The cornea and the crystalline lens act as the target of a camera, they are in charge of focusing the images on the retina.

In an eye with astigmatism, the cornea does not have the same curvature in all meridians, it looks like a rugby ball that has more curvature in one meridian and less on the perpendicular meridian. This difference in curvature causes two different planes of focus and thus the retinal image is blurred.

View the simulator at a large scale.

The astigmatism surgery with Excimer Laser solves the problem matching the curvature of all meridians of the cornea: the laser «refines» the central area to flatten the most curved meridian and in the case of the flattest meridian, it will «refine» the peripheral zone so that its central zone gains curvature

Astigmatism often occurs together with myopia or hyperopia (this is what is called myopic astigmatism or hyperopic astigmatism); in these cases the astigmatism surgery with Excimer laser will eliminate both conditions simultaneously.

The astigmatism laser operation is completely safe and has a high accuracy to correct graduations of up to 6 dioptres.

When the cornea is normal, we will apply the Lasik technique; It is an operation that lasts less than five minutes, it is painless and has very quick recovery period, which allows you to return to your normal life within a few hours. If the cornea is thin or has some topographic irregularities, we recommend the Epilasek technique, which achieves perfect vision but also has a more slowly progressive postoperative, with slight discomfort during the first few days.

The astigmatism operation with laser also corrects presbyopia; the Excimer Laser creates a multifocal optical zone that allows you to see without glasses near and far distances; you will just need your reading glasses when there is little light, the letter is too small or during prolonged visual fixation.

For severe astigmatism, and in cases where we desire to leave the cornea intact, we will use the astigmatism surgery with toric intraocular lens; that will achieve excellent visual acuity with a fast recovery. In cases where the presbyopia is also present, we will implant multifocal toric intraocular lenses that will give perfect vision for all distances.

The astigmatism surgery using limbal relaxing incisions is still useful for the control of mild astigmatism during cataract surgery; it is a simple technique that reduces corneal astigmatism.

Our team of professionals will review your case, assessing the number of dioptres, corneal thickness, degree of presbyopia and other anatomical factors; then the ophthalmologist will decide the type of operation that is most appropriate for your astigmatism, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each technique, and the possible therapeutic alternatives.