It's High Time We Stopped Referring to Plano as Non-Prescription

[Barry Santini]

0.00d *is* a prescription, IMHO.

It is just as valid a description of the eye's focus as any other dioptric lens power.

Discussion.

B

[AngeHamm]

0.00d *is* a prescription, IMHO.

It is just as valid s description if the eye's focus as any other dioptric lens power.

Discussion.

B

Plano doesn't mean "no prescription." It means the prescription is precisely zero.

[Robert_S]

I don't think I've ever had someone have an eye test and come out with 0.00/0.00 in both eyes, except for kids.

It isn't a prescription, because there isn't any correction. Do you not agree? (I only refer to it as plano, by the way).

[AdmiralKnight]

I guess it depends on when you're talking about it. I would say plano suns for instance are 'non prescription'. I don't know how $5 gas station sunglass lenses are made but I somehow doubt it's the same way we would surface a plano lens. Also, agreeing with Robert_S is saying, having someone refracted at exactly Plano ou is almost unheard of. I have, however, had to explain that difference to some patients. Especially contact lens wearers who want to put a plano lens into their Rx suns so they can wear them with their CLs, when they don't understand why it's 'so expensive' to make a non-rx lens.

[fjpod]

0.00d *is* a prescription, IMHO.

It is just as valid s description if the eye's focus as any other dioptric lens power.

Discussion.

B

Would love to agree with you, but the State of NY, for example, has declared that OTC bifocals (plano/add), can be sold because the law says...OTC readers must have only one focus point...and a Plano lens has no focus point, so a plano carrier bifocal may be sold.

There's more than one way to look at Plano.

[AdmiralKnight]

There's more than one way to look at Plano.

I think it's more that there's more than one way to look at what a clear, undistorted medium that we look through can be called. :D

Would we consider safety shields "plano" since they're just a solid, molded piece of plastic? What about the windshields in cars? Does the auto industry make them 'plano'? How about swim goggles that are bought off the shelf? I'm sure all of these manufacturers have to make sure that whoever is looking through their product can see as clearly as possible through them, but I doubt that they have the word plano in mind.

[chip anderson]

Actually isn't Plano Spanish for flat? Isn't Plano a town outside Dallas? Isn't Plano the name of a tackle box manufacturer"s. Technically a Plano is a powerless lens without curvature (at least if you can call something powerless a lens).

Chip

[CME4SPECS]

If that's the case, I can't sell 0.00 without a prescription. I can only sell non-prescription eyeglasses without a written rx.

0.00d *is* a prescription, IMHO.


It is just as valid s description if the eye's focus as any other dioptric lens power.

Discussion.

B

[finefocus]

0.00 isn't a prescription, any more than the numbers "-2.00 -1.00 x 180" are a prescription; they are lens powers.
Zero is just as exact as any other number.
Write those numbers on an Rx form, and have a qualified doctor sign it, and then it's a prescription.

[Robert_S]

Would love to agree with you, but the State of NY, for example, has declared that OTC bifocals (plano/add), can be sold because the law says...OTC readers must have only one focus point...and a Plano lens has no focus point, so a plano carrier bifocal may be sold.

There's more than one way to look at Plano.

Never base your opinions on what the State says. The nature of a state means it has an agenda, by definition.

Not that it isn't interesting, and important, to know what the State says.


Wouldn't prescribing plano be like a doctor prescribing no anti-biotics?

I guess then it is a prescription, since the patient is following instructions from the 'prescriber' (see below).


pre·scrip·tion (pr-skrpshn)n.

1. a. The act of establishing official rules, laws, or directions.
b. Something prescribed as a rule.

2. a. A written order, especially by a physician, for the preparation and administration of a medicine or other treatment.
b. A prescribed medicine or other treatment.
c. An ophthalmologist's or optometrist's written instruction, as for the grinding of corrective lenses.

3. A formula directing the preparation of something.
4. Law The process of acquiring title to property by reason of uninterrupted possession of specified duration. Also called positive prescription.
5. Law The limitation of time beyond which an action, debt, or crime is no longer valid or enforceable. Also called negative prescription.

[Barry Santini]

IMHO, not prescribing plano is skin to not informing a prrson when their temperature is 98.6, or blood pressure is 120/80

B

[gmc]

IMHO, not prescribing plano is skin to not informing a prrson when their temperature is 98.6, or blood pressure is 120/80

B

Sure, it's a prescription if a doctor writes it, but do you fill it except for plano suns, safety glasses, or some other special need?

Will plano clear leans in a freeform design with the best AR make someone that is 20/20 with a plano OU Rx see better?

Does the doctor tell the person with the temperature of 98.6 to take something for their temperature? Does the doctor tell the patient with 120/80 BP he needs medication?

What's your point Barry?

