Toric Contacts: Cylinder and Axis Decide Your Real Options
Toric Contacts: Cylinder and Axis Decide Your Real Options
Charm Optical carries fifteen toric contact lens boxes, from $45 to $155. Price is not your real constraint. Toric lenses are built in three to five cylinder steps and a fixed grid of axes, so your cylinder and axis decide which lenses can be made for you at all — sometimes only four of ten.
That is the part the price comparisons leave out. Two toric boxes can sit side by side at $45 and $110, and the $45 one may not exist in your prescription. Not out of stock. Not backordered. Never manufactured in your combination of cylinder and axis.
So this is not another price table. Below is the parameter grid for every toric lens we carry, and a dial you can set to your own numbers to see which lenses survive. If you want the per‑box prices, they live in our contact lens price comparison. If you want the basics of what a toric lens is, start with our guide to toric lenses for astigmatism.
What has to match before price matters
A spherical contact lens needs one number per eye. A toric lens needs three, and two of them come off a very short list.
- Sphere is your near‑sighted or far‑sighted power. It moves in 0.25 D steps, so almost every value exists.
- Cylinder is how much astigmatism you have. Soft toric lenses are made in fixed steps: −0.75, −1.25, −1.75, −2.25 and, in five of the ten lenses we carry, −2.75. There is nothing in between.
- Axis is the direction the astigmatism runs, written in single degrees from 1 to 180. Toric contact lenses are made in 10° steps only — and several lenses skip whole sections of the dial.
Your glasses prescription can say −2.00 −1.60 × 043 and be perfectly correct. No soft toric contact lens is made in −1.60 cylinder at 43°. Something has to be rounded, and which lens can absorb that rounding is the real decision.
Toric options at Charm Optical
Prices are our live listings in CAD, October 2026. Parameter counts are from the manufacturers' own published tables, checked July 2026.
- Toric boxes we carryTen lens families, fifteen box sizes 15
- Price range, per box$45 Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric 30 → $155 Acuvue Oasys 1-Day for Astigmatism 90 $45–$155
- Versus the spherical version of the same lensMyDay Toric is $5 less than MyDay; Oasys 1-Day for Astigmatism 90 is $43 more −$5 to +$43
- Lenses that offer −0.75 to −1.75 cylinderAll of them. At low cylinder, brand really is a free choice 10 of 10
- Lenses that offer −2.75 cylinderFour, once you are in a plus or strong minus prescription 5 of 10
- Contact lens exam and fittingSeparate from the $99 comprehensive eye exam. Appointment only $135
Which toric lenses have your cylinder and axis?
Set the three numbers below. The dial is a standard 0–180° axis scale, and the weight of each spoke is the number of the ten lenses that actually publish that axis at the cylinder and sphere you picked. Heavy teal spokes are axes almost everything is made in. Thin amber spokes are axes only a lens or two will make — and those are the ones that quietly remove your lower‑priced options.
Find out which toric lenses are made in your prescription
This checks cylinder and axis availability, not sphere ceilings. It is a reading aid, not a prescription — your optometrist confirms the final order on your eye.
Lenses made in this prescription
10 of 10
Cylinder −1.25 at axis 90°, sphere plano to −6.00. Every toric lens we carry is published in this combination.
Axis 90° is a 10° step, so nothing has to be rounded.
-
from $45 Made at 90°
-
from $75 Made at 90°
-
from $58 Made at 90°
-
Bausch + Lomb · daily
Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism
Cylinder to −2.75 · 18 down to 6 axis steps by sphere
from $47 Made at 90° -
Acuvue · daily
Acuvue Oasys 1-Day for Astigmatism
Cylinder to −2.75 · 18 axis steps in minus, 10 elsewhere
from $65 Made at 90° -
$110 Made at 90°
-
Alcon · monthly
Air Optix plus HydraGlyde for Astigmatism
Cylinder to −2.25 · around the clock, 10° steps
$69 Made at 90° -
$70 Made at 90°
-
$88 Made at 90°
-
$72 Made at 90°
Parameter data from each manufacturer's own published tables, checked 24 July 2026: Alcon and its Precision 1 for Astigmatism table, CooperVision, Bausch + Lomb and Johnson & Johnson Vision. Manufacturers change parameters without notice, so we confirm every order against the current list before it goes out.
