What are “toric lenses”?
‘Astigmatism’ is when the curve of the eyeball isn’t consistent (if it were supposed to be a soccer ball, it’d look more likely that a rugby football). It can be a nuisance is strong. If you wear gas permeable lenses, the correction is made automatically by means of your tears filling in the gaps. But if you wear soft lenses, they move around the eye a lot. ‘Toric’ lenses are weighted so that they sit on the eye with the heavy bit on the bottom and therefore are similarly self-correcting (almost – in my experience they move a bit when you blink). Sources: My beloved father, a superb optician.
What Are Toric Lenses?My doctor told me I couldn’t wear regular contact lenses, but wants me to try “toric” lenses. What are toric lenses? Answer: Toric contact lenses are special lenses that are used to correct astigmatism. If you have astigmatism, your cornea is steeper in one direction and flatter in the other. Instead of being perfectly spherical or round, your cornea may be shaped more like an oval. (Your cornea may be shaped more like a football than a basketball.) As a result, a regular contact lens will not correct all of your vision problems. A toric lens is designed to give your eye more power in one direction, such as 90 degrees, and less power in the opposite direction, 180 degrees. By fitting your eye with a toric lens, all of your astigmatism will be corrected and you will have better quality of vision. Toric lenses may be either soft or hard (RGP) lenses. A toric lens is designed to stay in one position on your eye
