What OD and OS Mean? They are abbreviations for oculus dexter and oculus sinister, which are Latin terms for RIGHT EYE (OD) and LEFT EYE (OS). Your prescription also may have a column labeled \"OU.\" This is the abbreviation for the Latin term oculus uterque, which means \"both eyes.\" Your eyeglass prescription contains other terms and abbreviations as well. These include: Sphere (SPH). This indicates the amount of lens power, measured in diopters (D), prescribed to correct nearsightedness or farsightedness. If the number appearing under this heading has a minus sign (–), you are nearsighted; if the number has a plus sign (+) or is not preceded by a plus sign or a minus sign, you are farsighted. The term \"sphere\" means that the correction for nearsightedness or farsightedness is \"spherical,\" or equal in all meridians of the eye. Cylinder (CYL). This indicates the amount of lens power for astigmatism. If nothing appears in this column, either you have no astigmatism, or your astigmatism is so slight that it is not really necessary to correct it with your eyeglass lenses. Axis. This describes the lens meridian that contains no cylinder power to correct astigmatism. The axis is defined with a number from 1 to 180. The number 90 corresponds to the vertical meridian of the eye, and the number 180 corresponds to the horizontal meridian. If an eyeglass prescription includes cylinder power, it also must include an axis value, which follows the cyl power and is prec What OD and OS Mean? They are abbreviations for oculus dexter and oculus sinister, which are Latin terms for RIGHT EYE (OD) and LEFT EYE (OS). Your prescription also may have a column labeled \"OU.\" This is the abbreviation for the Latin term oculus uterque, which means \"both eyes.\" Your eyeglass prescription contains other terms and abbreviations as well. These include: Sphere (SPH). This indicates the amount of lens power, measured in diopters (D), prescribed to correct nearsightedness or farsightedness. If the number appearing under this heading has a minus sign (–), you are nearsighted; if the number has a plus sign (+) or is not preceded by a plus sign or a minus sign, you are farsighted. The term \"sphere\" means that the correction for nearsightedness or farsightedness is \"spherical,\" or equal in all meridians of the eye. Cylinder (CYL). This indicates the amount of lens power for astigmatism. If nothing appears in this column, either you have no astigmatism, or your astigmatism is so slight that it is not really necessary to correct it with your eyeglass lenses. Axis. This describes the lens meridian that contains no cylinder power to correct astigmatism. The axis is defined with a number from 1 to 180. The number 90 corresponds to the vertical meridian of the eye, and the number 180 corresponds to the horizontal meridian. If an eyeglass prescription includes cylinder power, it also must include an axis value, which follows the cyl power and is preceded by an \"x\" when written freehand. The axis is the lens meridian that is 90 degrees away from the meridian that contains the cylinder power.