Toric lenses in Vienna: tailor-made precision for astigmatism

A standard artificial lens (spherical) has the same refractive power in all directions. A toric lens is like a tailor-made optical suit: it has a different refractive power in one very specific axis in order to compensate exactly for the irregular oval shape of your cornea (astigmatism) inside the eye.

As a rule, no. If you have cataract surgery, the public insurer pays only for a standard lens that ignores astigmatism (you will need distance and reading glasses afterwards). The upgrade to a toric lens (or even a toric trifocal lens for complete freedom from glasses) is a private service, which you can however deduct from tax.

A toric lens must sit in the calculated axis. Rarely, it rotates slightly in the first weeks, and vision becomes less sharp again. That is why we check the axis position at every follow-up. If the lens has rotated, we realign it in a short procedure.

No. Your eyes are completely numbed locally with drops. The procedure takes only about 10 to 15 minutes per eye. You feel only slight pressure, but no pain at all.

Yes, that is the “top class”. The latest EDOF and trifocal lenses (e.g. ODYSSEE Toric, ENVY Toric, PureSee Toric) combine everything: they correct short-sightedness, long-sightedness, presbyopia AND astigmatism at the same time.

For patients (often under 45 to 50) whose cornea is too thin for a laser or for whom lens exchange would be too risky because of short-sightedness, we implant the toric EVO ICL. This is a wafer-thin, biocompatible (Collamer) additional lens that is placed in the eye in addition to your own lens. It is 100 % reversible.

Absolutely not. Because there are no pain nerves inside the eye and the lens is placed in the tissue with micrometre precision, you feel the implant neither when blinking nor when rubbing.

The biocompatible materials (acrylate or Collamer) do not decompose. The lens lasts your entire life and never needs to be replaced.

No. Because your natural lens, which is prone to clouding, has been removed and replaced with an artificial lens, you are protected from cataracts for life. (Note: this applies only to lens exchange, not to the EVO ICL.)

Months or years after a lens exchange, the tissue capsule in which the new lens sits can become slightly cloudy (posterior capsule opacification). Vision becomes milky. We “polish” this capsule painlessly in our practice with a YAG laser in 60 seconds. After that, vision is crystal clear for good.

We mark your eye before surgery, taking cyclotorsion (the natural rotation of the eye when lying down) into account. Combined with our high-precision preoperative AI calculations (TCA, SIA), the lens is aligned to the calculated axis with millimetre precision under the surgical microscope.

Visual recovery is rapid. As early as the first day after surgery most patients see excellently in the distance and, above all, without the familiar astigmatic distortions.

Most patients are fit for work again 2 to 3 days after the operation and can work at a screen. You should avoid heavy physical work for 1 week.

Light sport (jogging, exercise bike) is allowed after 3 to 4 days. Swimming (lakes, thermal baths) and sauna are strictly forbidden for 3 weeks to avoid serious bacterial infections inside the eye.

Absolutely not on the day of surgery. At the medical check-up the next day the doctor gives you clearance as soon as the legally required visual acuity has been reached.

Make-up particles and cream vapours endanger the absolute microbiological sterility in the operating theatre. Come with a freshly washed, “bare” face.

Please refrain completely from eye make-up for at least 1 week to prevent infections.

Contact lenses deform the cornea and falsify the OCT values we absolutely need to calculate the astigmatism and the axis of your toric lens to the micrometre. Leave soft lenses out for 1 week and hard lenses for 4 weeks before the examination.

With the ICL, we often operate on both eyes on the same day. With lens exchange, both eyes are usually operated on in the same session, each as a separate procedure with its own instruments. On request, we operate on them on separate days.

The risk of a serious complication up to blindness is extremely low (well below 1 in 10,000). The greatest theoretical danger is an infection. We minimise this risk uncompromisingly through highly sterile surgical conditions (class 1 operating theatre) and strict hygiene protocols.

Short-sighted eyes are longer, the retina is under tension. If we remove the body’s own lens and insert a flat artificial lens, the vitreous body moves. The risk of retinal detachment rises. We do not expose you to this risk unnecessarily and instead often recommend the toric EVO ICL.

Yes, excellently! By correcting the astigmatism, the disturbing “frayed” lights (starbursts) disappear. If you also choose a toric EDOF lens, you have practically no halos (rings of light), which is ideal for frequent drivers.

Calculating a toric lens forgives no mistakes. The optical AI measurement, the measurement of the posterior corneal astigmatism (MS39), ocular surface optimisation and the retinal check with dilated pupils take time. Added to this is the detailed medical consultation.

Toric lenses cost €3,500 per eye at EyeLaser, exactly the same as every other lens. Monofocal, monofocal-plus, toric, EDOF or multifocal: the price is identical.

With us you do not pay for the lens model but for the entire clinical process: the diagnostics, the calculation and selection of the lens, the surgery and the aftercare. Because the choice of lens does not change the price, it is made purely on medical grounds.

This is particularly important with the toric lens: whether your astigmatism is corrected with a toric lens is decided by the measurement alone. It does not make your treatment more expensive. The femtosecond laser can be added as an option (€1,000).

Yes, in cooperation with our reliable financing partners we offer convenient instalment models.

Yes. Because every body heals individually, in rare cases (about 2 to 5 %) a small residual error or a minimal residual cylinder remains. This is where our EyeLaser quality promise applies: we can usually perfect the optical result without any problem through a fine laser touch-up on the cornea (e.g. with Trans-PRK).