Astigmatism

18 months ago my now 15 year old son was fitted for contacts. Because of the severity of the correction and astigmatism in one eye, he could only get custom made hydrosoft Toric lenses. (Not disposables) and they worked well for him. He recently was retested and the severity of the astigmatism has improved to the point that we were told that he no longer needed correction for it, however the sphere power never changed. Sample disposables were ordered for this new prescription. He has tried them but sees fuzzy at distance and when scanning to an object he notices that his eyes take a couple of seconds to focus. Can an astigmatism improve that much, and that quickly? INFO for (worst eye) 18 months ago BC =8.9, Sph = 7.50,  Cyl = -2.5, AX = 005, New contact samples = Aspheric BC = med, Sph = 7.5. Thats it. Should I request he be retested?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

He absolutely needs to be retested. The most likely scenario is that the toric contact lens was putting uneven pressure on the cornea and temporarily flattened the astigmatic part of his lopsided cornea. When this happens it can sometimes take 4-12 weeks for the cornea to go back to it's natural shape.

He likely will need to return to toric soft contacts or gas permeable contacts which correct larger amounts of astigmatism.

Do this soon and you may get some sort of discount on the contacts.

JCH III MD