The significance of good eye health cannot be neglected. Preserving your eyesight in this digital world has become a dilemma; hence taking care of your eyes is now more critical than ever. Your eyes are one of the most vital parts of your body, and they should be taken care of well this is why doctors recommend getting your eyesight tested every two years.

While getting your eyes checked frequently is not tricky, understanding your eye prescription certainly. This article will help you to know the eye prescription for your prescription glasses or lens prescription. On the next visit to your ophthalmologist, you can understand what those numbers and abbreviations mean! All glasses made in USA have the same prescription, so this guide can be quite helpful for you!

Eye prescriptions contain multiple technical terms and difficult to decipher numbers that, apart from the optics and the ophthalmologist, no one seems to understand what it actually means. Wouldn’t it be great if you had the expertise of understanding glasses prescription? As someone who recently learned how to decipher eye prescriptions, it really does make a difference and makes you feel smarter. Plus, it makes you know more about yourself!

Grab your eye prescription if you have one nearby and have a glance. You will notice all the numbers on the prescription are listed below the two headings, i.e., OS and OD. These two headings are the abbreviations of Latin words whose meaning we will explain further in the article. In rare cases, you might even see a heading OU, a Latin abbreviation that holds a different meaning.

Usually, the farther away the number on your prescription is from zero, the weaker your eyesight is. It means you will require a strong vision correction to rectify your eyesight. Now you can see a + or a – sign in front of the numbers. What do they stand for? The plus sign indicates that you are farsighted, whereas the minus sign is an indication that you are nearsighted.

You can measure the diopter or "D" of your lens with these numbers. A diopter is a unit used to measure the focusing power or correction of the lens needed to rectify your vision.

Grab your eye prescription if you have one nearby and have a glance. You will notice all the numbers on the prescription are listed below the two headings, i.e., OS and OD. These two headings are the abbreviations of Latin words whose meaning we will explain further in the article. In rare cases, you might even see a heading OU, a Latin abbreviation that holds a different meaning.

Usually, the farther away the number on your prescription is from zero, the weaker your eyesight is. It means you will require a strong vision correction to rectify your eyesight. Now you can see a + or a – sign in front of the numbers. What do they stand for? The plus sign indicates that you are farsighted, whereas the minus sign is an indication that you are nearsighted.

You can measure the diopter or "D" of your lens with these numbers. A diopter is a unit used to measure the focusing power or correction of the lens needed to rectify your vision.

As mentioned above, all three of these terms are short for Latin terms. The abbreviation OS stands for Oculus Sinister, referring to the left eye. OD means Oculus Dextrus, which means the right eye. And the notation OU represents Oculus Uterque which means both eyes.

As mentioned above, all three of these terms are short for Latin terms. The abbreviation OS stands for Oculus Sinister, referring to the left eye. OD means Oculus Dextrus, which means the right eye. And the notation OU represents Oculus Uterque which means both eyes.

NV: This term is short for Near Vision. It is used to describe farsighted people who experience difficulty in reading and other tasks that require focus and sharp eyesight, such as cutting or stitching. NV is the amount of power that your reading glasses lens should possess.

DV: The term DV is the opposite of NV, which stands for Distant Vision. Unlike NV, DV does not indicate the power of the lens. Instead, it is an abbreviation that means whether a person is farsighted or shortsighted.

SV: This abbreviation is short for Single Vision. If you have a single vision prescription, you will be able to spot an SV on it. SV tells you you need a single vision lens, not the multifocal lens, bifocals, or progressive lenses.

These were the basic terms that are frequently seen in an eye prescription. Now that you know what they stand for let's get you familiar with the most common parameters in an eyesight prescription.

SPH: Meaning sphere, SPH refers to the power of the lens that is needed to fix your vision.

Prism: Represents people with a specific eye condition that makes them see two images of a single object. Prism indicates the power of the lens required to fix the double vision.

PD: Pupillary distance has two types Monocular PD and Binocular PD. The former represents the distance from the eye pupil to the middle of the nose, and the latter means the distance between the two pupils. Now you know how to measure pupillary distance too.

CYL: The distance between the greatest and weakest eye power is called CYL.

AXIS: This helps determine the direction of how the cylindrical power in the lens should be placed.

ADD: Used in bifocals, it represents the additional power you may require.

These are a great choice for people who require vision correction but don’t want to put on glasses all the time or undertake Lasik surgery. There are numerous forms of contact lenses to choose from.

Soft lenses are made using gel-like water that contains some plastics known as hydrogels. These kinds of lenses are pliable and very thin. This matrix enables them to fit in your eye’s front surface. An advanced kind of soft lens is silicone hydrogel lenses. These are more porous than an ordinary hydrogel lens and permit more oxygen to get to the cornea.

Hybrid contact lenses offer more comfort in comparison to soft and hydrogel lenses. However, they are not the number one choice for many people because they are difficult to fit. Besides, they are extra expensive to replace compared to others. Other contact lenses include gas permeable and PMMA lenses.

The right contact lenses must offer good vision by correcting your vision problem. They should also fit your eyes. The great thing about contact lenses is that they come in various combinations of curvature and diameter.

The difference between the contact lens and prescription glasses is that they have different powers, even for the same eyes. As the lens is placed directly on the eye and glasses are placed at a distance, they require a different prescription.

The base curve represents the curvature of the lens, whereas the diameter covers the entire size of a lens.

With a single vision lens, only the vision of one zone can be rectified. But a progressive lens can fix the vision of near, intermediate, and distant vision zones.

Finally, Let’s Look at Some Examples

-1.00: Nearsightedness by one diopter.

+2.00: Farsightedness by two diopters.

+3.50 + 1.25 x 45 (S x C x Axis): Astigmatic eyesight.

The farther the numbers are from zero, the higher the power of lenses!

Now that you know how to decipher your eyeglasses prescription, you can better understand how your vision works!

Before buying online glasses, it is necessary to have valid glasses prescription and measurements only from an eye care specialist.  You can scan your prescription and send it to the online retailer. Glasses measurements help you to find the perfect pair of glasses. You can find the right figures just by examining the temple arm of your existing sunglasses or eyeglasses.