There are many eyecare providers who still believe daily toric contact lenses are more challenging to fit and take more chair time. For those reasons, many astigmatic patients receive spherical equivalent contact lenses to try and mask that cylinder. This strategy began way back when there were not many toric contact lenses, and those fewer options were often unstable and not as comfortable as their spherical counterpart. This strategy worked OK, but that uncorrected astigmatism often led to a loss of sharpness and eye fatigue from the patient’s perspective. We now practice in an era in which there is a tremendous opportunity with daily toric contact lenses.
Look for those opportunities to upgrade an astigmatic patient into a daily disposable:
- Reusable wearers. There are many “doing fine” reusable toric wearers who would appreciate the opportunity to experience the benefits of daily contact lenses. They may have been told in the past that their prescription did not come in a daily disposable lens, but that is not the case any longer. The expanded powers of many new hydrogel and silicone hydrogel daily disposable options have provided these patients with this opportunity. Make sure to present the option for the upgrade.
- Spherical equivalent masked patients. Patients are judging our care on how well they see when walk out the front door. It could be an axis shift or providing a slightly different astigmatic correction, but minimize the masking with the most precise prescription with daily toric lenses. Patients will appreciate the vision and be your biggest advocate for that extra care.
- Even presbyopic wearers. There is a daily toric multifocal option currently available for these challenging situations. There will most likely be others in the future, but don’t miss this expanding opportunity.
All of the major contact lens manufacturers have either launched a new material or expanded the powers in their lines of daily toric lenses. These lenses stabilize quickly, stay stabilized, and are in the most comfortable lens materials. There is no reason to not capitalize on this tremendous opportunity with daily toric contact lenses.
This content is supported by Johnson & Johnson.