In this guide 6 sections
An online glasses order needs prescription values for each eye, pupillary distance, frame measurements, lens type, index and coatings, plus an uploaded prescription. Add rules that block a missing axis, a missing sign and impossible lens combinations before the customer pays, and hold doubtful orders for a dispenser to review.
Capture the prescription as two eyes, not one line
Give the right eye and the left eye their own rows, each taking sphere, cylinder and axis, plus an add power for reading or progressive lenses. Label the rows as the customer’s paper does, with OD for the right eye and OS for the left, and put plain words beside each.
A missing plus or minus on a sphere turns one lens into another, so make the sign mandatory and offer values in a dropdown, never as free text. Typing errors stop here.
Cylinder and axis travel as a pair. Require one when the other is filled in, and accept both blank when the customer has no cylinder at all.
- Sphere with its sign, for each eye
- Cylinder with its sign, only if present
- Axis, required once a cylinder is filled in
- Add power for reading and progressive lenses
- Prism and base, offered as optional fields
- Prescription date and prescriber name
Pupillary distance and frame size come next
Pupillary distance, or PD, tells the lab where to centre each lens, and a poor value can leave the wearer with eye strain. Ask for a single PD or two values, one per eye, and for a near PD when the order is for reading glasses. Many customers do not know theirs. Link a short ruler guide.
Frame sizes belong to the product. Store lens width, bridge width and temple length on every frame record and repeat them in the order summary, where customers can check them against a current pair. Progressive lenses also need a fitting height. Ask the customer for it, or tell them plainly that the lab will use a standard height for the frame.
Reject a PD no adult could have. Ask the customer to measure again.
Block lens and coating combinations the lab cannot make
Offer lens type first: single vision, bifocal, progressive or reading, then lens index, from standard to high index for strong prescriptions, and finish with coatings. Coatings include anti-reflective, scratch-resistant, photochromic, blue-light filter, polarised and tint.
Not every combination exists. A strong power may not be possible in a given frame shape or index, and some frame styles, such as rimless drill mounts, restrict the lens material. Load the lab’s rules. Then nobody pays for an impossible lens.
- A power outside the range of the chosen index
- A progressive lens in a frame too shallow for the corridor
- A rimless drill mount with a material the lab will not drill
- Two tints chosen on one lens
- An add power entered on a single vision order
Uploads, expiry dates and the review queue
Ask for a photo or PDF of the prescription as well as the typed values, and let a dispenser compare the two before the job moves on. Swapped eyes surface here. So do dropped minus signs.
Capture any printed expiry. Rules on selling prescription lenses online differ by country, and some require the prescriber to be verified, so add whatever checks your market asks for.
Use three order states: ready for lab, held for review and awaiting customer, where only the first creates a lab job ticket. The other two send the customer a short message naming exactly which value, upload or choice is missing or does not match.
Test the form with real prescriptions before launch
Take a dozen old paper prescriptions with the names removed, and fill the form from each one while a dispenser watches for slips. Expect the same slips each time. Eyes get swapped, signs go missing and plus-form cylinders meet a form built only for minus, so each slip becomes a line on the fix list.
Plus and minus cylinder notation describe the same lens, so the form should accept both, store what was written and flag which notation was used. The lab can convert it. Log that it did.
List every field above on one sheet, mark which are required and ask a dispenser to find a gap before a developer builds a single screen.
Eyewear order form template
One page, four blocks. Block A has one row for each eye, with columns for sphere, cylinder, axis, add and PD, and a check column that flags a missing sign or axis. Block B holds the frame and its three measurements, and block C lists lens type, index and coatings beside a column for combinations the lab will not cut. Block D tracks upload, expiry and review.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can customers order glasses without a prescription?
Yes. Offer a separate flow for fashion lenses, blue-light filter lenses or sunglasses with no power, and give it a plano option that skips every power field. Keep the two forms apart.
Should the form accept a photo only?
No. Typed values feed the lab ticket and catch missing fields, while the photo lets a dispenser check those values by eye, so you need both. A photo alone means retyping.
What is a transposed prescription?
A transposed prescription is the same lens written in the other cylinder form, and moving the cylinder from plus to minus changes the sphere and the axis. Store what was entered. Leave conversion to the lab.
What should happen to an expired prescription?
Rules vary by country. Hold the order for review, tell the customer why and ask for a current prescription, because the old values may no longer fit. The lab cuts what is written.