Need help deciphering optometrist rx

[DavidPT40]

I recently had my eyes examined, so I decided to get a new rx dive mask. Can anyone help me decipher what this means?

OD-375-050 X 073
OD-350-025 X 045

The lenses for the mask I want range from -2 to -9. How do I know which to pick?

Thanks
David

 

[SDAnderson]

I recently had my eyes examined, so I decided to get a new rx dive mask. Can anyone help me decipher what this means?

OD-375-050 X 073
OD-350-025 X 045

The lenses for the mask I want range from -2 to -9. How do I know which to pick?

Thanks
David

Asking for medical advice on a scuba diving bulletin board probably counts as something less than optimal. (Yes, that's a pun. Personally, I think it's a great one but YRMV.) I would have thought that talking to the professional that wrote the prescription would be Plan A, but what the heck. You should assume that I am a clueless idiot with no know knowledge of what I'm talking about and that any vision difficulties you may be experiencing probably result from the great billowing clouds of smoke I'm blowing in your eyes, but here you go:

• Unless you have two right eyes, both lines shouldn't start with "OD." One probably reads "OS" - left eye. You might have two lines labeled OD but then there should also be two lines labeled OS.
• The -375 is the main correction value. Negative numbers mean nearsighted, positive numbers mean farsighted. To correlate to the mask lens, insert a decimal point to get -3.75, rounding off gives you -4. The -350 could go either way.
• The -050 is the correction for astigmatism. You've got a little bump on your eyeball that needs some additional correction. Your mask lens won't correct for this.
• The X073 tells where on your eye the little bump is located. Again, of no relevance when picking lenses for your mask.
• Assuming that the information you provided is complete and correct (and I don't think it is) you are a young person - given that there is no correction for presbyopia shown.

Make certain that your prescription was written for glasses, not contact lenses. The values can be different and that can result in putting the wrong lenses in your mask. All of this information and more should be readily available from the person that wrote the prescription. They would be a much better source for answers to your question than I will ever be.

 

[DavidPT40]

Thanks for the quick reply! You're right, now that I look at it, one of them is "OS" rather than "OD".

I agree that asking for medical advice on the net can be a bad idea. But I figured asking about my vision rx wouldn't be so bad. Afterall, there are people on the diving medicine forum all the time asking if they have the bends!

 

[CrazyScuba]

Yes, check with your doctor that wrote the RX to make sure. You also want to go down one level rather than up when picking a lens (example for the -375). Don't get a "stronger" RX, go down one to the weaker -3.50. The RX lenses that we have in stock come in .50 increments. Also, look for a mask that has optically ground tempered glass lenses, not the plastic, laminated kind. All of ours are optically ground and won't cause visual disturbances. You can get them for about $120, mask and two lenses.

You can get lenses ground to your specific RX for about $169 to $369.

Good luck!

Britt :fish:
:fish:

 

[vladimir]

I agree that asking for medical advice on the net can be a bad idea. But I figured asking about my vision rx wouldn't be so bad. Afterall, there are people on the diving medicine forum all the time asking if they have the bends!

:lol:

 

[scubatoys]

I've found that with the very slight astigmatism that you have, custom ground would not really be necessary. Our rule of thumb that has been tried and tested over the last years and 1000's of prescriptions masks is, if the second number is less than 100 - you can use the drop in lenses - if not do prescription. So in your case that 050 is very slight, and probably not worth the money to correct. if it was a 175... then you'd want to.

One mask we like doing for prescriptions a lot is the Tusa Splendive IV. What's nice about that mask is the lenses are bisymetrical. That means, let's suppose you have a -3.5 in one eye, and a -4 in the other. A year later, both eyes get a little worse and you now need a 4 and 4.5. While some masks have a left and right lens, this Tusa allows you to pull the 4 and swap it to the other side, then just buy 1 lens... the 4.5 for the other.