Question about contact-lens prescription

Hi. I currently wear Sunsoft toric lenses. I have a high degree of
astigmatism, especially in my right eye, which has a prescription of
Sph -1.25, Cyl -3.50, and Axis 015. If I want to try another brand of
contact lenses, do I need to have my eye doctor give me a different
prescription, or is my current measurement good for all other toric
lenses as well? Thanks for any info.

-sj

 

Now I'm confused. I already have a regular pair I'm wearing that the
doctor gave me. My question is whether I can use this same
prescription for a different brand?

 

You can't, because changing the brand WILL change the fit of the lens.
If you want to try another brand, you have to get trial lenses of that
brand first, to see how they orient on you eyes. BTW not many
manufacturers make strong torics like that, so your choice is VERY
limited, unless you want to seriously undercorrect your astigmatism.

w.stacy, o.d.

 

To be even clearer-- no, you cannot use the same prescription for a
different brand. A contact lens prescription is brand-specific. The
identical lens power in a different brand of contacts will not fit the same
(different plastic, different edge design, etc.). A doctor must try you in
a trial pair in a brand to make sure it fits first-- if it does then the
final prescription is given.

There are several high-astigmatism lens brands that you might try that are
affordable and of good quality made by CooperVision. I would recommend
trying Vertex Toric XR, Frequency 55 Toric XR, and/or Preference Toric XR.
Your eyedoc can arrange trials pairs.

Fitting high astigmatism toric soft contacts can be difficult. Vision is
usually not perfect and can fluctuate. Have you tried rigid gas permeable
contacts (aka hard contacts)?

 

There are several high-astigmatism lens brands that you might try that are

Thanks, RM. Your list of specific brands is really helpful. No, I
haven't tried hard contacts at all, but maybe it's something I should
think about.

-sj

 

Thanks for the advice, Mike. Oh, I didn't realize that the trials
don't cost them anything.

-sj

 

Oh, one more thing. I assume it's acceptable to go and say something
like this to my optometrist: "I'm currently wearing this brand of
contact lenses, but I would like to get Vertex Toric XR instead"? This
question may sound rather silly, but doctors and the like can be so
arrogant in general that I was just wondering if it's a reasonable
request.

-sj

 

how long ago did you get your original prescription for Sunsoft Toric.
personally, i do have a problem when a patient whom i fit in a brand of
contact lens and already checked comes back 6 months later and says
they are having problems with their contact prescription. i wonder why
they didn't tell me about their problems sooner and why they are coming
back after so long. some docs I know will charge them a contact lens
fitting fee if its been a long time since their exam. i am generally a
softy and i won't charge them again (unless this is a repetitive
problem).

 

how long ago did you get your original prescription for Sunsoft Toric.

It's been a few months. The reason I want to change isn't that I'm
having problems, but rather that I want a disposable monthly lens
instead. He never told me at the time that I could get a monthly toric
with my high astigmatism--I just found that out from you guys. In
fact, he made it sound like I could *not* get one.

 

Speaking as someone who has fairly high astigmatism (-3.00) - I've
found that in wanting to wear monthly contacts, I've had to compromise
on my astigmatism correction. Since the monthly toric lenses with the
highest powers available here are Bausch and Lomb's SofLens 66 (-2.75),
Focus Toric (-2.50), and Biomedics Toric (-2.25), and only Biomedics
Toric fits my eyes, I've had to compromise by wearing a -2.25 toric
even though I have -3.00 of astig.

 

Thanks for the info. What about the Vertex Toric XR? See:

http://www.aclens.com/displaylens.asp?L4ensID=272

I'm thinking about these lenses for myself. Frankly, I can live with
undercorrecting my astigmatism a little. I did that in high school
when I wasn't even wearing toric at all, even though I had astigmatism.

 

Those lenses aren't available where I live, if I'm not wrong, so I
wouldn't quite know about them (sorry). Well it's best if you check
with your optometrist before doing anything - I thought the SofLens 66
would be best for me, but turned out not to be so after the trial
lenses turned out too flat.

And errr... I thought I could live with undercorrecting astig (my right
has has -0.75, and I got a normal lens at first), but ended up getting
a toric lens for my right eye in the end. I suppose I'm spoiled by the
fact that my glasses give me insanely good vision, so any difference is
very noticeable with my contacts. So get trial lenses before you do
anything? I went through 3 prescriptions for each of my eyes before I
finally settled on a prescription that I liked. Hope this helps.