What Is Pupillary Distance? Why PD Is Important When Building Your Glasses?

Pupillary distance, also known as PD, is a length between each eye pupil's center and is millimeters. This measurement's accuracy is essential as an incorrect one can affect your eyesight, and you will find difficulties in focusing your eyes, giving you blurred vision. These distances help establish where you glance via the lens of your eyeglasses.

What are single PD and Double PD?

In millimeters, when one center of the pupil is measured to the other center, one number is referred to as a single PD. For an adult, the average range of a PD is 54mm to 74mm. For a child, the range differs, and for them, the average range is somewhere between 43mm and 58mm.

In millimeters, when a measurement is taken from each pupil's center to the center of the bridge of a nose, the two numbers obtained provide us with a dual PD. If we take a look at one of the measurements of a dual PD, it is 32/30. The left eye is relative to the second number, while the right eye is relative to the first.

Steps to follow while measuring your PD at home

Accurately taking PD measurements, demands skill and knowledge, which trained opticians to have. These opticians are professionals who are equipped with tools made, especially for taking the pupillary distance measurement. Hence they provide accurate and correct readings, making it safe for you to trust their reading.

However, measuring your pupillary distance is not the toughest job. It can easily and accurately be taken at home if you follow all the steps listed below in order and with precision. You can even ask a friend or a sibling to help you out with this. Let’s take a look at the steps required to measure the pupillary distance at home.

  1. A straight face stands directly in front of a mirror with a distance of 8 inches between you and the mirror. Take a millimeter ruler, and it has to be put against your eyebrow.
  2. Next, make sure to close your right eye and then position the zero mark on your ruler with your left pupil’s center.
  3. Do not move the head or disposition of the ruler.
  4. Close your left eye after you open your right one.
  5. Look straight in front and read the line on the millimeter ruler, which corresponds with your right pupil’s center.
  6. This number is representing your PD In millimeters.

You can easily shop for your eyeglasses frame when you know the pupillary distance measurement. Make sure you follow all the steps in order with perfection because, with incorrect pupillary distance measurement, you can mess your vision even more and cause eye health issues and distort your vision. Thus repeating the process is also more likely to give you accurate results. We hope you found this informative and helpful.