Yes, there are two ways of writing a prescription for astigmatism. Some prescriptions are written in (-) cylinder and some are written in (+) cylinder. These prescriptions are equal even though they may not appear so.

People with astigmatism see ghost images or double images without their glasses on. In this condition, the cornea is not spherical, but is shaped more like a football or teaspoon. Light entering the eye is distorted by this lack of sphericity, causing blurry images and ghost images. Astigmatism is often combined with myopia or hyperopia.

Varilux lenses are available in a variety of different materials that will reduce both thickness and weight. Smaller frames also reduce lens thickness and weight. We at American Vision Care will consider prescription, frame size, and your individual lifestyle as factors in helping you decide which lens material will be best for you.

Your eyeglass prescription contains information regarding the lens power required to correct your vision problems. It consists of spherical power, cylindrical power, cylinder axis, bifocal addition, and prism power. Your prescription will contain only those numbers that are pertinent for your vision correction, for example if you do not have astigmatism, you would not have a cylindrical power and axis information in your prescription. Most prescriptions do not contain prism power.

A prescription for contact lenses will only include the cylinder and axis for toric lenses. If you have prescription parameters that include a cylinder and you do not use toric lenses, you may be looking at a prescription for eyeglasses. Please verify your prescription with your Eye Care Provider.

No, you cannot use your eyeglass prescription to order your contact lenses. Contact lens prescription and eyeglass prescription are different. It should be noted that the power of a contact lens would not necessarily be the same as that of a spectacle prescription due to the optics of a lens being closer to the eye.

After the completion of a patient's comprehensive eye examination, and upon the patient's request, a copy of the patient's prescription for eyeglasses shall be given, free of charge, to the patient or to another optometrist, ophthalmologist, or ophthalmic dispenser acting on the patient's behalf.

The VISX Star excimer laser received FDA approval for the treatment of up to -4.00 diopters of myopic astigmatism in early 1997. This will expand our ability to treat almost any combination of myopia with astigmatism.

There are two ways of writing the prescription; referred to as "plus-cyl" form or "minus-cyl" form. The plus cyl form, sometimes used by Ophthalmologists is written +1.50/+0.50 x 125 These are identical prescriptions, simply different ways of recording the same thing, even thought the final number in each prescription is different. To convert from "plus-cyl" form to "minus-cyl" form use the following steps: 1. Add the cylinder power to the sphere 2. Change the sign of the cylinder from + to - 3.

Spectacle lenses are made of two main types of materials - plastic or glass. Plastic lenses are often CR39 or polycarbonate. Both main materials come in a variety of refractive indexes, designed to minimise the thickness. HiIndex lens materials are commonly 1.56, 1.60 and 1.67, as compared to 1.523 for common crown glass. The refractive index of plastic lenses is capped at around 1.74, whereas glass lenses range up to an index of 1.9, making them potentially thinner.