What does my prescription mean?

Question

I went to the opticians/optometrist about 3 weeks ago and they gave me a prescription. She said I was shortsighted and i agree with what she said. I now have my glasses and I can see alot better now. On my prescription it says Right: Sph -1.00 Cyl -0.75 Axis 104
Left: Sph -0.75 Cyl -1.25 Axis 75

What does this mean? I've been looking at contact lenses/ glasses on websites such as specsavers and it asks for these 2 numbers (can't remember what they called them) and then power. I've heard of power before like when someone says that someone else's glasses are too strong or powerful but what does all this mean? What is my power? Also can someone tell me what number vision I have. You know like 20/20 vision is really good.

I mainly want to know what the prescription means. Lol I don't know anything really about this subject so bear with me so to speak. I'm 14 in 2 months if that helps...

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Your prescription (rx) means you are slightly short-sighted...

In an ideal world your eye would be round like a football but in yours (and 1000s of others, mine included) they are slightly more rugby ball shaped. So the sph power needs an extra power running at an axis to it to sharpen the image on the retina. This cyl (cylinder) power means you have an 'astigmatism' so therefore you are 'astigmatic'.

Spectacles can easily correct your type of rx.

You can get contact lenses that correct astigmatism but you may find just having a sph power could do the job fairly well. The contact lens optician would work out the 'best sphere' for your rx: Your right eye rx would be around -1.25 to -1.50. To get the best sph you 'add all of the sph and half the cyl'. With your left cyl at 1.25 it may be ok using best sph or possibly a contact lens to correct it fully.(toric contact lenses). Toric CLs are more expensive!

So power just referes to the strength of the spectacles needed to correct your rx. The written copy of your rx should have your vision recorded as something like 6/6 with specs and maybe 6/9 without. 6/6 is the same as 20/20.

This subject is a lot easier to explain with diagrams! I hope it was of some help and has made things clearer. I've re-read what I've written so I hope it doesn't ask more questions than it answered!

Answer 2

This is a weak prescription for you to wear. It is prescribed for far and near. It will make things more clear at a distance as well as close up. Emily doesn't quite get it. She thinks all plus prescriptions are for up close.

Answer 3

You need glasses definitely, but won't necessarily need to wear them full time. I started wearing mine full time when my prescription was -1.75 and -1.50. But I could barely read the board from the front row or see when a cute guy smiled at me in the hall! So needless to say I waited a long time.