How to read my prescription

You won’t know what glasses you need without a proper prescription from your ophthalmologist. We will explain how to read that prescription in a simple way!

It can be a bit confusing to decipher what each number and chart means in your prescription.
The numbers describe the lenses you need to upgrade and correct your vision.

Every chart has two rows: one is for the right eye while the other is for the left eye. The precise description of the necessary eye correction for each eye is contained in four columns.

An explanation of the chart is below.

Abbreviations Explained:
SPH or Sphere
Alludes to the measure of circular error for your eyes, measured in quarters and followed by a (+) or (-). A (+) indicates that the prescription is for the farsighted while the (-) refers to the nearsighted.
CYL or Cylinder
Reflects astigmatism, a refractive mistake that causes blurry and obscured vision. This number is measured in quarters and followed by a (+) or (-). The number indicates the seriousness of astigmatism.
AXIS
Demonstrates the orientation of astigmatism in degrees of 1 to 180. The AXIS measurement gives you an idea which way the astigmatism is situated.
ADD or NV
This measure is used for reading correction, progressive, bifocal, or multifocal lenses and is also measured in quarters. This value must always be preceded by a positive sign (+) because it is for immediate vision enlarging.
O.D.
Refers to the right eye.
O.S.
Refers to the left eye.
PD or Pupillary Distance
Alludes to the separation, in millimeters, between the focal point of one pupil to the focal point of the other.