What does my glasses prescription mean ?

Hi,

I've just had my eyes tested for the first time in years and I've been
told I need reading glasses. I'm curious to know what the prescription
means, and it states aas follows :

R : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
L : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50

There are other fields for CYL, Axis Inter-ADD and BVD but these are
blank, there also seems to be a whole section with LPrism and RPrism,
H-Dist, V-Dist H-Near and V-Near which has no entries at all.

Can anyone tell me what this all means or point me to a website where
all this is explained ? (I particularly want to know what SPH and ADD
mean).

Thanks,

David

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've just had my eyes tested for the first time in years and I've been
> told I need reading glasses. I'm curious to know what the prescription
> means, and it states aas follows :
>
> R : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
> L : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
>
> There are other fields for CYL, Axis Inter-ADD and BVD but these are
> blank, there also seems to be a whole section with LPrism and RPrism,
> H-Dist, V-Dist H-Near and V-Near which has no entries at all.
>
> Can anyone tell me what this all means or point me to a website where
> all this is explained ? (I particularly want to know what SPH and ADD
> mean).
>
> Thanks,
>
> David


It means as you get older, presbyopia has become apparent. Youve been
prescribed bifocals so you can see things up close. You could just buy
$8 reading glasses if you dont need or want bifocals. Much easier with
regular readers for the computer

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've just had my eyes tested for the first time in years and I've been
> told I need reading glasses. I'm curious to know what the prescription
> means, and it states aas follows :
>
> R : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
> L : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
>
> There are other fields for CYL, Axis Inter-ADD and BVD but these are
> blank, there also seems to be a whole section with LPrism and RPrism,
> H-Dist, V-Dist H-Near and V-Near which has no entries at all.
>
> Can anyone tell me what this all means or point me to a website where
> all this is explained ? (I particularly want to know what SPH and ADD
> mean).
>
> Thanks,
>
> David

You are mildly hyperopic/farsighted (+.75 sph) with a very
mild amount of presbyopia (inability to accommodatefocus
at near as we get into the 40's) though I suspect the add +.50 is
incorrect (probably more likely it is written +1.50 add).
Regardless, your prescription is pretty mild.

frank

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've just had my eyes tested for the first time in years and I've been
> told I need reading glasses. I'm curious to know what the
> prescription means, and it states aas follows :
>
> R : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
> L : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
>
> There are other fields for CYL, Axis Inter-ADD and BVD but these are
> blank, there also seems to be a whole section with LPrism and RPrism,
> H-Dist, V-Dist H-Near and V-Near which has no entries at all.
>
> Can anyone tell me what this all means or point me to a website where
> all this is explained ? (I particularly want to know what SPH and ADD
> mean).
>
> Thanks,
>
> David

I'll take a shot, but I'm not a doctor. SPH means "spherical"
correction, also known as "power". Plus numbers mean farsighted. Plus
lenses make close things optically farther, thus they are also used for
reading glasses. The ADD part is the bifocal or progressive part of
the prescription - it's the amount of additional plus power added at
the bottom of the lens to be used for reading or close work.

I think +0.75 would be considered mild farsightedness. The ADD part if
generally for people with presbyopia, where they can't accomodate as
much (your eyes accomodate from distance to close; with perfect eyes or
eyes corrected properly, the eyes are relaxed at distance. They "work"
for close up, and this ability degrades with age).

Negative SPH would indicate nearsightedness, the inability to focus far
away. CYL is there to correct astigmatism, where the power required is
different in different orientations. The AXIS indicates the
orientation.

Hope this helps. Like I said, I'm no doctor, so one might chime in if
I made a mistake.

--

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I've just had my eyes tested for the first time in years and I've been
> told I need reading glasses. I'm curious to know what the prescription
> means, and it states aas follows :
>
> R : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
> L : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
>
> There are other fields for CYL, Axis Inter-ADD and BVD but these are
> blank, there also seems to be a whole section with LPrism and RPrism,
> H-Dist, V-Dist H-Near and V-Near which has no entries at all.
>
> Can anyone tell me what this all means or point me to a website where
> all this is explained ? (I particularly want to know what SPH and ADD
> mean).
>
> Thanks,
>
> David
>

do a Google search using these search terms (all at once):
sphere cylinder axis

> > R : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
> > L : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50

Doh !

It should have been :

R : SPH +0.75, ADD +0.50
L : SPH +1.25, ADD +0.50

ie the left SPH is slightly more than the right.

....snip comprehensive reply...

> Your doctor should have explained what your problems were (what all
> that means) and why you need glasses, if not, call back and ask. But
> if he told you that you need readers and why, then the prescription is
> simply the way to tell the glasses fabricator what power of lenses to
> use.

Thanks for the reply, the optician did say I had slight farsightedness
and also Presbyopia. How can I tell from those numbers what strength
of reading glasses I need ? Does it make any difference that the value
of SPH is differend fro the right and left eyes ?

Thanks again,

David