AcrySof® Toric Intraocular Lens

AcrySof® Toric is a lens replacement option that can improve your vision after cataract surgery. In the past, most people had to resign themselves to poor vision after cataract surgery, but with AcrySof Toric, your eye's natural astigmatism can be corrected to give you clearer vision at all distances.

This page will help you understand the benefits of AcrySof Toric, but cannot recommend whether this is the right lens option for you. To discuss your options in person, please schedule a consultation at one of the Kansas City offices of Silverstein Eye Centers.

How AcrySof Toric Works

Your eye actually has two lenses, the outer one, called the cornea, and the inner one, called the lens, or, sometimes, the crystalline lens. These two lenses work together to properly focus light on your retina so you can see. Unfortunately, sometimes your cornea is not properly shaped for the task. Instead of being spherical, it's more oblong, like half a football. This is called astigmatism and it can make your vision blurry at all distances.

AcrySof Toric is replacement lens or intraocular lens (IOL) designed to correct your eye's natural astigmatism to help you see more clearly at all distances after cataract surgery.

Benefits of AcrySof Toric

People with astigmatism often have to rely on glasses, including bifocals or trifocals, after cataract surgery. However, AcrySof Toric can correct astigmatism for many patients, giving them clear distance vision. Even if you have always had glasses or contacts, you may find yourself free of them for many of your daily tasks.

If in the past you had to have highly specialized prescriptions with very expensive lenses for your glasses or contacts, you will likely be very happy that you now will have a much simpler prescription, and may even be able to buy reading glasses "off the rack" at your corner drug store. And because astigmatism affects your vision at all distances, you will likely find that your vision, if not completely independent of glasses, is so much improved that many visual tasks are easier.

Disadvantages of AcrySof Toric

AcrySof Toric is a monofocal lens, that is, it gives you clear vision at only one focal distance. Typically, this is distance vision, but you will still likely have to use glasses for close vision. Many people are highly satisfied with their vision with AcrySof Toric. If you are looking for a lens that will give you functional vision at all distances, consider the Crystalens® or Tecnis®.

If you would like to discuss your lens replacement options and vision goals with an ophthalmologist, please contact Silvestein Eye Centers to schedule a consultation at one of our Kansas City-area offices.