Can anybody who wears prescription glasses help me make sense of what my prescription is?

ausmechkeyboards on 20/06/2014 - 13:54

My eyesight is deteriorating rapidly and its reached a point where I can't read normally in low-light conditions (including artificial light). I've been diagnosed with a disease in my cornea which will ultimately require surgical intervention.

I've never worn glasses in my life because prior to this my vision was perfect, and as such I have no experience with purchasing glasses or frames.

I've opted to buy reading glasses from Zenni Optical, however a lot of things just elude me.

I get to this portion of the buy screen: http://www.zennioptical.com/buy/452021-metal-alloy-half-rim-… and I'm not sure how to fill in the details.

The only record I have of my eyesight is the referral to a specialist, and the details are as follows:

Unaided distance acuities were R.6/9- L.6/6- which improved to R.6/7.5+ L.6/6 using: R.0.00/—0.75x165 L.+.0.75/-0.50x90

Can someone help me translate that data to the information that I enter into Zenni's website?

Thanks!

General Discussion

Comments

  • cypher67 on 20/06/2014 - 14:02

    Please reframe from extracting my empathy in your posts, I can't make blind/vision impaired jokes now :(

    None the less no I cant help you, no idea either. Good luck though, hope the surgery helps!

  • Smulder on 20/06/2014 - 14:31
    +4

    You should ask your optometrist for a copy of your prescription. They don't like to give them out, because they would prefer you to buy your glasses from them, but they will give it to you if you ask. The prescription will have the sphere, cylinder & axis numbers labelled, so you can easily fill out the details online.

    I would recommend getting your first pair of glasses from a shop-front optometrist though, rather than online. It may cost a bit more, but for the first time it is worth it, they will fit them for you etc.

    Good luck with your eyesight!

  • retiredfeline on 20/06/2014 - 14:54
    +1

    The acuities would be expressed as metres for you/metres for normal person. So 6/9 means what a normal person sees at 9m you have to approach to 6m. 6/6 vision is the metric equivalent of 20/20 vision in Imperial units.

    The numbers of interest however are the lens powers which are in dioptres. However I don't know why two dioptres per lens, or what the third number is. Astig correction? Maybe an optometrist OzBargainer can explain.

  • c64 on 20/06/2014 - 15:26
    +1

    you also need your PD looking straight ahead which needs to be measured by an optometrist or using a ruler (probably needs 2 people or possibly using a mirror + ruler in front of face + camera). your reading PD will be slightly smaller (narrower) than your long distance PD. most people have equally spaced pupils. if yours are not then you need individual PDs for left & right eyes.

    the 3 numbers for each eye correspond to 3 numbers you need to enter on the form. also, if you have a normal distance prescription then you need to compensate for reading distances (the NV-ADD field).

  • kawinuyo on 20/06/2014 - 19:14
    +2

    Hi I'm an orthoptist - can I ask you what corneal disease you have? This will affect whether it's even worth getting glasses if it is a p rogressive disease. The script that you have put up is very mild and the vision improvement is negligible if you are using both eyes …

    In terms of your question

    R.0.00/—0.75x165
    L.+.0.75/-0.50x90

    The first lot of numbers 0.00 and +0.75 is your sphere, The numbers after it is your cylinder -0.75 and -0.50 and the axis is 165 and 90.

    The cyl corrects astigmatism which is where your eye is not like a soccer ball but more like a football and the axis tells them where that bit it.

    You can ignore the ADD section from the website as that is for bifocals. You can also ignore the prisms as that is for people who have turns in their eyes. What mattgal said about IPD is right.

    Hope this helps.

    • ausmechkeyboards on 20/06/2014 - 23:23

      Hi there, I have Keratoconus, and yes it is progressive. However even if I need to buy new glasses every month its worth it. As it stands, I can't look at a screen for longer than 5 minutes after about 4pm.

  • mooney on 20/06/2014 - 23:40

    Hi, I also highly recommend you go through a bricks and mortar optom for at least your first pair. If cost is a concern both specsavers and opsm both have great entry priced options.

    You'll easily be able to get a nice looking pair from anywhere between $39 to $99 (complete, including lenses) just explain you don't want to upgrade the lens options or take anti reflective coatings. It'll also give you piece of mind as they'll sort out the PD measurements for you.

  • kawinuyo on 21/06/2014 - 01:45

    I'd recommend you going back to your ophthalmologist and not an optometrist. Changing glasses will only help in the early stages of keratoconus, you'd probably have to progress to contact lens to help keep the shape of your cornea, collagen crosslinking is also an option….

  • honeydew on 21/06/2014 - 19:04

    first pair free https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/143533 seems to still be valid.
    I made a mistake when entering my script and did not realise it until I received the them. They took care of it all, new lens, return postage.

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