Astigmatism Correction During Cataract Surgery

Top 5 reasons to pick The Eye Clinic of Florida for your astigmatism correction at the time of cataract surgery?

  • We have over 22 years of experience with astigmatism-correcting implants.
  • No unnecessary charges for Laser Cataract Surgery (why pay more for the 3rd best way to correct astigmatism?)
  • 30-40% of our lens implants have corrected astigmatism over the last 15 years.
  • Our costs are often $800 to $2000 less than other Tampa Bay practices with less experience
  • We don’t have “salespeople” pushing astigmatism correction for trivial amounts of normal astigmatism

Astigmatism and Cataract Surgery.

Astigmatism is a common eye condition that variably blurs vision. The more you have, the blurrier things will be at a distance and perhaps nearby.

Dr. Mahootchi has been correcting astigmatism for over 25 years and is one of the most experienced cataract surgeons in the country. He is one of the most experienced eye surgeons in the nation when it comes to astigmatism correcting lens implants. He has been teaching other cataract surgeons about them for years,

Astigmatism varies by age. It’s caused because of the cornea (most commonly), the eye’s natural lens, or both. Small amounts (less than ½ diopter) don’t affect vision. Over 1 diopter certainly does. In between, it can affect the function of certain multifocal lens implants.

About 55% of the population has enough astigmatism to blur their vision if not corrected. For those with significant astigmatism, fixing it at the time of cataract surgery can mean better vision and fewer glasses dependency afterward. It’s one of the best values in eye surgery. It achieves the results of LASIK with better accuracy and in one procedure.

There are various ways of correcting astigmatism during surgery. The best way is to put the correction right in the lens implant. These lenses are called toric intraocular lenses or toric IOL’s. The benefit is that distance vision will be great without glasses for monofocal implants. All you would need is $3 readers. For some implants, it means all distances will be great without glasses. The only way to do that is at the time of cataract surgery. There isn’t an option to achieve that later.

Toric IOL’s are a one-step way to fix the cataract and astigmatism at the same time. Studies show that toric IOL’s are a more predictable way to treat astigmatism compared to options that laser or cut on the cornea. Toric IOL’s are often cheaper than incisional or laser methods. It’s much cheaper than trying to fix it later (usually around $1500-$2000 for LASIK or PRK).

Many practices bill patients extra for laser-assisted cataract surgery. Laser in this fashion is the distant 3rd best way to correct astigmatism. The toric lens implant would be the best, and LASIK would be the second-best. The cost they charge for the laser is greater than the cost of the implant at The Eye Clinic of Florida. Many places charge for both the laser and the toric lens implant, which is unnecessary 95% of the time. I have many colleagues who do laser cataract surgery. Most will privately admit laser is of no benefit.

The Envista® Toric implant (shown above) is one kind of astigmatism correcting (or toric) implant. We also implant the Johnson and Johnson Technis®, Alcon Panoptix®, Symfony®, and Trulign Toric models.

More than 3000 Tampa area patients with cataracts have toric IOL’s implanted by Dr. Mahootchi.

Here are several of our happy, satisfied patients with long-lasting results!

We have the lowest Toric IOL prices in Florida.Our prices are cheaper than even the testing at other clinics. Several of our Tampa area competitors charge $300 to $500 for testing not covered by insurance whether or not you get the upgraded lens. At our clinic, you don’t pay for topography if you don’t get a toric lens. We do that important test for free on 99% of our cataract patients.

There are now many toric IOL models available in the US. The cost to implant any of the monofocal ones is only $795 per eye at The Eye Clinic of Florida (including testing). That price is usually $1500 to $2000 at other Tampa Bay practices (that doesn’t include their testing charges!)

Toric lens implants make financial sense for patients at The Eye Clinic of Florida. If it saves you from buying one or two pairs of glasses, it often pays for itself. Medical insurances and Medicare don’t pay for toric lens implants. They don’t care what your prescription is after surgery. But you do! Surgically fixing astigmatism later would be LASIK and around $1500 to $2000. Toric IOL’s don’t have to be expensive, and they aren’t at The Eye Clinic of Florida.

In 2013, The Eye Clinic of Florida was the first practice in the Tampa/Pasco market to offer the new Trulign implant which corrected both presbyopia and astigmatism. Great vision without glasses across a range of distance and near. Since then, many other presbyopia-correcting implants have become available. They all have astigmatism correcting models. Nearly all have 90% of the astigmatism correction needed for the human species right in the lens at no additional cost.

That doesn’t keep our competitors from charging more. See us first and save.

A few other points to consider:

  • Not everyone has enough astigmatism to correct.Some Tampa area surgeons use insignificant amounts of astigmatism as an excuse to charge more or even to use a laser unnecessarily. A patient recently brought us her records where the surgeon recommended $1000 in extra surgery costs. She had less than one click of the dial astigmatism. Read our reviews over the years on Vitals.com or Google Reviews. With over 3000 Toric implant patients, we couldn’t be prouder of our record and costs.
  • Surgeons should be accurate with their regular surgery before trying Toric IOL’s.Before the mid-2000’s Ophthalmologists couldn’t charge more for astigmatism management with cataract surgery. So, despite 55% of the population with astigmatism, less than 2% were offered the lens. Now that they can charge more—everyone is trying it. We haven’t raised our prices in 10 years. About 85-90% of our Toric IOL patients are within 1/2 diopter of no prescription.
  • Cataract Surgeons must have a surgical technique that doesn’t create astigmatism or hasten astigmatic changes later.Our technique generates less than .25 diopters of astigmatism. That’s less than one click of a dial on the phoropter (the machine you sit behind, and we ask you “which is better 1 or 2). A very large percentage of our patients are still 20/30 or better without glasses 10 years later.
  • The topography isn’t the only factor.Most doctors only measure the curvature of the front surface. We measure the back surfaces as well and had one of the first machines in the US to directly do that.
  • Surgeons should account for the natural aging of the eye. This comes with experience. You don’t want to correct things for now but make things worse 15 years from now. We have the experience to help you see for life.

People with astigmatism see things more stretched or distorted than reality. We can help you see your best with the best scientifically proven technology, with experience matched by few and prices matched by almost no one.

Call (813) 779-3338 to schedule your consultation about astigmatism and cataract surgery. Thousands in the Tampa Bay area have and now see better with less need for glasses. They also saved a bundle!

Happy Patient Testimonials

Happy Patients Talk About Their Experience with Cataract Surgery and Dr. Mahootchi.