Although hard contact lenses are not the best for your eyesight if you have astigmatism, you may be sick of wearing glasses. We demonstrate how to put on contacts, how they function, and what factors to take into account if you believe you need them.
What is a toric contact lens? A toric lens is a contact lens that’s shaped in a particular way. Imagine a slice of the side of a beach ball for a standard contact lens’ spherical surface.
Toric contact lenses can be a good option to manage your astigmatism if you’re willing to spend the extra time with your optometrist having them fitted properly.
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What Are Toric Contact Lenses?
The structural issues with your cornea or lens that cause refractive errors, such as astigmatism, are among the more prevalent types. It causes light to strike your retina in a way that obstructs the creation of a clear image of the outside world.
If you have astigmatism, either your cornea or lens will be more oblong in shape, similar to a football, as opposed to being circular. Widespread blurred vision may result from this. You may experience headaches, eye discomfort, or strain if your vision is not properly corrected.
Certain kinds of contact lenses can effectively correct corneal astigmatism, or an irregularly shaped cornea. When it comes to corneal astigmatism, a contact lens that actually reshapes the cornea can help, whereas lenticular astigmatism, or a misshapen lens in your eye, is better treated with glasses.
Toric lenses are one kind of lens that can lessen corneal astigmatism, especially in mild and moderate cases. These contacts are soft lenses, which allow for greater gas permeation than hard lenses. Although soft contacts allow for better long-term eye health, hard contacts have long been the go-to method for astigmatism correction. Toric contact lenses may be a good solution as a result.
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Who is Best Suited for Toric Contact Lenses?
Astigmatism is a refractive error that some people also experience in addition to nearsightedness or farsightedness. Wearers of soft contacts who only correct one refractive error may not have astigmatism. Toric lenses are a fantastic option to correct corneal shape while also correcting other refractive errors if you want to wear contacts and have astigmatism.
To keep in place and enhance visual acuity, toric contact lenses use particular meridians. As with a circle’s radius, meridian lengths are determined from your pupil outward. To correct your astigmatism, these meridians are calibrated to specific powers.
To help keep these soft lenses in place, some design features include slightly weighted or thickened edges. These weights are typically located on the axes at six and twelve.
Toric contact lens brands come in a variety of shapes and sizes. A different brand is likely to meet your needs if you try one and it doesn’t sit properly in your eye.
Contact Lenses for Astigmatism
Regular astigmatism, corneal astigmatism, and lenticular astigmatism are three different types of astigmatism that can be corrected with toric contact lenses.
The cornea or lens in these situations is curved, causing your eye’s refraction to vary between the vertical and horizontal planes. This makes vision hazy and makes it difficult to see fine details. Vertical lines can appear to be tilted occasionally.
This specific peculiarity that causes astigmatism is addressed by the capacity of toric contact lenses to offer various refractive powers on the vertical and horizontal orientations.
How to Choose Toric Contact Lenses?
Like all other types of contact lenses, toric lenses must be prescribed by your doctor, who can also properly fit and select the lenses for your eyes. If you believe you need contact lenses for astigmatism or other vision issues, consult your eye doctor.
Meanwhile, here are some important things to consider:
Fitting is Especially Critical for Toric Contacts
Because of their specific orientation, toric contact lenses must remain on your eye properly. Manufacturers design toric contact lenses with features to help the lenses stay put, including:
- Thin-thick zones
- Lens truncation, where the bottom of the lens is cut off a little
- Ballasting, where the lens is a little thicker or heavier
The fitting of the contact lenses to your eyes is therefore even more crucial than usual. Toric contact lenses have a central axis that maintains a clear line of sight, much like the equator of the earth. Visual clarity suffers if your lenses slide around and don’t fit properly.
Different Types of Toric Contacts
Other visual corrections are also addressed by toric contact lenses, which are available in every wear schedule. You can get toric daily lenses, as well as other disposable toric lenses. You can even get colored toric lenses.
Additionally, rigid gas permeable (RGP), or hard, as well as soft lenses are used to create toric contacts. RGP lenses can be more stable, but they can also take longer to adjust to initially and be drier and more delicate. Soft toric contact lenses are more comfortable and manageable but require special attention during fitting to remain in place.
