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Understanding your prescription

Your prescription explained

Your prescription contains information about your eyes that is required to make the right lenses for you. This page should help you ensure that you've got everything you need before placing an order with us.

Commonly asked prescription questions

Common layouts of prescriptions

Here are some common prescription layouts that you might see. For each version, we have included how it should look when entering it on our website.

Less common prescription figures

Below are some examples of more unusual cases you may encounter, along with instructions for what to do if these ever apply to you.

If you need a prism for one or both eyes, it will look similar to this:

Example prescription with a prism

We can provide lenses with a prism correction, but you’ll need to contact us to discuss this.

Sometimes figures like this appear on your prescription. These are not needed to make your lenses:

Example prescription with 6/9 and N5 vision

Some prescriptions have this figure, which looks like a sideways 8. This means ‘infinity’. And you should select ‘infinity’ from the list:

Infinity symbol on prescription

This prescription has some figures scrawled underneath - these are additions for both intermediate and near distances. Even though it’s a single figure, it applies to both eyes:

Example prescription with single addition for both eyes

To enter this, you’ll need to use the “My prescription doesn't look like this” link to show the more advanced prescription area.

Sometimes opticians write ‘DS’ in the CYL column. This simply means there is no astigmatism, and you can enter either nothing (leave the field blank) or select the phrase DS in the drop-down:

Example prescription with DS written on it