so what are the best contact lenses for astigmatism? well in this video I'm
reviewing some of my favorite toric lenses that can provide you with stable
crystal-clear vision plus I'll throw in some bonus Pro tips about contacts along
the way so let's take a look. hey everyone welcome I'm dr. Joe Allen here
from doctor eye health. the channel that helps you with the eyes, vision, and finding the best
vision products! so if you new here consider subscribing and hey at any
point throughout the video check out the links in the description below for
additional pricing information and any specifications about the lenses that we
mentioned today otherwise in this video we're going to be going over astigmatism
contact lenses sometimes known as toric contact lenses now these are all going
to be lenses that I personally have worn and find very comfortable as well as
lenses that from my experience fitting them in the clinic work excellent for
most people. now if you're somebody who has astigmatism or maybe you've heard
that from your doctor saying that you have astigmatism in your eyes and you're
not quite sure what that means I do have another video covering that topic and
I'll hook you up with a link to that and YouTube card above as well as in the
description below otherwise when it comes to wearing astigmatism contact
lenses there's three main things that you're gonna want. number one is you want
the lenses to be comfortable if the lenses are not comfortable you're not
gonna want to wear them at all, right? you're gonna be wanting to rip those
lenses right out of your eyes and nobody wants that you're gonna want a lens
that's comfortable that you can wear all day long. number two is you want a lens
that has the powers that fit for your prescription now if you're not sure what
astigmatism powers you have if you look at your prescription you'll see a box
with what's called cylinder or sometimes noted as cyl on your prescription and
that is the amount of a stigmatism power correction that you need then you'll see
what's called an axis the axis are numbers that describe the orientation of
that cylinder power and how that lens has to correct for your vision
now that plays in a more important role when you have a higher amount of
astigmatism because not all contact lens brands have the really the parameters to
fit everybody's prescriptions especially again when you have
higher powers. now the third part is stability again I'm gonna say it again
you want stability in your contact lenses if you have astigmatism lenses
but lenses have to be stable if they're not stable on the eye if they're
shifting side to side if they're rotating that prescription is no longer
valid it's gonna be thrown off and your visions gonna end up being blurry so
you're gonna end up with inconsistent vision throughout the day so yes you
want a stable contact lens on the eye to give you crystal clear vision all day
long now the first lens I want to review is
the Cooper Vision Biofinity Toric lens now this lens I actually worked through
all of high school and then again through most of my undergraduate college
years because it was very comfortable, came in my prescription and it gave me
stable clear vision. now this lens is a monthly lens meaning that you wear it
for one day you take it out you clean it in a cleaning solution the next day you
put it back in and you do that for a full month and then after the month you
toss it and then you have to open a new blister pack and then put a new one in
and then you repeat now this lens is a silicone hydrogel meaning and has really
good breathability and is very healthy through the eyes it comes in an eight
point seven based curve a 14.5 diameter and it comes in cylinder power ranges
anywhere from a minus 0.75 up to a minus 2.25 in half diopter steps and the
access is available anywhere from a degree of 10 up to a hundred and eighty
degrees which means it fits most people's eyes now this lens has what's
called a prism ballast stabilized design it actually has a counterweight built
into it to hold it in place giving you a clear vision and if you hold up the lens
you can actually see a little dash mark on one of the edges that little dash
mark is made by a laser and it's supposed to really denote where that
weight to that prism ballast is located and that's used more for the doctor when
they're evaluating the fit of the contact lens to know how it's sitting on
the eye because if for some reason that weight isn't sitting correctly with that
laser mark pointing around the six o'clock position straight down then that
means that it's not sitting correctly and that explains why vision is blurry
so the doctor is trained and educated to know how to make adjustments with that
so that it sits correctly on the eye giving clear vision actually that is
going to be really our number one pro tip that we're starting off here today
is that if you can see that little laser match mark on the side of this lens you
can actually go ahead and put that try to put it at the six o'clock position
when you're putting it in your eye that means that right off the bat you're
gonna end up with clearer more stable vision when wearing these lenses
otherwise if you put these lenses really any astigmatism lens if you put it with
that little laser marked pointing in the wrong direction let's say it's pointing
at like 10 o'clock then it's gonna actually have to spend more time through
gravity and blinking to get that lens to orient in the right position to give you
clear vision so you can start your day off with nice crystal clear vision right
off the bat just by getting that laser etched mark to point downward now these
lenses again that Cooper Vision Biofinity Toric, they are a monthly lens
which means that they are more affordable because you basically don't
need to take them out you smell like a daily lens which you're throwing away
every day you do have to clean them a little bit more and they've been out for
a while so again they're more affordable if you want to check out updated prices
