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What Is Sphere in a Contact Lens?

Contact lens prescriptions contain different numbers that have specific meanings and reflect the size and vision-correction strength of your lenses. "Sphere" is one of the categories of numbers.

  1. Features

    • Sphere is the number and measurement that reflects nearsightedness or farsightedness.

    Identification

    • Sphere can be written as SPH, Power or PWR on a contact lens prescription.

    Considerations

    • Contacts can be simply a sphere correction, or they also may have another set of numbers for astigmatism, an irregular curvature of the cornea.

    Nearsighted Sphere

    • Sphere power for nearsightedness is written with a (-) minus sign.

    Farsighted sphere

    • Sphere power for farsightedness is written with a (+) plus sign.

    No Sphere Power

    • Sphere also can be a zero or written as "plano" or "PL," if your contacts are toric and only correct for astigmatism.

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