An addition to my previous reply:

I found an article in an online magazine for Optometrists which gives
a couple more clues about your query (http://www.optometry.co.uk/
articles/docs/April%2018%2008%20Clinical.pdf).

-- On page two, they note that not only different optometrists may get
different results, but the same optometrist could get a different
result on a different day: "Subjective refraction results, even when
performed by
experienced practitioners will vary, and although most vary by 0.25D
or less (~80%), others can differ by up to 0.50D (95%)...Subjective
refraction results are therefore not an absolute value and will vary
from test to retest separated by even a few days."  So that
cylindrical value did not necessarily change all that much (provided a
D = 1.00 on the optometrist's prescription); it sounds like 0.25
different is actually pretty negligible.

-- Section 3 on page 2 talks about changing cylindrical power.  I'm
not sure if it directly applies to your case or not, though.  They do
confirm the approximate equivalence between cylindrical and spherical
measurements: "lowest cylinder power (with appropriate spherical
equivalent) providing reasonable visual acuity."


On Aug 12, 7:51 pm, phillo <[email protected]> wrote:
> I visited 2 optometrists 1 year apart and now need to order new
> glasses but when I compared the newer prescription to the older 1 this
> particular difference jumped out but doesn't make sense:
>
> old script -   OD-CYL:-2.00
>
> new script-  OD-CYL:-1.75
>
> I'm assuming that closer to 0 = less correction so -2.00 should be the
> newer prescription/more correction but I'm having a hard time
> validating or negating this assumption online and I'm in contact with
> neither of the optometrists that examined me.  If anyone could clarify
> I'd really appreciate it.
>
> FYI COMPLETE PRESCRIPTIONS
>
> Old script:
> ____________
> OD-SPH:-0.25
> OD-CYL:-2.00
> OD-AXIS: 95
> ---------------------
> OS-SPH:-.50
> OS-CYL:-1.50
> OS-AXIS: 80
>
> New script:
> ____________
> OD-SPH:-0.75
> OD-CYL:-1.75
> OD-AXIS: 95
> ---------------------
> OS-SPH:-1.25
> OS-CYL:-1.75
> OS-AXIS: 80

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