subject: Measure your Pupillary Distance (PD) online for free! A true world first [print this page] As many people are aware, the biggest barrier to buying glassesonline is perhaps the lack of the Pupillary Distance (PD) being included within the prescription. The PD is the distance between your pupils which is important for positioning the lenses when making up glasses. Without an accurate PD, your vision may be blurred and it can even be damaging to your eyes.
Although many blogs and consumer groups think the PD should be included, it is not a part of the prescription or a normal eye-test. Therefore, going slightly against the grain here, I have much sympathy with opticians as including this measurement would cost them additional time and money, aside from the loss of a glasses sale. Therefore, it is understandable why opticians typically do not provide PD's without a charge, and that the General Optical Council (GOC) is unlikely to force opticians to add the PD to prescriptions (with it not being a part of an eye-test), despite public pressure. Most opticians charge between 40 and 70 for your PD measurement although I have heard of some charging over 100.
You can measure your PD yourself or get a friend to do it by measuring the distance between your pupils although for the standard distance PD you should look into the distance (as your pupils will be slightly wider apart this way). The reading PD is usually about 4mm closer than this.
Many people try to pretend that you can measure your PD online but actually the world first with a patent pending, is by eyebuddy.co.uk, which interacts with their virtual try-on system. You still have to do a little work by adding a picture of yourself with a ruler, but it makes it very easy to measure your PD once this has been uploaded. It is a world first and a very clever bit of technology that may save you over 100 at your local optician and even more if you buy glasses from them. They also supply a full range of glasses lensesinclude Zeiss, Seiko, Essilor, Kodak, Hoya, Rodenstock and Nikon at the lowest prices online.
