Toric Lens Implants

AcrySof® Toric IOL Quality distance vision in just one step.

What are your options for correcting astigmatism?

If you depend upon glasses, you may have experienced the inconvenience of not being able to find your glasses when you really need them. Eyeglasses are easily lost or damaged, expensive to replace, and inconvenient to clean and maintain. The more active you are, the more eyeglasses interfere with your lifestyle by complicating your participation in daily and recreational activities.

Many people do not like the “look” of glasses and prefer another type of vision correction, such as contact lenses.”Toric” contact lenses designed to correct astigmatism are an option; however, some users find them uncomfortable and experience difficulty in adjusting to wearing them.

Astigmatism Definition

Astigmatism is a refractive error where people are unable to see objects clearly from a distance or up close. Astigmatism is asymmetric steepening of the cornea or natural lens causes light to be focused unevenly. Astigmatism may occur in varying degrees in each eye and can accompany myopia or hyperopia. To individuals with uncorrected astigmatism, images may look blurry or shadowed. Astigmatism can accompany any form of refractive error and is very common.

There are several surgical options your surgeon may choose to treat astigmatism, such as LASIK, Astigmatic Keratotomy, or limbal relaxing incisions. However, if you are planning to have Refractive Lens Exchange surgery or surgery to remove a cataract, you now have an additional option…an implantable lens that makes it possible to treat the cataract and correct the corneal astigmatism at the same time.

What is the AcrySof® Toric IOL?

The AcrySof® Toric lens is a foldable, single piece lens that is implanted during cataract surgery or a refractive lens exchange surgery to replace the clouded lens. The unique design of the AcrySof® Toric IOL makes it possible to reduce or eliminate corneal astigmatism and significantly improve uncorrected distance vision. AcrySof® Toric lenses provide QUALITY distance vision, independent of eyeglasses and contact lenses. The AcrySof® Toric lens is made of the same biocompatible lens material already successfully implanted in more than 25 million eyes since 1991.

Toric IOL technology uses biocompatible materials that have been successfully used in contact lenses and proven safe for the eye. There is an additional cost for this lens implant. If you are seeking astigmatism correction in Arizona or New Mexico, please feel free to contact us to schedule an eye exam. We have locations in Deming and Las Cruces, New Mexico, as well as Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff and throughout Arizona.

FDA Results (reported by Ocular Surgery News)

• AcrySof toric IOLs reduced the absolute residual astigmatism
• Patients were two times more likely to achieve 0.5 D residual refractive cylinder with a toric IOL than with a monofocal implant
• The mean absolute residual refractive cylinder for patients receiving a toric IOL was approximately 0.6 D vs. nearly 1.25 D for patients receiving the control IOL.
• At 1 year postoperatively, more than 50% of patients receiving a toric IOL had less than 0.5 D of cylinder, compared to nearly 25% of patients receiving the control IOL.
• Of the patients who received toric IOLs, 92% achieved an uncorrected distance visual acuity of 20/40 or better.
• Sixty-one percent of patients who received a toric IOL in one eye achieved good distance vision without the use of spectacles; 97% of patients who received a toric IOL bilaterally were spectacle independent