How bad is astigmatism?

Usually not: Astigmatism is a physical curvature aspect of the cornea and lens of the eye which in effect makes the eye oval. The term astigmatism is from physics and is not usually a bad thing. The correction is a reverse oval in the eyeglasses or contacts. Most astigmatism is small and easily corrected. Sometimes it is large or irregular and that make perfect vision difficult. See your ophthalmologist.