How do I read my prescription?

A plus (+) sign next to the number refers to farsightedness correction.

A minus (-) is used to correct nearsightedness.

Right eye & Left eye - OD is short for oculus dextrous which means your right eye, OS is short for oculus sinister which means your left eye.

OU - short for oculus uterque which means the same values for both eyes

Distance Vision - DV is the portion of your prescription which corrects your ability to see things far away.

Near Vision - NV means your prescription is for reading only.

Measured in diopters, the number under this header refers to the lens power necessary for each eye. A minus (-) is used to correct nearsightedness. A plus (+) sign next to the number refers to farsightedness correction.

The lens power (also diopters) used to correct astigmatism. If you have no astigmatism or very slight one, nothing will appear under this column. Just like with Sphere, minus is used to indicate lens power for nearsighted astigmatism, plus is for farsighted astigmatism.

Like Cylinder, this only applies to astigmatism prescriptions. The numbers under this column refer to angle degrees (1 to 180) and not diopters. If your prescription includes Cylinder lens power, it must include Axis as well.

Only used for multifocal (progressive/bifocal) lenses. It refers to the added magnifying power applied to the bottom of the lens in multifocal lenses. PAL is used in some cases by eye doctors when the addition for progressive lenses is different compared to bifocals.

The distance between your pupils in millimeters. If your prescription does not include a PD, please leave it at 62 for single vision & progressives. For bifocals and reading glasses, please provide the Near PD when applicable, otherwise you can leave it at 59. You can also measure it manually.

If your PD has 2 numbers (33/31 for example), the numbers indicate the distance between the center of each pupil to the bridge of your nose. The first number is always for the right eye, the second is for the left eye.

Means blindness in one eye. In this case put the same values for Both eyes (OD & OS).

The prismatic power needed to compensate for eye alignment issues (double vision or lazy eye). Caused by muscular imbalance. The prism Rx will have two values: PRISM & BASE - The base can go Up, Down, In, or Out. If there is a prism, it must have a base as well!

None, no values; You can have this value written in the sphere field, and still have cylinder & axis values, and vice versa.