Confused about costs after cataract surgery consultation.

Mine will cost me $9,000 with vivity, l dont have insurance

I am guessing you may be in the US. I am in Alberta, Canada and can only give you some numbers based on my surgery earlier this year here. A basic monofocal is covered by our Alberta Health Care system, and the prices for other lenses are incremental costs over what is covered. For that reason, they are not reflective of the total cost of each lens, just the incremental cost over a monofocal. Costs are in $CDN per lens:

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Tecnis 1 or AcrySof IQ monofocal: $0

Clareon monofocal - $300

AcrySof IQ Toric - $1,100

Vivity Non Toric, or Toric - $2,100

Name brand eye drops and dark glasses kit - $70

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Our health care system pays for the full testing regardless of whether or not you are getting torics. From other provinces where it is not covered I think the cost of the extra test to measure astigmatism and topography is around $100.

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When you get your eyes measured they should be able to tell you what the predicted residual astigmatism will be. Less than 0.70 D cylinder is not recommended for correction. The first step of toric power is too large for less than that.

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And the other thing to consider is whether or not you are aiming to be eyeglasses free. If the plan is to wear glasses there is really no need to correct astigmatism. The eyeglasses can correct it and probably more accurately than a toric lens can. In this case there is probably no need for the extra measurements either.

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If you are looking for an eyeglasses free solution consider mini monovision. The dominant eye is corrected for full distance, while the non dominant eye is left -1.5 D myopic to let you see near. Since you can still see well, it is a good idea to trial that type of correction using contact lenses. That will determine if you like it or not. There is no extra cost to monovision when you use standard monofocal lenses to do it. I did the contact lens trial, and liked it, so now that is what I have with two monofocal lenses. In this case it would be best to get the extra measurements to see if you need a toric, and of course if you do, then there will be the extra for a toric lens.

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Hope that helps some,

That price for toric monofocal IOLs sounds a little high. I only had one eye done with a Tecnis toric monofocal IOL and the additional cost for that was $1333 for me.

For me insurance paid for most of the rest of the cost leaving me with about $400 to pay besides the toric added cost.

I did get three different doctor opinions and price estimates and they varied quite a bit. So I recommend getting more than one doctor estimate and compare.

I also recommend waiting until the cataract is bad enough that you can't correct your vision with glasses better than 20/40 or worse.

I second the suggestion to talk to more than one doctor. Insurance will (or should) cover second opinions. In addition to asking about cost, ask about their availability for answering questions and engaging in discussion of options via email or an electronic patient portal. I have one eye doc who answers my emails within a day and patiently engages in extensive back and forth, and one who does not. I say, to heck with the one who does not! A third wanted $500 up front before he would even start the conversation. Good-bye to him!

I've been quoted $5000 Canadian dollars for one eye ($4000 US), soup-to-nuts, without insurance, for a toric by a top-notch Toronto clinic (Herzig Eye). My other eye, to be done here in the US, will cost me as much for a toric, despite medicare paying for the surgery and office visits and part of the lens cost. ( I have to go to Canada for one because the degree of cylinder I need is not available here.) I was quote $1500 per eye to do it in India.