DIY Glasses

December 10, 2009 1:11 PM

Can Someone Understand My Glasses Prescriptions?

I got a prescription for glasses (so I can drive) that reads:

OD -1.75DS
OS -1.50 -1050 x070 (or it could read OS -1.50 -050 x070)

I would like to purchases glasses from a low-cost online site that requires I fill out an online form with the following fields:

od-sph
od-cyl
od-axis
od-add
os-sph
os-cyl
os-axis
os-add
pd

Can someone tell me how, given my prescription, I should fill out the web form?

Thanks!

posted by Spurious to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

Reads as follows:
OD is spherical, -1.75 (right eye)
Your left eye has a slight astigmatism. OS -1.50 is followed by a cylinder measurement (cyl) and then folowed by an aXis measurement (x070) I would double check if your cylinder is -1.05 or -0.50. I'm not sure of this one, maybe someone can clarify it.

od-sph -1.75
od-cyl (leave blank)
od-axis (blank)
od-add (blank)
os-sph -1.50
os-cyl not sure, see above
os-axis 070
os-add (leave blank)
pd (pupillary distance)

The eyeglasses shops won't give you your PD. They know about online ordering and they can be total jerks about it. Your MD can do it. These are lightweights and I envy the cheap glasses you can get.
posted by cobaltnine at 1:32 PM on December 10, 2009

Here, read this.

Summary
- OD is your right eye, OS is your left.
- "sph" is "sphere"
- "cyl" is "cylinder"
- "axis" determines the rotation of the above from the vertical
- "add" is a flat addition of power to the sphere or cylinder for near vision (think bifocals)

I'll wait for someone with more experience to parse that out into what you need, but the wiki article is really good.
posted by valkyryn at 1:34 PM on December 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

For PD, it's really, really easy to have a friend figure this out for you. Try this link here.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:11 PM on December 10, 2009

(Also, some shops will give PD. It can't hurt to ask.)
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:12 PM on December 10, 2009

I've measured my own PD using one of the "guides" from one of those online sites and it turned out fine. And my eyes are REALLY bad.
posted by jckll at 2:57 PM on December 10, 2009

Response by poster: I am not worried about PD because I used the same prescription to get a pair from Costco. I am assuming that because the prescription didn't say a PD, Costco just used the default 63.

Clarification question:

The form does not let me select "leave blank" but they do let me select "0". Is that the same thing?
posted by Spurious at 3:07 PM on December 10, 2009