http://www.focusclinics.com Essential UK Guide to Laser Eye Surgery explains how to read your prescription and help know if you are suitable for LASIK laser eye surgery

1. The
Essential
Guide to
Laser Eye
Surgery
PART 2: Reading your prescription
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2. Normal sight: Distance vision is good because
focusing is exactly on the retina
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Normal eye Refractive errors

3. www.focusclinics.com
Refractive errors = needing glasses
• The effect of a refractive error is an image that falls somewhere
other than exactly on the retina at the back of your eyes.
Short sight

4. What does a prescription look like?
Example:
-3.00/-1.00 x 180
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5. A prescription has 3 basic numbers
Sphere (SPH) Cylinder (CYL) Axis
-3.00 -1.00 180
1 2 3
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6. A prescription has 3 basic numbers
1 Sphere (SPH) Cylinder (CYL) Axis
-3.00 -1.00 180
1 2 3
1. The basic correction, written as Sphere or SPH (because we correct it
with a spherical lens). The higher this first number, the worse the vision.
A minus means short sight and plus means long sight
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7. 2
A prescription has 3 basic numbers
Sphere (SPH) Cylinder (CYL) Axis
-3.00 -1.00 180
1 2 3
2. The amount of extra distortion from astigmatism, on top of the basic
blurring -written as Cylinder or CYL because we use a so-called
’cylindrical‘ lens to fix it.
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8. A prescription has 3 basic numbers
Sphere (SPH) Cylinder (CYL) Axis
3
-3.00 -1.00 180
1 2 3
3. The precise angle this cylinder lens should be tilted to give the sharpest
vision, written as Axis (between one degree and 180 degrees – 180 is
horizontal and 90 vertical).
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9. So what kind is this?
Example:
-3.00/-1.00 x 180
• This prescription is for short sight because it has a MINUS number first
(-3.00)
• There is a small amount of astigmatism because there is a second
number (-1.00)
• If there is no astigmatism, the second (and third) numbers are missing
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10. Presbyopia (ageing eyes)
•if you also require help
for reading, there will
be a FOURTH number
on your prescription
•this is found at the
end under ADD
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11. 4
Reading addition
Example:
Add
-3.00/-1.00 x 180 +2.00
• This reading part is called an ADD because it is in addition to your
distance prescription
• You can have this add built in to bifocal or varifocal glasses, or wear two
separate pairs, one for distance and one for reading
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12. www.focusclinics.com
This means YOU!
EVERYONE will need to wear glasses in their
lifetime, either for distance or reading or both!

13. Laser eye surgery
• All glasses problems can now
be treated with laser eye
surgery
• Biggest advances have been in
treating near vision for age
related presbyopia
• Reading correction is available
from FOCUS Laser Vision
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14. 0845 5000 500
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