Toric Contact Lenses for Astigmatism

There was a time when you could not wear contact lenses if you had the condition known as astigmatism. Today, however, thanks to changes in modern technology you can now wear soft or regular contacts for vision correction as well as astigmatism.

The new type of contact lens that is specially designed to correct astigmatism is called toric lens. Now anyone with astigmatism can use soft contacts or disposable contacts, even if they have astigmatism.

So how does this toric lens work?

Toric lenses are similar to regular contacts wherein they both are made of the same soft or rigid material. However, what is distinguished the toric lens is that it offers two curvatures at different angels to compensate for astigmatism and for either hyperopia (farsightedness) or myopia (nearsightedness). Another feature of the toric lens is that through its built-in mechanism, it helps to stabilize your vision while moving. This in turn provides you with crisper and clearer vision despite movement of your eyes. Read more on implantable contact lenses.

Due to the nature of the toric lenses, they are slightly costlier than regular contact lenses. This is because these lenses require more time spend by the eye care professional during fitting and post usage. However, many people are willing and happy to overlook this price increase if they are able to get this benefit and be rid of their glasses.

Not everyone with astigmatism needs toric lenses. In fact if you have only a small astigmatism you can use regular contact lenses or soft contact lenses. In some cases the cornea adjusts to the shape of the lens, allowing you to wear regular or soft lenses with higher power vision correction and thus compensating for your astigmatism.

Determining whether you need toric or regular lenses however, may take time and is best judged by your eye care professional. He will help you evaluate whether regular or toric contact lenses are best suited for you.

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