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20/20 vision – What Do These Numbers Mean?

20/20 vision – What Do These Numbers Mean?

A requisite of high stress living, coupled with over-exposure to digital devices, is to maintain a healthy balance. Therefore, it is necessary that people with high-stress lifestyles focus on getting regular check-ups to keep their health in check. Eyecare is one of the fundamental and most important aspects of modern living, in the wake of our exponential dependence on a digital lifestyle. It can be a daunting prospect for many, as eye check-ups are scary. However, when dealing with the best eye care specialists and products, these solutions are attainable and tailored to the best of your needs.

It always helps to know the basics of eye care and how check-ups work before walking into an appointment to know what your requirements are. The phrase ‘20-20’ vision is often one that recurrently makes an appearance when people refer to their eye exams. This result has become synonymous with perfect visual acuity, often finding its way into everyday conversation as a metaphor for great foresight as well. But what does it quantify? Let us understand the meaning of 20 20 vision and what these numbers mean.

What is 20 20 Vision?

As per definitions, 20 20 vision is a measurement or eye exam result for the visual acuity of a person. It is a fraction, one that is a called Snellen fraction, named after Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen. This visual acuity measurement system was developed by him in 1862, where letters of differing sizes were placed across the chart at a standard viewing distance of 20 feet or 6 metres from the reader.
Measuring visual acuity is a standard practice to understand the clarity of one’s eyesight, and if they require any corrective lenses or eyewear procedures for a better eyesight. To be able to discern letters on a standardized chart, placed at a contrast of black and white, can help you identify any lapses in your eyesight and whether they require corrections. Performed in ideal perceptive conditions, an eye exam may fail to identify any specific lapses in your visual acuity, such as:

• Your acuity with moving objects
• Your acuity with colored objects
• Being able to identify objects placed against a similar brightness

While some countries have specific methods to determine visual acuity, the Snellen visual acuity system is a reliable test for the same. It is still used to determine factors such as the sensitivity of the nerves in the retina, the focal ability of the cornea and lens, and the processing of perceived visual information by the brain. The quantified measurement of 20 20 vision stands for an individual who can read the smaller letters on the bottom of the eye chart with no faults. 20 20 vision stands for a person with normal visual acuity, one that requires no corrective or invasive procedures for better eyesight.

The 20 20 vision – line of letters is one that determines eye in normal visual acuity, whereas struggling to identify the letters above the 20 20 vision line such as the 20/40 lines stands for poorer visual acuity. If a subject’s eyesight is limited to being only able to identify the largest letter E on a Snellen visual acuity chart which is the 20/200 vision line, then they are considered legally blind.

Additionally, being able to read a small line of letters under the 20 20 vision line represents better than normal visual acuity such as 20/10 or 20/15.

Therefore, getting a 20 20 vision result on an eye exam on a Snellen chart represents that the subject has perfect eyesight which does not require any treatment or corrections. Having perfect eyesight with the amount of digital duress our eyes go through today can be a difficulty, but with reputed eye care providers such as Titan Eyeplus and their vast range of protective and corrective lenses, you can walk out of your eye appointment with an assured space to browse through for your style and prescriptions requirements, all under one space.

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