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Understanding
 Your
 Prescription

Common vision impairments such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism are measured in units referred to as diopters. A diopter will be a whole number. This number represents the amount of adjustment needed to correct your vision. The numbers will increase with the intensity of your nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.

A typical prescription will look something like this:
-3.00 -1.50 X 180

The first number, -3.00 in this example, identifies the degree of your nearsightedness or farsighted. Nearsightedness is indicated by a negative sign, while farsightedness is indicated by a positive sign.

The second number you encounter, here -1.50, identifies your degree of astigmatism. This number may be written with a negative or positive sign.
The third number, 180 in the example, identifies where your astigmatism is located. 180 identifies the axis, letting you know that your astigmatism is horizontal. If the number were 90, the astigmatism would be in the vertical axis.

This prescription indicates that the patient is mildly nearsighted, with a moderate degree of astigmatism in a horizontal direction.

The Whitten Laser Eye staff will determine and help you understand your unique prescription, as well as the best options for improving your vision.





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