Why the axis grid has holes in it
A full toric axis grid has 18 positions: 10°, 20°, 30° and so on to 180°. Several lenses publish a shorter list. The most common short list, used by Alcon for Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric and for parts of the Dailies Total1 for Astigmatism and Precision 1 for Astigmatism ranges, is:
10°, 20°, 70°, 80°, 90°, 100°, 110°, 160°, 170°, 180°
Count what is missing: 30°, 40°, 50°, 60°, 120°, 130°, 140°, 150°. That is 8 of the 18 steps gone — the whole oblique part of the dial, both diagonals.
Look at where the surviving positions sit: 10° and 20°, then 70° through 110°, then 160° to 180°. The published grids are dense close to horizontal and close to vertical, and empty through both obliques. Alcon and Bausch + Lomb narrow their shorter lists the same way. Nothing in those tables says why they are built like that — but the shape is consistent, and it becomes your problem the moment your axis is 45°.
The number that answers the search
Take the most common prescription band — cylinder −0.75 to −1.75, sphere between plano and −6.00. An axis of 45° rounds by only 5°, to 40° or 50°, in nine of the ten toric lenses we carry. In the tenth it cannot: Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric jumps straight from 20° to 70°, so 45° has to move 25°. That tenth lens is the lowest‑priced box on the list. If your axis is oblique, $45 is not a saving. It is not an option.
The lens that costs less is usually the lens that is made in fewer parameters. That is the whole trade.
Does your sphere power change what's available?
Yes, and almost nobody expects it. Two people can want the identical cylinder and axis, and only one of them can have the lens, because their sphere powers sit in different bands.
Alcon's published table for Dailies Total1 for Astigmatism is the clearest example. At −0.75 to −1.75 cylinder it lists the full 10° circle — but only for spheres between plano and −6.00. Move to a plus sphere or past −6.50 and the same cylinders drop to the 10‑axis list. At −2.25 cylinder outside mid‑range myopia, the list is five axes: 10°, 20°, 160°, 170°, 180°. Same box. Same cylinder. Five options instead of eighteen.
Bausch + Lomb publishes the same kind of narrowing for Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism, where −2.75 cylinder appears only in the plano to −6.00 sphere range and gets six axes even there.
| Lens | Brand · schedule | Cylinder steps | Axis steps, plano to −6.00 | Axis steps, plus or −6.50 and stronger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric | Alcon · daily | −0.75, −1.25, −1.75 (3) | 10 of 18 | 10 of 18 |
| Dailies Total1 for Astigmatism | Alcon · daily | −0.75 to −2.25 (4) | 18 of 18 to −1.75; 10 of 18 at −2.25 | 10 of 18 to −1.75; 5 of 18 at −2.25 |
| Precision 1 for Astigmatism | Alcon · daily | −0.75 to −2.75 (5) | 18 of 18 to −1.75; 10 of 18 at −2.25 and −2.75 | 10 of 18 to −1.75; 5 of 18 at −2.25 and −2.75 |
| Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism | Bausch + Lomb · daily | −0.75 to −2.75 (5) | 18 of 18 to −1.75; 10 at −2.25; 6 at −2.75 | 12 or 10 of 18 to −1.75; 6 to 8 at −2.25; −2.75 not listed |
| Acuvue Oasys 1-Day for Astigmatism | Acuvue · daily | −0.75 to −2.75 (5) | 18 of 18 | 10 of 18 |
| MyDay Toric | CooperVision · daily | −0.75 to −2.25 (4) | 18 of 18 | 18 of 18 |
| Air Optix plus HydraGlyde for Astigmatism | Alcon · monthly | −0.75 to −2.25 (4) | 18 of 18 | 18 of 18 |
| Biofinity Toric | CooperVision · monthly | −0.75 to −2.25 (4) | 18 of 18 | 18 of 18 |
| Bausch + Lomb ULTRA for Astigmatism | Bausch + Lomb · monthly | −0.75 to −2.75 (5) | 18 of 18 | 18 of 18 |
| Acuvue Vita for Astigmatism | Acuvue · monthly | −0.75 to −2.75 (5) | 18 of 18 | 18 of 18 |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
Sphere ceilings differ too, and they do not sort by wearing schedule. The dailies do not even agree with each other: Alcon's own tables run Precision 1 for Astigmatism out to −10.00, while Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric and Dailies Total1 for Astigmatism both stop at −8.00. Past a lens's sphere ceiling it is not made at all, whatever your cylinder and axis. Above −2.75 cylinder you leave the stock boxes entirely — CooperVision's extended‑range toric, for example, is published to −5.75 cylinder in 5° axis steps, but that is a special‑order lens and whether it suits you is a conversation at your fitting, not a click.
