Prescription Contact Lenses—The Basics Of Reading Your Prescription

 

Your prescription contact lens helps you to buy contact lenses that meet your needs from opticians or online retailers. You should be given a prescription following a good contact lens fitting, if you have not been given a prescription, it is your legal right to have a copy in many countries, so please do not hesitate to ask your optician about it.

Let’s talk a bit more about prescription contact lenses and how to read them.

Do You Need Prescription To Wear Lenses?

When it comes to correcting your eyesight, the conclusion is yes, you need a prescription for contact lenses in the UK, as well as many other countries, and daily visits to the optician. However even if you do not legally require a prescription to purchase colored contact lenses, our optical specialist advises that an eye examination can help you pick the ones that better meet your needs. U.S. regulation is a little peculiar, since it allows any drug to be checked by the seller-but you can get around it by buying the contacts.

Basics Of Contacts Prescription

You will find your prescription on a sheet of paper given to you by your optician at a check-up, on the end/side of your contact lens case, or on a blister pack holding your contact lenses.

Here are a few things you may consider when reading your contacts prescription.

Base Curve (BC): The base curve represents the amount of fit required for the lens to match the curve of the eye; this is generally written in millimeters and sometimes with the words: flat, medium or steep.

Diameter (DIA): The diameter of a contact lens is also given in millimeters and specifies the thickness that best fits your eye.

Power/Sphere (PWR/SPH): This figure represents whether you are long or short-sighted as well as how much eye correction you need. If you're long-sighted, your figure will start with a + (plus sign) and if you're short-sighted, it will begin with a – (minus sign). It will be accompanied by a number that rises from 0 in 0.25 diopters, the greater the number, the stronger the visual rectification needed (this value can be displayed on the box as "PWR" or "D").

Wrapping Up

Here, we discussed whether you need a prescription for contact lenses and the basics of reading your prescription.

If you’re looking for prescription contact lenses in Kuwait, please get in touch with Kuwait Specialized Eye Center.

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