HOW TO INTERPRET YOUR PRESCRIPTION

Here are some common abbreviations found in ophthalmic/optometric prescriptions:

  • OD: Right Eye
  • OE: Left Eye
  • AO: Both Eyes
  • ADD: Addition
  • ESF: Sphere
  • CIL: Cylinder
  • EIXO: Axis
  • DNP: Naso-pupillary Distance
  • VL: Distance Vision
  • VP: Near Vision

Sphere: Represents the degree of myopia* or hyperopia*;

Cylinder: Represents the degree of astigmatism (can be represented with a negative or positive sign)* and the axis represents the direction of astigmatism compensation;

Addition: This is the value added to distance vision to correct near vision in patients with presbyopia.

Naso-pupillary distance: distance from the center of each pupil to the center of the nose. It can also be represented as IPD (inter-pupillary distance), which is the distance between both pupils.

*When the value in the "Cylinder" field is negative (-), the astigmatism is compensated by a negative cylinder and it can be stated that:

- If the sign preceding the value in the "Sphere" field is negative (-), we are dealing with myopia;

- On the other hand, if the sign preceding the value is positive (+), we are dealing with hyperopia.