How a toric lens stays on axis
A spherical lens has the same power in every direction, so it can spin freely and you never notice. A toric lens only corrects your astigmatism when it is sitting in one specific orientation. It has to find that orientation, and then hold it through every blink.
So which toric contacts cost less?
Here is the honest version. Across the fifteen toric boxes we list, the range is $45 to $155 a box. Compared with the spherical version of the very same lens, the toric runs anywhere from $5 less to $43 more — MyDay Toric 90 is actually $5 under MyDay 90, while Acuvue Oasys 1‑Day for Astigmatism 90 is $43 over its spherical twin. The full box‑by‑box list, with cost per day, is in our contact lens price comparison.
What that means in practice:
- At −0.75, −1.25 or −1.75 cylinder on a common axis, all ten lenses are open to you and price genuinely is the deciding factor — every one of them is listed, with its price, on our contact lenses page.
- At −2.25 cylinder, nine of ten remain, and the one that drops out is the least expensive daily. Your saving just narrowed.
- At −2.75 cylinder, or on an oblique axis, or in a plus prescription, you may be choosing between four lenses. At that point the question is not what costs less, it is what exists.
The boxes below are real listings on this site, captioned with what actually decides whether you can have them.
-
-
Bausch + Lomb · daily
Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism
- Cylinder
- −0.75 to −2.75
- Axis
- 18 down to 6 by sphere
-
-
-
-
Alcon · monthly
Air Optix plus HydraGlyde for Astigmatism
- Cylinder
- −0.75 to −2.25
- Axis
- around the clock
-
Every box above is a live listing on this site, and a current contact lens prescription is required for all of them.
What happens at a toric fitting
A toric fitting is where the rounding stops being theoretical. The optometrist puts a trial lens on your eye, waits for it to settle, and then looks at where the orientation mark has actually landed. If it sits off the intended meridian, the ordered axis is compensated or the lens is changed. That is not something a website can do for you.
At Charm Optical a contact lens exam and fitting is $135. It is separate from the $99 comprehensive eye exam, and it is by appointment only. If you already wear toric lenses and just want to reorder, bring the box or the prescription and we will match it — see contact lenses in Edmonton for how ordering works.
Two things worth bringing:
- Your current contact lens prescription, not your glasses prescription. A toric contact order needs brand, sphere, cylinder, axis, base curve and diameter. A glasses prescription carries only the first four.
- The box you are wearing now, if you have it. Manufacturers revise parameter lists, and the lens you were fitted in two years ago may be published differently today.
Get a price for your actual numbers
Read us your cylinder and axis, and we will tell you what is available
Call (780) 490-0090 with your prescription in front of you. We will check which of the fifteen toric boxes are published in your combination, price those, and tell you plainly if the lower‑priced ones are not made in your parameters. We are at 5035 Ellerslie Road SW, Edmonton.
