If you're legally blind, your vision is 20/200 or less in your better eye or your field of vision is less than 20 degrees. That means if an object is 200 feet away, you have to stand 20 feet from it in order to see it clearly. But a person with normal vision can stand 200 feet away and see that object perfectly.
Visual acuity less than 20/200 is considered legally blind, but to actually fit the definition, the person must not be able to attain 20/200 vision even with prescription eyewear. Many people who would be legally blind without eyewear can function well in everyday life with appropriate glasses or contact lenses.
In order to be legally blind, you must have a visual acuity of 20/200. This means that even with glasses or contacts, you can only read the first letter at the top of the Snellen Chart, if that. You can also be legally blind if you can see, but only in a very small window in your eye.
Legal blindness means that your visual acuity is worse than 20/200 or a visual field that is less than 20 degrees even with the best possible correction. In order words, if your prescription is -2.5 or lower, this means that you are legally blind.
And to be deemed "legally blind," their vision must be bad enough that they meet one of two standards: They must have a visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the eye they can see out of best (while wearing corrective glasses or contacts) or have a visual field of no more than 20 degrees.
A -5 eye and a -7 eye are not much differently at risk, but both are significantly more at risk of retinal problems than a more normal, non-myopic eye. These are rare, though, so no cause for alarm.
The difference between mild and severe nearsightedness is just a few inches. Those with mild nearsightedness (-2 prescription) start to have blurry vision for objects more than 20 inches away, and those who are very highly nearsighted (-8 prescription) start to see blur for objects more than 5 inches away.
If your prescription is -2.5 or lower, this means that you are legally blind. Visual acuity of -2.5 is equivalent to 20/200 vision. Visual acuity of -3.0, for instance, means that you have 20/250 or 20/300 vision. From there, visual acuity of -4.0 means that you have 20/400 vision.
First: What does it mean to be "legally blind?" In most states, if you have distance visual acuity less than 20/200 that is not correctable with glasses/contact lenses, you are legally considered to be "severely visually handicapped" (which used to be called "legally blind").
A lens Rx for -14 Diopters tells us you have a very, very high degree of nearsightedness (myopia). This would be considered in the "severe" range.
Legal blindness is not black blindness. Rather, you are considered legally blind if you can't see at six metres with both eyes (with glasses if required) what someone with normal vision can see at 60 metres, and/or if your field of vision is less than 20 degrees in diameter in your eye with better vision.
The definition of legal blindness is 20/200 vision WITH correction. If you see better than 20/200 with your -7.00 on you are NOT legally blind. If you were -100.00 and could see better than 20/200 with your glasses you would not be legally blind either.
Legally blind in the US is best corrected vision (with glasses or contacts) that is 20/200 or worse OR visual field limited to 20 degrees (meaning loss of peripheral vision).
Since being legally blind is determined by visual acuity and field of vision, this generally means that those with a prescription of -2.5 or lower in either or both eyes are considered legally blind.
Legally blind means a person has a corrected vision of 20/200 in their best-seeing eye. If visual aids such as glasses can correct a person's vision to 20/20, they are not considered legally blind. Totally blind refers to a complete loss of sight.
For an applicant to qualify for Social Security Disability benefits for a visual impairment, he or she must be considered legally blind and meet one of the two following requirements from the Blue Book: Section 2.02: The applicant must have vision worse than 20/200 in the better eye.
If a visual impairment limits vision to 20/200, or one-tenth of normal vision, a person is considered legally blind. Being legally blind, however, does not mean a person is totally unable to see.
Having a prescription of -8.50D just means you are very short-sighted and as long as you can see around 20/20 with Spectacles or contact lens, you are not legally blind. If when wearing spectacles or contact lenses and the vision in one eye is 20/200 or worse then you would be legally blind.
If your vision is worse than 20/200 you are considered legally blind. However, to be legally blind, you have to see worse than 20/200 even with correction. Since -6.00 can be fully corrected with spectacles or contact lenses, you are not legally blind.
Before we jump into what each section means, as a general rule, the higher the numbers on your prescription, the worse your eyesight is and the stronger your prescription will be to provide the necessary correction. Mild: -0.50 to -3. Moderate: -3.25 to -5.00. High: -5.25 to -10.
The definition of a 'high myope' is greater than -6.0. What eye prescription strength would be classified as "legally blind"? You are legally blind when your visual acuity drops below 20/200 even with best possible correction or if you have a visual field less than 20 degrees.
At -9, you have very high myopia, i.e., no functional distance vision. Unless glasses or contact lenses do not correct your vision, then I'd say it's bad.
Myopia occurs when the eyeball is too long or the cornea (the clear front surface of the eye) is too curved. This causes light to focus in front of the retina instead of on it. As a result, distant objects appear blurred while close objects appear normal. The maximum negative eye power is typically around -20 diopters.
A refractive error greater than -6 is when an optometrist might diagnose high myopia in a patient. Low myopia can have a refractive error as low as -0.25, while moderate myopia caps out at -5.75. If left untreated and with age, high myopia can progressively worsen to a greater degree of refractive error.
The legal definition of legally blind is vision less than 20/200 WITH FULL CORRECTION. So- if you have your -4.00 glasses on and you see better than 20/200, no you aren't legally blind. If you can't see the 20/200 letter with your glasses on, then you are legally blind.