Jun 15 2010
What contact lens prescription number is legally blind?
I’ve always wondered…you know the number on your prescription for contact lenses?? What counts as legally blind??
The severity of your prescription doesn’t have anything to do with whether you are legally blind or not. In the state of Oklahoma, legal blindness is defined as being unable to see better than 20/50 in the best eye with BEST CORRECTION. That means you could be EXTREMELY farsighted or nearsighted and as long as you are able to see better than 20/50 while wearing either eyeglasses or contact lenses then you would not be considered legally blind. The only exception to this would be if an individual had an eye disease that dramatically restricted their peripheral vision. In this situation the patient may have better than 20/50 central visual acuity but if they have restricted peripheral vision they could be considered to be legally blind. Each state sets its own standards as to what amount of acuity loss is necessary to be considered legally blind.
on 15 Jun 2010 at 3:57 pm
Anything worse than 20/200 that cannot be improved with corrective lenses.
http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20021031.html
References :
I am legally blind, I have no sight in one eye and the other is worse than 20/200
on 15 Jun 2010 at 4:19 pm
The severity of your prescription doesn’t have anything to do with whether you are legally blind or not. In the state of Oklahoma, legal blindness is defined as being unable to see better than 20/50 in the best eye with BEST CORRECTION. That means you could be EXTREMELY farsighted or nearsighted and as long as you are able to see better than 20/50 while wearing either eyeglasses or contact lenses then you would not be considered legally blind. The only exception to this would be if an individual had an eye disease that dramatically restricted their peripheral vision. In this situation the patient may have better than 20/50 central visual acuity but if they have restricted peripheral vision they could be considered to be legally blind. Each state sets its own standards as to what amount of acuity loss is necessary to be considered legally blind.
References :
Me. I am an optometric physician.