What Does OD Sphere Mean?

Submitted by salandvision on March 18, 2020 - 6:46 pm

OD sphere is a term used for an eyeglass prescription. OD is an abbreviation for Oculus Dexter which is the Latin term for right eye. The term “sphere” means that the correction for nearsightedness or farsightedness is spherical, meaning equal in all meridians of the eye.

On your eyeglass prescription, the value under the column OD Sphere (or OD SPH) indicates the amount of lens power, measured in diopters (D), prescribed to correct your nearsightedness or farsightedness. If the value has a minus sign (-), you are nearsighted; if the number has a plus sign (+) or is not preceded by a plus sign or a minus sign, you are farsighted.

There are many other abbreviations on your eyeglass prescription. OS is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase Oculus Sinister, meaning left eye.

Your prescription may have values shown for Cylinder (CYL) and Axis (AXI). These numbers indicate astigmatism. 

Sometimes your prescription may also contain PD, which indicates the pupillary distance. It is the distance from the center of one pupil of the eye to the center of the pupil of another eye and is measured in millimeters (mm).

If you are getting bifocals or progressive lenses, there will be a number listed for ADD. This number is the amount of additional correction your eyes need to focus at close distance and will always be a positive number.

To learn more about eyeglass prescriptions or to schedule an eye exam with Dr. Saland, contact Saland Vision by calling 214-691-8000 or visiting website.