CONTACT LENSES AND PRESCRIPTION
A contact lens prescription is given to you after a contact lens trial has been successfully completed and an optometrist or a contact lens optician is happy for you to carry on with those lenes. After every contact lens aftercare appointment you will be presented with your recent contact lens prescription. This indicates the power of your contact lenses and the type of lens that are suited for your eyes. It is a legal requirement that you are given a copy of your contact lens prescription at the end of the aftercare appointment. Please note that a contact lens prescription is not the same as your glasses prescription.
Your prescription will be made up of a number of numerical figures which can look confusing. Below is an example of what your contact lens prescription may look like. We at FLY like it keep things simple, so we have designed this page to help our customers understand their contact lens prescription better.
|
BC |
TD |
Sphere |
Cly |
Axis |
Contact lens Type |
VA |
|
|
R |
8.6 |
14.0 |
-1.00 |
-0.75 |
90 |
J&J 1 DAY ACUVUE MOIST FOR ASTIG |
6/6 |
|
L |
8.6 |
14.0 |
-1.50 |
J&J 1 DAY ACUVUE MOIST |
6/6 |
BC
BC stands for base curve, which indicates the curvature of the inside surface of you contact lens.
TD
TD stands for total diameter, this indicates the diameter of the contact lenses for your eyes.
Sphere
The lens power needed to correct short or long-sightedness. Its an equal power over the whole lens. Usually if the sign is (+) then you are long-sighted and if the sign is (-) you are short-sighted. The word plano (pl) or a (∞) symbol indicates no power is needed. The sphere, cylinder and add all increase in 0.25 steps.
Cylinder
The lens power to correct astigmatism. Astigmatism is where the eye needs corrective power in one angle/meridian only. Not everyone needs astigmatism corrected. Sometimes you might see DS in the CYL column, this simply means there is no astigmatism.
Axis
The direction of the cylinder. Between 0-180 degrees.
Add
The extra power of magnification required to help us see for near vision such as reading. Comes under High, Medium, or Low add which indicates the power. Usually given to patients over the age of 40.
Contact Lens Type
Indicates the the brand and type of contact lens your eyes are suited to.