Overheard in the eye care practitioner's waiting room:
"What are you here for?" one patient asks.
"I've got a stigmatism," the other answers.
"Oh, is that a chronic or a cute condition?"

Obviously, somebody needs to do some "'splainin'".

First of all, as most people know, it isn't "a stigmatism." The condition is called "astigmatism."

And secondly, there's really nothing cute about it. When you have astigmatism, your vision is blurred and wavy because the eye is unable to focus rays of light clearly. Way in the distant past, say 20 years ago, people with astigmatism were told that soft contact lenses couldn't be used to correct their vision. Then came the development of "Toric" soft contact lenses, which at last freed astigmatism patients from their glasses and less comfortable hard contact lenses.

The benefits of frequent replacement

Recently, life has improved even more for astigmatics (that's eye care practitioner talk for patients with astigmatism.) With the development of frequent replacement Toric contact lenses, people with astigmatism for the first time have gained the benefits of wearing lenses for a month, tossing them out, then replacing them with a fresh, new pair. Those benefits include less build-up of irritating protein deposits and more comfortable contact lens wear. Plus, if their eye care practitioner says it's O.K., astigmatism patients with frequent replacement Toric lenses may on occasion wear their lenses overnight or while napping.