Contact lenses for astigmatism are known as toric lenses. Toric contact lenses are available in various formats and modalities.
- The rigid gas permeable lenses
- The annual soft lenses to the monthly, 2 weekly and daily
- These lenses can also be provided as bifocal toric
- In some cases where the astigmatism is particularly high, they can be made to order soft daily or monthly lenses
For many years’ optical practitioners were only able to provide annual replacement lenses or even lenses that did not fully correct astigmatism and therefore patients wanting lenses would often note that the contact lenses would be good, but just not as good as their glasses.
The annual gas permeable lenses are still frequently used but for those who don’t necessarily want to wear lenses every day, there is a wider choice. There has been a lot of advancement in this field and as practitioners there is a much wider choice of lenses available in the toric format.
Astigmatism is either due to the cornea being an irregular shape or sometimes due to the curvature of the lens inside the eye, but in cases where the lens is a slightly irregular shape the fitting of the lens is critical, as movement or rotation of the lens will have an impact on vision. With the latest stabilisation technology available there has been some fantastic results.
