LASIK Laser Eye Surgery Blog at Eye Surgery USA

Understanding Your Prescription

If you've seen the vision prescription your optometrist or ophthalmologist prepares following an eye exam, you've probably seen a series of positive or negative numbers, one for each eye. These values are known as diopters, and they typically measure the refractive power of your eyes on a scale of -14 to +14. A person with 20/20 vision will most likely have a reading of zero diopters. A person with myopia or nearsightedness would have a negative diopter value; a person diagnosed with hyperopia or farsightedness would have a positive diopter value.

Regardless of whether the number is negative or positive, a higher number indicates a higher refractive error. Your prescription specifies just how much vision correction is required to correct your particular vision problems.

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