatism, a hard lens will automatically correct because the tear layer between the lens and the eye takes care of the irregulatities of the cornea. However, in lenticular astigmatism, the problem is in the lens of the eye and hard or gas permeable lenses do not help at all unless they are weighted in some way so they stay oriented correctly. My soft lenses have a cut-off edge on the bottom and they stay in the correct orientation. How,or why, I don't know. However, my vision with the soft contacts is marvelous. My lenses are several years old and I can now get extended wear ones if I want to but I am happy enough with the ones I have. The only problem I have had is that once in a while a lens will shift slightly and my vision is blurred for a few minutes. If I blink a few times, the lens moves back in place. I once had hard weighted lenses for astigmatism and the soft are orders of magnitude more comfortable and my vision is just as good as with the hard lenses. Hope this helps someone out there.