People Realize They Have Astigmatism After These Comparison Photos Go Viral
When you feel something wrong with your health, you probably shouldn’t rush with looking up your symptoms on the internet – you might end up diagnosing yourself with some rare tropical disease only five people throughout history have been diagnosed with. However, on rare occasions, you actually can diagnose yourself with certain conditions from a simple Twitter post.
Twitter account @UnusualFacts6 recently shared a rather random comparison photo showing some traffic – but it actually helped some people realize they might have astigmatism, a condition where a person’s cornea is slightly curved instead of being completely round.
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A tweet comparing what a regular person sees vs what a person with astigmatism sees has recently gone viral
Image credits: UnusualFacts6
Under normal conditions, a regularly shaped cornea refracts all incoming light and produces a sharply focused image on the retina.
Image credits: UnusualFacts6
In the case of astigmatism, the irregular shape of the cornea means that the curve is preventing light rays from bending properly, thus resulting in a blurry image. Astigmatism can be corneal, where the mismatched curves occur in the cornea, or lenticular, where the curves are mismatched in the lens. Both types cause blurry vision that is more noticeable horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Astigmatism usually goes hand in hand with other conditions, like nearsightedness or farsightedness.
Image credits: UnusualFacts6
However, astigmatism doesn’t just cause blurred vision – it can also cause eyestrain, headaches, and difficulty seeing in dim lit conditions. A lot of people don’t even realize they have it until they get screened during an eye test. But don’t worry even if you have it – it can easily be treated with glasses, contact lenses or refractive surgery.
Image credits: wikipedia
The World Health Organization reports that refractive errors are the most popular ocular problems present in all age groups. They are also the first cause of visual impairments and second in causing vision loss. According to the American Asociation of Ophthalmology, 1 in 3 people have astigmatism in the USA.
The comparison surprised many people
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Image credits: UnusualFacts6
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Image credits: UnusualFacts6
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Having this condition didn’t stop many great artists from creating art
Image credits: wikipedia
It is believed that El Greco, a Greek painter, architect, and sculptor of the Spanish Renaissance (1541-1614), could have had astigmatism. Back in 1913, ophthalmologist Germán Beritens argued that the elongated figures in El Greco’s paintings might have been inspired by this condition. Another example of visual impairment affecting art was Claude Monet’s works – he was diagnosed with cataracts and it reflected in his works.
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