I have included that link in the description below now one of the other
things I really like about Cooper vision is that they have what's called a cooper
vision Biofinity XR toric and these are lenses with expanded ranges for
power so if you're somebody who is told by your doctor that hey you have too
much astigmatism and you can't wear soft contact lenses you have to wear hard
rigid lenses well not anymore the XR toric actually has ranges going
up to a - 5.75 that is an extremely high amount of astigmatism so now these
lenses are actually available for you to give you clear vision they're really
only two downsides to these lenses is that one they are made custom to order
so they do take a little bit longer to get there not just stored in a warehouse
somewhere and two is that they are a bit more expensive but again you can check
out those updated prices in some of the descriptions below now let's transition
over and talk about some lenses made by the Bausch and Lomb company that's the
Bausch and Lomb Ultra for astigmatism and the Biotrue one day for astigmatism
Bausch and Lomb ultra for astigmatism is a silicone hydrogel, so very
healthy for the eye and it is a monthly lens so more affordable and it comes in
expanded ranges so instead of just going to minus 2.25 in power for cylinder power
it goes up to a minus 2.75 and it comes in a 10 degree increments going from
axis of 10 to 180 it has an eight point six base curve and a 14.5 diameter again
fitting most people's eyes it has an optimized ballast design so very similar
to the Biofinity, again it's gonna have that little dash Mark to orient where the lens
is but it does have what's called optic align stabilizing system which actually
helps reduce spherical aberration which reduces glare and halos on lights which
is really important when driving at night time. then you have the again the
bio true one day for astigmatism these lenses are a little bit smaller they
have an eight point four base curve and a 14.5 diameter so it fits a little
tighter on the eye but these again are one-day lenses and are probably one of
the most affordable one-day lenses on the market they are actually a hydrogel
lens in the silicone hydrogel hydrogel lenses don't have as good a
breathability but they do offer UV light protection they have more of what's
called a parry ballast stabilizing design works pretty similar as the
original kind of prism ballast design but again fits very well on the eye very
stable and excellent for a one day choice now the Bausch and Lomb company
has three other things that I really like about their lenses one is that the
lenses are a little bit stiffer the lenses themselves seem a little thick
little stiffer so they're very easy to learn how to use contact lenses if you
are a beginner if you're somebody who's never really worn lenses or you have
difficulty getting the lenses to flip into the right position if they're
always inside out then Bausch and Lomb makes lenses that are just a little bit
stiffer and I think again they're really good for beginners or anyone with those
having those difficulties number two is that these lenses have an increased
little prism that little laser etched mark in the lens they actually made
those larger on purpose so now they're not just
the doctor they're actually for the person wearing it so again you can see
that Dash mark and get it fit on the eye again at that six o'clock position right
away and then the third thing is that they have some of the best rebate
rebates for little contact lenses on the market and that's going to be the next
big pro tip is that when you are purchasing contact lenses try to
purchase an annual supply because that's gonna activate those rebates and save
you the most money Bausch and Lomb has almost anywhere from
100 to 200 dollars off a year supply that is a lot of money to save now the
last two lenses I want to review are made by the Johnson & Johnson company
they have both the Acuvue Oasys for astigmatism as well as the Acuvue
oasis one day for astigmatism and both of these lenses are silicon hydrogels
meaning you get that good oxygen permeability very healthy for the eyes
they both have UV light protection which is great for kids and anyone who spends
a lot of time outdoors and they have what's called a blink stabilized design
now a blink stabilized design is kind of unique to these lenses so instead of
relying on gravity with the prism ballast design to put it in the right
position both when you blink both lids come down and supply just a little bit
of pressure to that lens and help orient it into position which again is a little
bit more unique and that gives you good clear vision now the Oasis astigmatism
the original lens has been up for a long time and is that two week lens so after
two weeks you're supposed to throw it out and replace it because you have to
replace it more frequently and a little bit older its price is a little bit more
affordable it comes in an eight point six base curve and a 14.5 diameter and
is available up to a minus two point seven five for its powers so again it
fits most people's eyes now the Oasis one day for astigmatism that lens is a
little bit more refined in terms of its powers and its fit it actually has an
eight point five base curve and a fourteen point three diameters so it's
just a little bit different also this lens its powers on and
it's access availability a little bit more limited so again if you somebody
who has a really unique prescription perhaps it's not the best for you but
again that's something to discuss with your doctor again all those prices are
updated and you can check them out in the description below all right so I
health question of the day which contact lenses first astigmatism have you tried
which are some of your favorites and why also if you have any additional
questions about these products go ahead and comment in the section below and I'd
love to help you guys out alright everyone thanks so much for watching go
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