Toric lenses

Toric lenses are a less well known type of lens which is usually worn to correct astigmatism. They are produced from the same materials used for other lenses but with two important differences:

• The surface of this lens is a combination of a cylinder (tubular shaped) and a sphere (ball shaped).
• This lens has distinct ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ halves which fixes them in place rather than allowing them to rotate.

Most contact lenses move around the surface of the eye. This is something you can easily do when placing a lens onto your eye and even rotate it into position.

Differences between toric lenses and other contact lenses

But toric lenses are unable to do this. Their design means that they must remain in the same position over your eye and cannot be rotated around their centre. The advantage of this is that the lens does not slip out of position which means clear vision at all times.

A toric lens is thicker at the top than the bottom which helps with placing it into position. The upper eyelid pushes the top part of the lens into position when you blink and this is further aided by means of tiny groves in the lens.

As a result of this, toric lenses are more expensive to produce and are usually designed as a continuous wear lens. The fitting of this type of contact lens takes longer and requires a higher level of skill and expertise on the part of the optician.

So expect to pay more for the fitting as well as the lenses.

There are a wide range of toric lenses available which include daily wear, daily disposable, and two weekly and monthly disposables. There are even coloured toric lenses if you wish to enhance your existing eye colour.