What does cylinder mean on glasses prescription?

Cylinder (CYL) – This indicates the amount of lens power for astigmatism and represents the difference in the greatest and weakest powers of the eye, usually separated by 90 degrees.

What is the axis on a glasses prescription?

Axis is the lens meridian that has no cylinder power to correct astigmatism. The axis number helps your eye care provider to know the direction in which they should position a cylindrical power in the lenses of your glass.

Is cylinder bad eye prescription?

Higher numbers typically require more vision correction and therefore a stronger prescription. If you see CYL, which stands for “Cylinder” and “Axis” in your prescription, you friend, have astigmatism. Having astigmatism simply means that there is an imperfection in the spherical curvature of your eye.

How bad is a sphere prescription?

-3.00 diopters or less is mild. -3.00 to -6.00 diopters is moderate. -6.00 to -9.00 diopters is severe. -9.00 diopters or more is extreme.

What is a normal eye axis?

An eye doctor will examine an individual’s eyes to determine any vision problems or refractive errors. One aspect that eye doctors will consider is the eye axis. The axis is the lens meridian that does not contain cylinder power, defined by a number between 1 and 180 degrees.

What does Axis stand for on eyeglass prescription?

Eyeglass prescriptions contain a section after sphere, cylinder and axis called ADD which stands for Addition or additional power. The numbers in this field indicate the bifocal power of a prescription and are always written as a positive number.

What does sphere cylinder and Axis mean?

Sphere (SPH): The term “sphere” is essentially the degree of correction needed to correct your near or farsightedness. Cylinder (CYL): The number indicates the lens power needed to correct astigmatism in your eyes. Axis: The axis indicates the orientation of astigmatism, measured in degrees from 1 to 180.

What does DS on eyeglasses prescription mean?

DS stands for “diopter sphere.” If this appears in the 2nd and 3rd columns of your prescription, or if the columns are blank, you have no astigmatism. Meaning your left eye (OS) is slightly farsighted, needing a focus power of +1.25, and no astigmatism is present.

What is axis eye prescription average?

In reality, most “normal” eyes have about 0.50 diopters of negative cylinder power at axis 180 (horizontally), so a typical eye would have a prescription of plano (0.00 diopters sphere) -0.50 x 180.