If you have astigmatism, it means your cornea is curved more like a football rather than a basketball, causing vision to blur at all distances without correction. A toric IOLis an implant with astigmatism correction built into it, much like toric contact lenses or the astigmatism part of your glasses prescription. During surgery, the surgeon will align the toric lens on the correct axis in your eye to counteract the cornea’s irregular shape. Once in place, the toric lens bends light in a way that neutralizes the astigmatism, resulting in sharper vision.

Without a toric lens, people with astigmatism would still need glasses for clear vision after surgery because the new lens alone (if non-toric) doesn’t fix corneal shape. Choosing a toric lens can greatly reduce your astigmatism, meaning you could be glasses-free for distance if that’s the goal. It’s important to note that toric lenses come in monofocal and sometimes multifocal versions, so you can have astigmatism correction plus range of vision if desired.

The consultation measurements will determine how much astigmatism you have and whether a toric is recommended. For many, getting a toric lens is like getting two procedures in one – cataract removal and astigmatism fix – leading to much clearer uncorrected vision.