[Medical Q&A] Are those “astigmatism recovery training videos” on the Internet reliable?

Author: Wang Mengyu: The Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine

Reviewer: Wu Qiang, Chief Physician, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

The degree of astigmatism is related to the shape of the cornea. To correct astigmatism, you need to wear glasses or change the shape of the cornea. Therefore, astigmatism recovery training videos are actually useless. Instead of watching videos, you might as well look into the distance more and watch less electronic products!

Not only that, using unproven methods for vision training may also bring certain risks, such as eye fatigue or other complications caused by excessive eye use. If the training method is not appropriate, it may also delay the best time for formal medical intervention. Therefore, for the treatment and management of astigmatism, it is recommended to follow the advice of a professional ophthalmologist. Formal treatment methods usually include wearing suitable glasses or contact lenses, and in some cases surgical correction.

It is important to understand that astigmatism of ≤75 degrees is low astigmatism, and astigmatism of >75 degrees is medium to high astigmatism. Low astigmatism does not affect vision and does not need correction; but medium to high astigmatism can cause double vision, blurriness, eye pain, and even symptoms of visual fatigue such as dizziness and nausea, which require correction. Physiological astigmatism is about 50 degrees, which not only hardly affects the clarity of vision, but also has certain benefits, such as increasing the depth of field, that is, a stronger sense of three-dimensionality. Therefore, most experts believe that the goal of correcting astigmatism is to control the astigmatism within 75 degrees, and there is no need to correct it to 0 degrees.