Eye Exams For Glasses - Atlanta Georgia
When getting a new pair of eyeglasses you will first need to have your eyes examined to receive a presciption. During your examination several steps will be taken to give you the exact prescription that will be used to give you the best eye sight in your new glasses. The eye doctor will first conduct an external examination of the eye and then proceed to test the visual acuity of your eyes. This will be done by placing the patient 20 feet away from a board or projection of letters on a screen. The patient will be tested for refractive errors by using a seriers of lens powers. The patient will be tested for many common diseases and disorders such as; Amblyopia (lazy eye), Diplopia (double vision), Myopia (nearsightedness), Hyperopia (farsightedness), Presbyopia (diminishing vision with age), Strabismus (errors in alignment of the eyes), Astigmatism (toric curvature of cornea).
Understanding your Eyeglasses Prescription
Your prescription will be composed of several parts. The first two parts are the OD & the OS portion of your prescription pad. The OD (Oculus Dexter) will be listed first and is giving you information for your right eye. The OS (Oculum Sinister) is listed second on the prescription pad is giving you information about your left eye. You also may see OU (Oculus Uterque) which stands for both eyes.
The next section is the SPH (Sphere) portion of your prescription. Sample 1 shows the first column with the SPH section as a -1.50 for the right eye and a -1.25 for the left eye. The Sphere is giving you information on wether or not you have a need for distance correction or for nearsightedness correction. A myopic patient will have a minus sign (-) in the sphere section which will indicate a need for distance correction. A hyperopic patient will have a plus (+) sign in the sphere section of your prescription will show a need for near vision correction. The larger this number the sphere number is the stronger your prescription will be. The more a distance prescription (minus) the thicker the lenses will be on the edges. A higher plus prescription will increase the center thickness of the lenses. You may also be given a PL or 0.00 in the sphere section which means that there is no need for correcting earsightedness or farsightedness.
The cylinder is the portion that generally talks about the irregularity of your cornea and the way it refracts light. Curvature in the lens of your eye can cause blurred vision and your eyeglass lenses need to correct for this. The axis portion of the prescription tells us the angle of degrees the cylinder needs to be in order to correct the vision. The two work together, the cylinder tells us how much correction needs to be done and the axis tells us at what point it needs to be done at.
The final section is the near vision portion of the prescription. You will see this as either "DISTANCE" or "ADD" on the prescription pad. This section tells us how much correction, if any, is needed for near vision. This section is mostly used to provide a patient with bifocal or progressive lenses which will have correction for distance and near vision.
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