In astigmatism the image is formed at two different points inside the eye. In the normal eye, the surface of the cornea is round like a soccer ball ("spherical"). With astigmatism, the cornea is slightly oblong, like a football. This means that images of different orientations are focused at different parts of the eye, and that the image on the retina is blurred.



The Zeiss Mel 80 and Bausch & Lomb-Technolas excimer lasers can correct this unnevenness of the cornea, and thus eliminate the blurred vision caused by astigmatism.

Many patients have astigmatism combined with myopia or hyperopia. The computer of the excimer laser permits the correction of both defects during the same treatment session.