How to measure your pupillary distance

Author: specsuperstore

Measuring your pupillary distance:

This measurement is the distance between the centre of your pupils that is measured in millimetres.

Opticians do not tend to give out this measurement as it encourages patients to buy their spectacles from them whereas you can buy cheap glasses or designer glasses at a fraction of the price online.

It is usually written as one measurement such as 60 (60mm) but can also be shown as R 29 L 31. When written like this it is the individual distance from you right and left pupils to the centre of your nose.

When Varifocals, High Prescriptions or Prisms are ordered the measurement is usually split individually. For most Single Vision prescriptions it is written as one value.

If you do not know this measurement and don’t want to measure it yourself then most online opticians will make your PD the national average (63) for men and (60) for women.

Asking a friend to help you measure your PD:

This is the easiest method for measuring you PD. With your friend sitting opposite you at the same height ask them to place a ruler across your forehead just above your eyes with the millimetre side facing upwards.

Next ask your friend to close their right eye and you then look directly into their left eye. Ask your friend to slide the ruler so that the zero value is in the centre of your right pupil and to keep the ruler very steady across your forehead. Then ask your friend to close their left eye and for you to look directly into their right eye.

Your friend will then read off the measurement to the centre of your left pupil. And that’s it! It really is that easy! Please see the diagram below to help you further.

Using your current glasses to measure your PD with help from a friend:

Put your glasses on so that they are comfortable and steady. Ask your friend to stand opposite you and mark on your lenses the position of your pupils with a non permanent marker.

You should now see two lines directly infront of you whilst wearing your spectacles. Take off your glasses and measure the distance between the two markings. And that’s it! If the measurement reads 6cm the PD distance will be 60. If the measurement is 6.3cm then your PD will be 63.

For Varifocal Measurement simply measure from your right eye to the middle of your nose and then from the middle of your nose to your left eye to obtain the required individual readings for your right eye and left eye. When buying non-prescription designer sunglasses this measurement is not applicable.

For more help you can download a pdf file on how to measure your pupillary distance from specsuperstore.

Ordering Varifocals with your pupillary distance measurement:

Varifocals are manufactured to house three prescriptions in one lens. They are Distance Vision, Intermediate Vision (Computer / VDU / Music) and Reading. They appear just like Single Vision Vision lenses but do a lot more!

When ordering Varifocals your Pupillary Distance (PD) is very important as the centres of the lenses must be in front of the centre of your pupils. We recommend that you obtain your PD from your Optician for these lenses or alternatively use a SpecSuperstore ruler to measure your own PD.

Please see our section on How to Measure your PD on how to do this. You will need to give individual measurements for each eye for Varifocals and this can be entered into our Additional Information box on the site when ordering. Please enter your Right eye Measurement and Left eye measurement in this box.

Or if you have an old pair of Varifocals that you were happy with simply send them to us with an order form (available online) with your name, address, telephone number and your prescription and we will be able to obtain the correct distance from your old lenses to fit into your new glasses.

We supply Standard Varifocals (Which have a standard reading and VDU area), Wide Varifocals (Which have a 30% wider reading and VDU area) and SuperWide Varifocals (Which have a very large reading and VDU area).

So depending on how much Reading or VDU / Music tasks you are doing a day please select the appropriate lens you require. Varifocals that have a standard reading area require you to follow or scan from left to right more the page or whatever you are looking at more than Wide or SuperWide Varifocals.

Then simply decide if you require or to have you lenses made thinner or choose from our range of coatings or tints to personalise your lenses further.

About the Author

SpecSuperstore help the public save £££s off their new prescription glasses online, designer glasses, sunglasses online, reading glasses, prescription sunglasses, spectacles, cheap prescription glasses,designer sunglasses, rimless, semi rimless, ladies glasses, gents glasses, women 's glasses, men 's glasses and all types of corrective eyewear at very low prices.