[Barry Santini]

My point, gmc, is about "knowing."
Both the patient and the dispenser should know exactly what the vision is, i.e., plano, -0.25, +0.25, etc.
It shouldn't be ever about guessing if there is any correction, like so many of us do every day.
And if having a slip that says 0.00D makes no sense to you to be defined or referred to as a prescription, then maybe, just maybe, it shouldn't be.
B

[Wes]

My point, gmc, is about "knowing."
Both the patient and the dispenser should know exactly what the vision is, i.e., plano, -0.25, +0.25, etc.
It shouldn't be ever about guessing if there is any correction, like so many of us do every day.
And if having a slip that says 0.00D makes no sense to you to be defined or referred to as a prescription, then maybe, just maybe, it shouldn't be.
B

This actually makes sense to me.

[fjpod]

My point, gmc, is about "knowing."
Both the patient and the dispenser should know exactly what the vision is, i.e., plano, -0.25, +0.25, etc.
It shouldn't be ever about guessing if there is any correction, like so many of us do every day.
And if having a slip that says 0.00D makes no sense to you to be defined or referred to as a prescription, then maybe, just maybe, it shouldn't be.
B

+.25 or -.25 is not necessarily a prescription. It is a refractive state. Most people with this don't need anything. If someone's refractive state is plano, that doesn't make it a prescription. A prescription is "doctor's orders".

Plano is really only relevant if combined with something else, say a cylinder.

[gmc]

Of course you should know if your patient needs a correction for their best VA. No one is questioning that.

But are you going to fill it? The word prescription by definition calls for a treatment.

We are really splitting hairs here. If the doctor writes plano OU on a prescription and signs it, then is it technically a prescription? I'll leave that question to the navel gazers among us.

[chip anderson]

Actually I think a literal translation or at least one from the Latin roots of Precription is: Recipe.

Chip

[Darryl Meister]

Keep in mind that the term "plano" refers to lens power, whereas the term "non-prescription" refers to a lens available without a prescription. The terms are only related to the extent that non-prescription lenses for distance vision, such as sunglasses, typically have plano power.

Although all "non-prescription" lenses may have nominally plano power for distance vision, not all "plano" lenses are non-prescription. And, of course, you can have a spectacle prescription with a plano distance correction that still includes a prescribed add power, a prism correction, a recommendation for a therapeutic tint, or whatever.

But an important distinction exists between a prescription with a "plano" power versus a "non-prescription" plano lens, mainly in the context of standards and regulations. Non-prescription sunglasses and over-the-counter readers, for instance, must adhere to different standards and are subject to different regulations in some regions than their plano prescription counterparts.

Best regards,
Darryl

[chip anderson]

One might mention that I have filled Rx's from all over the world and while I couldn't read a word of the written things on many of them, I could understand the numeric (Including: Plano, .00, 0.00, etc.) on almost all of them. If the Chinese written instructions said something I should have paid attentention to the patient is probably living without it.
Almost all numeric Rx's from anywhere are readable by any optician anywhere else, why rock the boat?

Chip

[Craig]

About 25 years ago- prior to working in the industry- I had an eye exam and the result was plano; I had them write out a script and used my eyewear benefit on plano Serengeti drivers.
What would happen today in that scenario? I am curious as we do not take any insurance.
Craig

[gmc]

About 25 years ago- prior to working in the industry- I had an eye exam and the result was plano; I had them write out a script and used my eyewear benefit on plano Serengeti drivers.
What would happen today in that scenario? I am curious as we do not take any insurance.
Craig

Most plans, at least the ones we deal with, require a correction of + or - 0.50 in at least one eye.

[Diane]

Several years back, the FDA wanted to de-regulate plano contact lenses. It was due in part because we, as ECP didn't correctly identify plano vs. non prescription. A plano contact lens can correct plenty, and certainly cause problems if not correctly fit on the patient. I realize that Barry is referring to spectacles, but I just wanted to throw this in. I've discussed it in many lectures on contact lenses. WE need to identify Plano.

Diane

[chip anderson]

Craig:
Whatever happened to the senario of the patient/customer reaching into his own pocket and paying for his eyewear (other than some occupational safety stuff?) Have we really reached the point where we expect the insureance company (o' de' govment) to pay for plano sunglasses?

Chip

[Barry Santini]

Several years back, the FDA wanted to de-regulate plano contact lenses. It was due in part because we, as ECP didn't correctly identify plano vs. non prescription. A plano contact lens can correct plenty, and certainly cause problems if not correctly fit on the patient. I realize that Barry is referring to spectacles, but I just wanted to throw this in. I've discussed it in many lectures on contact lenses. WE need to identify Plano.

Diane

Thanks for this Diane. Everyone is actually expanding on the point I started, which is what I wanted. It's clear from all the replies that we as an industry need to better define plano.

B

[J.P.]

Can you tell VSP this? Even tell them that 0.25 of a diopter IS considered a prescription of correction. LOL