How to Read your Eyeglass Prescription?

1. Understanding Your Eyeglass Prescription

2. Introduction Do you want to maintain good eyesight? In that case, you have to go for eye exams at regular intervals. This vital step will keep your eyes healthy and retain the sharpness of your vision. During an eye exam, an optometrist or ophthalmologist will closely look for any early signs of eye disease. It is tough to understand eye prescriptions. They are generally a blending of letters and numbers. You may be in a state of confusion when you are not aware of its meaning. Let us understand how to read eyeglass prescription.

3. What the Numbers Represent? You glance at your prescription for glasses, you will encounter a couple of numbers, such as OS and OD. OS stands for oculus sinister that is left eye. OD stands for oculus dextrus, which is the right eye. On certain occasions, you will get to see OU, which is a situation involving both eyes. 

4. Unit Measurement If your eyesight needs correction, you will get a prescription for glasses or lenses. The prescriptions will differ from individual to individual when issues vary. These numbers refer to dioptres. This is the unit of measurement of lens power. In short form, the diopter is referred to as "D."

5. How to Read Eyeglass Prescription? Generally speaking, the more the deviation of the number on the prescription, the worse is your eyesight condition. A “plus” (+) notation symbol in front of the number indicates you are farsighted. A “minus” (-) notation symbol means you are nearsighted.  For instance, -1.00 on your prescription means you have one diopter of near-sightedness. This is on the mild side. On the other hand, -4.25 on your prescription mean 4 and 0.25 diopters of near-sightedness. Compared to the first case in the second one, you will require more powerful lenses. On the same lines of thought, +1.00 indicates a small amount of farsightedness, when compared to +5. 

6. Reading the Prescription of Astigmatism Some people have a cornea condition called astigmatism. This is a condition that refers to imperfections in eye curvature. In such circumstances, an individual will have blurry vision at all times. People suffering from this condition will have three numbers on the prescription. They are written in S x C x Axis format. The cornea is in the shape of a football instead of a basketball.

7. The S is a reference to the "spherical" portion. It indicates the magnitude of near-sightedness or farsightedness, as discussed in the above paragraphs. The C is a reference to the "cylinder" and can be either a negative or a positive number. It indicates the extent of astigmatism that you are suffering from, and the unit of measurement is diopters. The bigger this number, the higher astigmatism has impacted you.  The Axis shows the astigmatism orientation. The number may be between 0 to 180 degrees. Stating the extent of astigmatism you are suffering from is not adequate. It is also helpful to gather information about the point where curvature difference happens. 

8. Two instances of the way prescriptions with astigmatism would appear: -3.00 +2.50 x 90 +2.50 +1.00 x 135 The first prescription indicates that the individual has 3 diopters of near-sightedness with 2.5 diopters of astigmatism and an axis of 90 degrees. The second prescription refers that the individual having 2.5 diopters of farsightedness, 1 diopters of astigmatism, and an axis of 135 degrees.

9. Conclusion Your prescription may have notes from your Lasik surgery specialists. The lenses may be anti-reflective, progressive, or photochromic. Some of them may have a coating on them that makes them scratch-resistant. If the Latin abbreviations and mathematical numbers bother you, talk to your healthcare provider to clarify issues. A wise approach is to have your eyes examined at least once a year. This step is crucial if you want to maintain your eye health.