Optometrists are seeing is an increasing number of patients purchasing their eyewear from online sources. If you are one of the patients who uses online services to purchase your prescription eyewear, then there are a few things you should know before your in office optometrist appointment to make that purchase easier.
Distance Between Your Pupils
Of all the questions you will be asked when placing your online prescription eyewear order, this is the most important. The measurement allows the lenses to be seated and centered with your pupil. If this measurement is incorrect, the lenses will not be evenly centered with your pupil and could cause your prescription to not work properly. Your optometrist may or may not list this on your prescription. If it isn't there, ask them for it and they can either do the measurement for you and give you the number or just write the number on the prescription for you if they already know it.
Special Prescription
Make sure to ask if your prescription is a special or unique prescription. This means that it has something that may be out of the ordinary when compared to traditional prescription lens orders. For example, you may have an issue with one eye that is not in the other eye. This discrepancy may cause the prescription for one lens to look very different from the other. Not only does this look odd to online eyewear providers, it may also be something they won't be able to fill. Remember, most online providers will have a notice about certain prescriptions they can't fill or limitations they have.
Know Your Lens Type
One thing that many of the online eyewear providers point out is the need to know your lens type. There are two types of lenses. The first is the single vision lens. This is a lens that has only one type of correction ability. For example, if you only have nearsighted issues, then you likely will have single vision lenses to correct that single problem. The other type of lens is a multifocal lens. This lens can be adapted to correct multiple eye issues.
These are just a few of the things you should know when ordering prescription eyewear online. Every company has their own set of questions and guidelines for ordering. To make sure you have everything you need, check with your chosen online supplier and convey that information at your optometrist appointment.
