How to Choose the Right Lens. Single Vision, Progressive, or Readers?
Picking out new frames is the fun part. But before you fall in love with a pair, there's one decision that matters more than color or shape: the lens type inside them. The right lens is the difference between glasses you actually wear and glasses that live in a drawer.
Most prescriptions point you toward one of three options — single vision, progressive, or readers. Here's how to tell which one is yours, and how to read your prescription to be sure.
Start With Your Prescription
Pull out your most recent prescription (it should be less than two years old) and look for a few key markers. These small numbers and abbreviations tell you almost everything you need to know about which lens type will work for you.
The line labeled OD refers to your right eye, and OS refers to your left. SPH, or sphere, indicates the strength needed to correct nearsightedness (a negative number) or farsightedness (a positive number). CYL and Axis describe astigmatism, if you have it. The number that really determines your lens type, though, is ADD — short for "addition." This value, usually between +0.75 and +3.00, is the extra magnification your eyes need to focus up close. If there's a number in the ADD column, your eye doctor is telling you that you need help seeing at more than one distance.
That single detail is the fastest way to narrow down your lens type.
Single Vision Lenses
Single vision lenses correct for one distance — either far away, up close, or somewhere in the middle. The entire lens has the same prescription from top to bottom, which keeps them simple, affordable, and easy to adapt to.
You're probably a single vision candidate if your prescription has values in the SPH (and possibly CYL) columns but the ADD column is blank or missing entirely. This is the most common setup for people under 40, who typically only need correction for one distance. If you're nearsighted and want to see the road clearly, or farsighted and want to read a menu without squinting, single vision is almost always the answer.
Single vision lenses are also a great choice for computer glasses or task-specific eyewear, even if you wear progressives the rest of the time.
Progressive Lenses
Progressive lenses correct for multiple distances in a single lens — far away at the top, intermediate in the middle, and near at the bottom — with a smooth, invisible transition between zones. Unlike old-school bifocals, there's no visible line cutting across the lens.
You're likely a progressive candidate if your prescription includes a number in the ADD column. That ADD value tells the lab how much extra power to build into the reading portion of the lens. Most people start needing this extra help in their early to mid-40s, when the lens inside the eye loses some of its flexibility — a refractive error called presbyopia. If you've found yourself holding your phone farther away to read it, or taking your glasses off to see something up close, that's the cue.
Progressives take a few days to get used to. Your eyes learn to point through the right part of the lens for whatever you're looking at. Once they adjust, most people forget they're wearing them at all.
Readers
Readers are the simplest option: low-power magnifying lenses designed for close-up tasks like reading, knitting, or scrolling your phone. They're typically purchased over the counter, but you can also get prescription readers tailored to your eyes.
Readers make sense if you have no prescription for distance vision — meaning your SPH is +0.00 or close to it — but you've started struggling to focus on things up close. In that case, your eye doctor may simply write you a reading prescription with a single positive SPH value (like +1.50 or +2.00) and no ADD column at all, because there's nothing to "add" to. The full prescription is the reading power. A prescription is not required to order readers.
The catch with readers is that they only work at close range. Look up across the room and the world goes blurry. If you find yourself constantly pushing readers up onto your head, progressives might be a better long-term fit.
A Quick Cheat Sheet
If your prescription has SPH values but no ADD, you almost certainly want single vision. If your prescription has both SPH and ADD values, progressives will give you the most flexibility throughout the day. And if your prescription is just a small positive SPH number meant for close work, readers are likely all you need.
Still Not Sure?
When in doubt, the best move is to share a photo of your prescription with our team. (hello@peekeyewear.co) We'll walk through it with you and recommend the lens type that fits your daily routine — whether that's long hours at a screen, time outdoors, or a mix of both. The right lens should disappear into your day, not get in the way of it.
Your eyes do a lot of work. The lenses you put in front of them should make that work easier.
