Astigmatism

Treatment options for astigmatism include glasses, contact lenses and refractive eye surgery.

• The vast majority of patients with astigmatism use glasses to see better. With moderate to high prescriptions however, glasses can be difficult to adjust to and may reduce the quality of vision with peripheral distortion.
• Specialised soft toric and rigid gas permeable contact lenses can be used to treat astigmatism as the contact lens compensates for the difference in refractive power across the cornea. Contact lenses also correct co-existing long sightedness or short sightedness at the same time.
• A more permanent solution to astigmatism can be provided by refractive surgery. Depending on your prescription, eye measurements and visual needs, a variety of procedures are available, including LASIK, SMILE, toric phakic IOL, e.g. ICL, and refractive lens exchange.
• Laser eye surgery is an excellent treatment modality that reshapes the cornea. In LASIK, excimer laser sculpts the cornea to make its surface and refractive power uniform, correcting the astigmatism. If you have astigmatism and also wear reading glasses, LASIK can incorporate a PRESBYOND blended vision treatment to reduce or eliminate your need for reading glasses. SMILE is a keyhole alternative to LASIK that uses femtosecond laser to reshape the cornea; no flap is created in SMILE, preserving better biomechanical stability of the cornea and allowing a more rapid return to intense physical activities and swimming than with LASIK.
• A toric Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) is like a permanent plastic contact lens that is implanted inside your eye, in front of your natural lens. No one can see this phakic lens and you cannot feel its presence in your eye. It is a safe alternative to LASIK and SMILE, but it is usually reserved for higher prescriptions when laser eye surgery may not be the best option.