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PD / Pupillary Distance

How to get your PD measurement

The PD/Pupillary Distance is the distance between your pupils, it ensures the correct centration of your Prescription lenses in front of your eyes.

The most common method used to measure the PD involves a simple millimetre ruler. Normally the Optician holds the ruler between thumb and forefinger and steadies his hand by placing his remaining three fingers against the patient's head. The Optician then closes his right eye. The patient is instructed to look at the opticians open left eye while the optician lines up the zero mark on the ruler with the edge of the iris in the patients right eye. The optician then closes his left eye and opens his right eye and instructs the patient to look at the open right eye. The PD is then measured at the edge of the Iris in the patients left eye.

You can contact your optician for this measurement or if you have a spare pair of glasses that are in good condition with both lenses still in the frame you can choose to send these with your order when entering your prescription values by selecting one of the 'Send glasses for PD check' options (this is either free or £5 depending on the option selected). Once you have placed your order, please send them to us together with a print out of your order, we will record the pupillary distance measurement from these to ensure accurate centration of your lenses.

On average the PD in an adult is usually between 60 and 66 millimetres. (see diagram). You are welcome to leave the Pupillary Distance (PD) at 63mm however it Is advised to get this from your optician or from previous spectacles, alternatively you can measure your pupillary distance (PD) yourself using the instructions above.

You can also add a note in the additional info box when ordering to list your mono PD measurements if you wish, this will be useful if ordering Varifocals/Progressive lenses.

PD/Pupillary Distance with Mono PD Ruler

Normally the Optician holds the ruler between thumb and forefinger and steadies his hand by placing his remaining three fingers against the patient's head. The Optician then closes his right eye. The patient is instructed to look at the opticians open left eye while the optician lines up the millimetre mark on the ruler with the centre of the patients right eye (Pupil). The optician then closes his left eye and opens his right eye and instructs the patient to look at the open right eye. The optician lines up the millimetre mark on the ruler with the centre of the patients left eye (Pupil).

Add these two numbers together to obtain your PD/Pupillary Distance, for example if you had RE; 32mm and LE; 33mm you would enter a PD/Pupillary Distance of 65mm, On average the PD in an adult is usually between 60 and 66 millimetres.

You can also add a note in the additional info box when ordering to list your mono PD measurements if you wish, this will be useful if ordering Varifocals/Progressive lenses.