When you have an eye exam you are often given a slip of paper containing your prescription. However, most of us do not know how to read this information as we are unfamiliar with the terms and solely rely on what is told to us by our optometrist.
Not all eye prescriptions are the same and there is a significant difference between glasses and contact lenses prescriptions. This is due to the fact that glasses rest approximately 1 to 2 centimetres from your eyes and contact lenses are placed directly on the surface of the eye, and also because contact lenses prescriptions contain information directly related to size and positioning of the lens. Overall, glasses prescriptions are a more accurate account of an individual’s visual conditions, given that glasses are able to accommodate for the correction of more complex conditions than contact lenses.
Example of a glasses prescription:
There are a lot of abbreviations used for medical terms and without knowing what these mean it is very difficult to read a prescription. Below is a list of the most commonly used terms and abbreviations:
Rowland C
Frances R
Lisa W
Hardat P
Miriam
Patricia G
Paulina U
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