How to Read My Prescription?

NV stands for near vision for reading or computer.
DV stands for long-distance vision for long-term wear or daily use. Doctors usually use this to distinguish different usages.
SV stands for Single Vision. The doctor uses this to tell you that you need single vision lenses, not bifocals or progressive lenses.

You need to know OD and OS. OD means “right eye” and OS means “left eye”.

If the SPH part of Rx has “flat” or “PL”, it means that no nearsightedness or hyperopia correction is required. When entering the prescription on the order form on our website, just leave it as zero or flat.

If the optometrist wrote “DS” or “SPH” or “Spherical” in the Cylinder space, it indicates no correction and should be entered as 0 on the order form. This means that the eyeball is spherical and has no oblongness, and consequently has no Cylinder or Axis values.

Balance indicates that the eye for which the designation is made, is not sighted, and that the same numbers should be entered in both eyes, in order to have the lenses matched in appearance and weight.

PAL, also known as progressive lenses. Due to the limited reading area of the progressive lens design, the addition of the prescription is increased by a quarter of the diopter (usually) to compensate by increasing the size of the image. It does not change the size of that part of the lens. If there are two additional values in your prescription (ADD+2.00 and ADD+2.25 PAL), then the bifocal eyes should use the additional value +2.00, and the progressive eyes should use the additional value +2.25.

Unfortunately, the prescriptions for contact lenses and glasses are different. The reason is simple, because the contact lens is worn directly on the eye, and the glasses are placed in front of the eye. Although the prescriptions look similar, they are different in strength and cannot be interchanged. For your safety, we cannot and will not use your contact lens prescription to make your glasses. We recommend that you contact your ophthalmologist to get your prescription for glasses.

For more information, please check our help center. We hope this information will help!