So, What Do Eye Test Numbers Really Mean?

Just as one pays regular visits to your local doctor and dentist, regular optometrist (or other trained eye professional) visits are a vital part of maintaining overall body health. Eye tests, of course, play an important role when determining the current state of your eyes. But it doesn't help if you don't know what eye test numbers stand for!

Various eye tests exist that check just about everything you can think of. The standard retinoscopy involves the use of the 'eye chart' we all know and love (to hate, that is -- it's the one with progressively smaller lines of characters) as well as lenses that are placed in front of the eyes to gauge what prescription may be required. Other tests include a battery of glaucoma examinations, slit-lamp test to determine the health of the eye, and a host of others. But the real question you're certainly asking yourself is, 'what exactly do eye test numbers mean?'

Vision tests, arguably the simplest test of eye health, determine the acuity of your visual perception. In other words, how well you can see. The eye test numbers are simply and indication of that. Standardized at a distance of twenty feet, this is the test that determines whether or not you have 20/20 vision. Basically, the top number (or first one in this case) represents the distance you are standing from the eye chart -- don't worry if this is not exactly twenty feet, because 'tricks' are available to allow optometrists to use smaller rooms (imagine having to have twenty foot long examination room!) while losing none of the test's efficacy. The bottom number represents how small an object you can see and this corresponds to the size of the chart's letters. Twenty-twenty vision is therefore considered normal vision because you can see at twenty feet something that the general populace would expect you to be able to see.

Only being able to see something at, say, 20/40 means that you're only able to see at 20 feet what typically should be viewable from 40 feet. Not so good, in other words. On the other hand, visual acuity of 30/20 means that you can see at thirty feet what most people can only see at 20, you over-achiever, you! So there you have it, you now know what eye test numbers represent. Impress your friends!

Thankfully, the links on the right of the page are not twenty feet away (maybe they should start testing vision measured in pixels), but you should be able to see them just fine. And if you can, why not follow them to one of any number of fantastic products like our contact lenses? Yeah, that's what we thought.

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