Toric Contact Lenses

Toric contact lenses are specifically designed for eyes suffering from astigmatism. Bud did you believe that they don't come in disposable, frequent replacement, multifocal, or colored varieties? In fact, unless you have a particularly complex prescription, your astigmatism can probably be corrected with soft contacts, and you will have many options.

Toric contact lenses are made from the same materials as regular spherical contact lenses, so they can be either of the soft type or RGP (Rigid Gas Permeable).

Toric lenses have two powers in them, created with curvatures at different angles (one for astigmatism, the other for either myopia or hyperopia, whichever is applicable to your vision). They also possess a mechanism to keep the contact lens stable on the eye when you blink or look around. Since to maintain sharp, clear vision, toric contact lenses must not be permitted to rotate on your eye.

Properly fitting a toric lens takes more of your optician's time and requires more expertise than fitting regular contacts. Consequently you can expect that a fitting for toric contact lenses will be more expensive than a regular contact lens fitting. Toric lenses themselves also cost more than spherical lenses.

If you have only a small amount of astigmatism, between zero and 1.00 diopter (either +1.00 or -1.00), you may be able to wear a regular spherical RGP or even a standard spherical soft lens.

With RGPs, the lens rigidity can help mask a need for an astigmatic correction, by causing the formation of a lens behind the GP lens that is actually created from your own tears.

With soft contact lenses, some opticians prefer to fit you with a higher powered spherical soft lens to mask a small astigmatic correction. However the results of this technique will vary from one patient to the next, which is why the fitting process may take some trial and error by both the optician and the patient.

Also, some contact lenses are available that may reduce the spherical aberration of your eye (which will exist alongside the myopia or hyperopia, and astigmatism).

Because rigid lenses retain their shape on the cornea better than soft lenses, they tend to provide crisper vision to people who have astigmatism.

Many brands of soft toric contact lenses are available these days, so your optician can choose the brand with the best characteristics for your particular vision type.

Toric contact lenses are available as frequent replacement, disposable and even daily disposable lenses. Some colored toric lenses are available as disposables, however most colored torics are non-disposable, conventional type contact lenses.