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How Do You Know Your Eyeglass Prescription Is Accurate?

How Do You Know Your Eyeglass Prescription Is Accurate?

While wearing the wrong prescription will not cause lasting damage to your eyes, it can still cause serious discomfort and interfere with your daily life.

If you just got a new pair of glasses, you might notice things look and feel a little different. While it's normal for your eyes to need time to adapt to a new prescription, it's also possible that you have the wrong lenses. But how do you know your prescription is accurate?

This guide will provide a quick checklist you can use to determine whether you have the right prescription — and what to do if you believe you have the wrong one.

5 Common Signs of an Incorrect Prescription

Some signs you might be wearing the wrong prescription lenses include:

  1. Extreme blurred vision: Your environment may look hazy or blurry if you're wearing the wrong lenses.
  2. Unexplained nausea or vertigo: It's common for people without underlying conditions to feel dizzy or nauseated if they're wearing the wrong prescription.
  3. Headaches: Wearing the wrong lenses can cause serious eye strain, which often leads to headaches in the front of your head. You may notice that your headaches become more frequent, or that they come on only when you're wearing your glasses.
  4. Squinting: If you have to squint or strain to see clearly through your new lenses, you likely need a different prescription.
  5. Poor vision in one eye: Cover or close one eye while wearing your glasses, then try the same test with the other. If things still look blurry, you may have the wrong lenses.

You might notice these issues subsiding or going away entirely after a few days. If any of these symptoms persist beyond the recommended adjustment period, though, see your eye care provider.

How Long Is the Adjustment Period for Eyeglasses?

Typically, your eyes should adjust to your new glasses within a few minutes to a few days. Even if your prescription has stayed the same, you will likely experience an adjustment period if you switch frames. For example, wrap-around frames typically have a more curved lens that can alter your peripheral vision.

Sometimes, though, the adjustment period can last longer due to more substantial changes. You might need to let your eyes adapt for an additional two to six weeks if:

  • This is your first pair of glasses.
  • Your prescription has changed significantly.
  • You switch to multifocal or progressive lenses.
It may take 2-6 weeks to adapt to your new glasses.

For the best possible results, make sure you wear your glasses consistently throughout this period. After all, if you don't wear your glasses like you're supposed to, you're not giving your eyes the proper chance to adjust.

How to Identify an Incorrect Prescription Early

While you should wait to see if your eyes adjust successfully within the time frame your optometrist recommends, you can sometimes identify serious prescription errors early based on the extent of how they make you feel.

Especially severe or long-lasting symptoms are sure signs of an incorrect prescription, but even a slight suspicion that something is off is often enough. Remember — these are your eyes. You know your body well enough to know when something is really wrong, so trust yourself and bring your concerns to your eye care provider if you experience severe symptoms.

Understanding Your Eye Prescription

Understanding the different parts of your eyeglass prescription is necessary to identify the issue and help you explain it more clearly to your optometrist. Each of the following measurements is typically assigned to either your oculus sinister (left eye) or your oculus dexter (right eye).

The three most important elements in an eye prescription include:

  • Sphere (SPH): This number indicates how powerful the lenses should be for you to see correctly. A prescription for farsightedness (hyperopia) will have a plus symbol in front of it, while one for nearsightedness (myopia) will have a minus symbol.
  • Cylinder (CYL): This number indicates the lens power you need to correct astigmatism, which is when your vision is blurry at any distance. The higher the number, the more severe your astigmatism. No number indicates you do not have astigmatism.
  • Axis: This number indicates the correct lens angle for correcting astigmatism.

Of course, there are other factors that play into your prescription. Your prescription scale, for example, is an important measurement to pay attention to because it denotes how strong your prescription is in each eye.

What Causes Lens Prescription Errors?

Although eye care professionals do their best to ensure every patient gets the right glasses every time, errors do happen. Even a small mistake, like a single misinterpreted digit, can cause major variations in prescription strength in one or both eyes.

Some of the most common causes of prescription errors include:

  • Typos in the provider's computer system.
  • A misread of a handwritten prescription.
  • Incorrect measurements.

Sometimes, external factors can also impact your exam results. Scheduling an eye appointment after a long day at work or school can make your vision seem worse during the exam due to work-related strain — and the optometrist might write a prescription that is too strong to compensate.

A good optometrist should be open to helping you if you think their original measurements were incorrect.

What Should You Do if You Think Your Prescription Is Wrong?

If you think you have an incorrect prescription, follow these steps:

  1. Verify your prescription: Find your written prescription and review it.
  2. Check your glasses: Confirm that your glasses match the information on your prescription.
  3. Contact your provider: They'll likely want to bring you in for an exam or adjustment so they can figure out what might be the issue.

It's typically best to stick with the provider you went to originally. They already have a relationship with you and can reference their original notes from your exam.

However, if you feel you need to go to another provider, finding one that works with a lens store is an incredibly convenient option. You can bring your new prescription into the store immediately after your appointment and get your new lenses made in a moment.

Get Your Eyeglasses Checked at Eyemart Express

Find A Store

Are you questioning whether you have the right prescription? Do you want help finding the perfect frames for your lenses?

That's where Eyemart Express comes in. Our knowledgeable team can help you determine whether you have the right prescription and help you replace your glasses if needed.

We partner with local independent eye care providers so that you can get your new glasses in a blink. We're also happy to make adjustments in-store if you like — just bring in your existing pair and tell one of our Eyewear Experts what you need.

Book an exam or visit your nearest location today!

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