"Eye care you can trust"

     A common misconception about vision is that 20/20 means you have perfect eyesight. Actually, however, it simply means that you have the ability to read a certain size letter at a 20 foot distance. It says nothing about the overall health of the eye. Furthermore, to have effective and comfortable vision, you must have many other visual skills.

     Twenty/Twenty vision means that a person sees a letter on an examination chart 20 feet away that is sized for a person with normal vision. If at this same distance he cannot read letters smaller than those read by a person with 20/20 vision at 40 feet, he is said to have 20/40 vision. Thus, the larger the denominator of the fraction the more blurred the vision. Some people have slightly better than normal visual acuity, indicated by a smaller denominator as in the fraction 20/15.

     It should be understood that a person having a visual acuity of 20/20 for distant objects does not necessarily have 20/20 vision for near ones. It is important to have good vision at all distances in order to properly meet all of your visual demands. Because the eyes constantly move, it is necessary to change focus smoothly and rapidly when looking from one distance to another. For example, 20/20 is not sufficient if it takes a long time to shift focus from the road to the road map. A few other visual skills necessary for good comfortable vision are:

1. The ability of the eyes to point quickly and accurately from one object to another, and to follow a moving object.

2. The ability of the eyes to work well together: both eyes must be able to converge rapidly or point simultaneously at objects as they move.

3. Good peripheral vison

4. The ability to judge relative distance and position of objects as well as see them clearly.

5. The ability of the brain to interpret what your eyes see quickly and efficiently.

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