FAQ
How much do toric contact lenses cost at Charm Optical?
Charm Optical carries fifteen toric contact lens boxes across ten lens families, priced from $45 to $155 a box. The floor is the Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric 30 pack at $45 and the ceiling is the Acuvue Oasys 1-Day for Astigmatism 90 pack at $155. Compared with the spherical version of the same lens, the toric runs anywhere from $5 less to $43 more. Prices change, so call (780) 490-0090 and we will price your exact prescription.
Which toric contact lenses are the least expensive?
At Charm Optical the two lowest-priced toric boxes are the Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric 30 pack at $45 and the Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism 30 pack at $47. The catch is parameters. Dailies AquaComfort Plus Toric is made in only three cylinder steps, -0.75, -1.25 and -1.75, and in only 10 of the 18 axis positions, so it is also the lens most likely not to exist in your prescription. Price only matters once the lens can be made for your cylinder and axis.
What cylinder powers do toric contact lenses come in?
Soft toric contact lenses are made in fixed cylinder steps, normally -0.75, -1.25, -1.75, -2.25 and sometimes -2.75. Every one of the ten toric lens families Charm Optical carries offers the first three steps. Nine of the ten offer -2.25. Five offer -2.75, and in a plus or strong minus prescription that drops to four. Cylinder higher than -2.75 means a special-order lens rather than a stock box.
Why is my axis not available in some toric lenses?
Toric contact lenses are made in 10 degree axis steps, and several lenses skip part of the dial. A common published grid is 10, 20, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 160, 170 and 180 degrees, which leaves out 30, 40, 50, 60, 120, 130, 140 and 150 degrees. That is 8 of the 18 steps missing, and it is the whole oblique part of the dial. An axis such as 45 or 135 degrees is simply not made in those lenses, so the order has to round much further or move to a different lens.
Does my sphere power change which toric lenses I can get?
Yes, and most people do not expect it. Alcon publishes Dailies Total1 for Astigmatism with the full 10 degree circle at -0.75 to -1.75 cylinder in the plano to -6.00 sphere range, but only 10 axis positions in a plus prescription, and only 5 axis positions at -2.25 cylinder outside mid-range myopia. Bausch and Lomb publishes similar narrowing for Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism. Same box, same cylinder, a different sphere, and the parameter list shrinks.
What does the axis number on my prescription mean?
The axis tells the lab which meridian of your eye carries the cylinder correction. It is written in single degrees from 1 to 180, and it is a direction rather than a strength. Because toric contact lenses are only made in 10 degree steps, an axis of 87 degrees is ordered as 90 and an axis of 43 degrees is ordered as 40 in a lens that offers the full dial. Your optometrist checks how the lens actually sits on your eye before finalising the order.
Do I need a contact lens fitting for toric lenses?
Yes. A toric lens only corrects astigmatism when it settles in the right orientation, so it has to be assessed on your eye. A contact lens exam and fitting at Charm Optical is $135, which is separate from the $99 comprehensive eye exam, and it is by appointment only. The fitting is where the rounding of your axis gets tested rather than assumed.
Can I reorder toric contact lenses online without a new fitting?
You can reorder a toric lens online if you have a current contact lens prescription that names the brand, the sphere, the cylinder, the axis, the base curve and the diameter. A glasses prescription is not enough, because it does not carry the base curve, the diameter or the lens you were fitted in. If your prescription has expired, or if the lens you were fitted in has changed its published parameters, you need a fitting before the order can be filled.
Get a real number for your prescription
Cylinder, axis, price — in that order
Call us with your prescription and we will price your exact toric.
Fifteen boxes, ten lens families, and only some of them are made in your numbers. Read us the cylinder and the axis and we will tell you which ones exist, what each costs, and what your plan covers. If you have never worn toric lenses, you will need a fitting first — by appointment only.
Prices are our current CAD listings and they drift — confirm by phone. Browse every box on our contact lenses page, or read the full contact lens price comparison.