Have you been told you can't wear soft contact lenses because you have astigmatism?

Or were you told that contact lenses for astigmatism - called "toric" contacts - didn't come in soft disposable materials?

All that was once true, but not today. Unless you have an especially complex prescription, your astigmatism can probably be corrected with soft contacts, and you have many options.

What Are Toric Contact Lenses?

Toric contact lenses are made from the same materials as regular ("spherical") contact lenses, so they can be either soft or gas permeable. The difference is in the design of the lens.

Toric lenses have two powers in them, created with curvatures at different angles.  There's also a mechanism to keep the contact lens relatively stable on the eye when you blink or look around. To provide crisp vision, toric contact lenses cannot rotate on your eye.

Toric Contact Lens Cost

Properly fitting a toric lens takes more of your Dr. Ellerbrock's time and requires more expertise than regular contacts. Consequently you can expect that a fitting for torics will cost slightly more than a regular contact lens fitting. The lenses themselves also cost slightly more than spherical lenses.

Soft or Rigid Gas Permeable?

A small percentage of patients will find that they prefer rigid gas permeable lenses over soft contacts. Because rigid lenses retain their shape on the cornea better than soft lenses, they tend to provide crisper vision to people who have astigmatism. However, this degree of difference in crispness is not noticeable for most contact lens wearers.

Many brands of soft toric lenses are available today, so your eyecare practitioner can choose the brand with the best characteristics for your particular eyes. Torics are available as frequent replacement, disposable and even daily disposable lenses.  Talk with Dr. Ellerbrock to see if toric contact lenses are right for you!