Your PD, or pupillary distance, is important when ordering your glasses online, as it is the distance between your pupils, measured in millimetres.
This measurement is important to help us deliver the clearest possible vision in your new glasses.
Your PD is usually written as one value ( e.g. 64) but can be written as 32/32 if your eyes are a equal distance from the bridge of your nose, or written 31/34, if one eye is slightly further away than the other.
Average PD measurements for women are 62 with men at 64.
How to measure it yourself
We do encourage you to ask your optician for your PD measurement.
If your optician is reluctant to give you this, you can take a very simple measurement yourself by just using a normal ruler.
Use a normal MM ruler and standing at arm’s length from the mirror, put the 0 of the ruler level with the edge of your pupil nearest to your nose. Then, keeping the ruler in place, look straight ahead and read the measurement from the edge of your pupil in your other eye, but this time use the outside edge of the pupil (see diagram).
This will allow for a more accurate reading as it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint the centre of the pupil.