Discuss getting toric contact lenses for astigmatism with your eye doctor, as you should with any contact lenses. She can assist you in determining the best alignment and fit for your lifestyle and visual needs.
Popular Brands of Toric Lenses
The richest, most vivid colors are possible with toric lenses. They offer premium enhanced natural eye movement that is progressive, a seamless transitional zone, and unobstructed vision at all distances.
Some of the popular brands of toric lenses are:
- Acuvue Oasys for Astigmatism Contact Lenses
- Biofinity Toric Contact Lenses
- Air Optix for Astigmatism Contact Lenses
- Proclear Multifocal Toric Contact Lenses
- Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric – Contact Lenses
What Are the Disadvantages of Toric Lenses?
Despite the fact that toric soft contact lenses are a great option for many people with mild to moderate astigmatism, they are still not ideal.
Toric lenses, for instance, can frequently slip out of alignment despite being weighted in specific areas. When a person blinks, these objects will move in their eyes if they wear contact lenses. Astigmatic patients cannot use standard soft contacts because they are made to shift without affecting their vision. Your vision may be uncomfortable or blurry for a brief period of time, even with weighted sides to bring them back to their original position. Your daily life might be too disrupted by this since you must blink so frequently throughout the day.
Additionally, only those with corneal astigmatism can wear toric contact lenses. For the treatment of lenticular astigmatism, one needs glasses. The lens cannot be directly altered by a contact lens because it is located inside the eye, behind the pupil.
Compared to regular soft contacts, toric lenses are more expensive. You might have to pay up to 35% more for these lenses, depending on the distributor. Although your vision insurance may partially cover this expense, you’ll probably end up shelling out more cash than you would for a set of prescription glasses.
Reasons most cited for toric contact lenses not being a good option for many people with astigmatism include:
- Regardless of material or brand, the fit is consistently poor.
- Finding the ideal brand or size is difficult due to the fit being too individualized.
- sitting in the chair at the eye doctor’s office for a long time.
- More cash out of pocket was spent.
- The ability to correct astigmatism and other refractive errors is constrained.
- Every year, the lens fit must be reevaluated.
Since the fit is more precise, toric lenses ultimately require more prep work. This implies that you might require more frequent trips to the eye doctor, which would incur additional fees in addition to the higher price of these lenses.
Despite these drawbacks, toric lenses have significant advantages for some people.
Where Can You Buy Toric Contacts?
There are toric contacts all over the world. On several reputable online earwear marketplaces, you can find the best toric contact lenses that suit your eyes and vision. At your nearby optical shops, you can also find contacts that provide the greatest exposure.
Additionally, we advise you to talk to your eye doctor about the ideal toric contact lenses to wear. Probably brands that won’t affect your eyes or worsen existing issues with your eyes will be prescribed by your doctor.
Your optometrist will recommend the best toric contacts for your eyes and eye health and properly fit them to your eyes. You should also be aware that this procedure typically requires time and may necessitate multiple trips to your eye doctor.
FAQs
What Are Toric Lenses Used For?
Toric contact lenses are designed for people with astigmatism. Regular astigmatism, corneal astigmatism, and lenticular astigmatism are all types of astigmatism that are corrected with toric contact lenses because they have a different curvature than your cornea or lens.
What is the Difference Between Toric Lens and Normal Lens?
Contact lenses with a specific shape are known as toric lenses. Think of a slice of the side of a beach ball when imagining the spherical surface of standard contact lenses. Contrarily, a torus is a donut-shaped geometric shape. Slice of this donut’s side represents a toric lens, which is shaped similarly.
Final Words
For a very long time, contact lenses were not the go-to treatment for astigmatism. Toric soft contact lenses, however, are a fantastic option for people with mild to moderate corneal astigmatism as technology develops.
It’s crucial to get a complete eye exam and contact lens fitting if you have astigmatism and want to learn more about toric contact lenses. Be aware that this may require additional time or visits, but it will be well worth the effort.
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