Prescription glasses: I was given two prescriptions?

I had an eye exam yesterday, and my optician kept going on about how she prescribes "weaker" prescription glasses for her patients, firstly so that they will be more comfortable (without the really bad headaches and so on that go with adjusting to new glasses) and secondly because she says that my "true" prescription is for reading glasses.

In other words, she has given me two prescriptions - one so I can see "better" at distances, and another to wear for close-up work, that she says may help improve my distance eyesight over time as well.

I feel a bit confused...can someone explain to me what this is all about? I had always thought that eyeglass prescriptions were fairly cut and dry? I didn't know that Opticians "choose" which prescriptions to give out?

There could be two things going on here...

1) If youve never worn glasses before and u have a strong prescription, it sounds like she wants to introduce you to glasses slowly and so start off at half you prescription and work your way up.
Where i work we do have a few extreme cases where they do this so people can get used to them.
However check your not being ripped off. If she makes you buy your half prescription and then a full pair it is a bit out of order.

2) when you go for an eye test you can need glasses for distance and near vision (like reading). These will be two different prescriptions.
Have a look on your prescription to see if she has written 'add' and then summin like +1.25 (it can be any number!) if she has it may be that you need distance and reading glasses.

But i think the best thing to do is go back to her... its important not to be confused. If you cant talk to her, talk to the receptionist or an optical assistant, they are also trained to tell u what your prescription means.

You need to NOT have those prescriptions filled and immediately go to a different Optician, for a re-exam. She is, in my opinion incompetent!

Examination results are not cut and dry. There is often a judgement call that an experienced Optometrist will have to do to give you the best comfort.

It happens very often that the full powers are not given.

She could be 100 % right in doing it that way in your case.

No one can say it is wrong without having seen the complete examination results and the final prescriptions.

Well its kinda hard to explain but there are a couple different conditions for bad eyesight. You can have myopia,hyperopia,presbyopia,or amblyopia. If you have a certain type of diagnosis(which I'm sure you do by your question) then you cant see distance but can see near fine but when you put your glasses on then it actually moves your focal point so that you cant read up close with your glasses. In that case your OD probably gave you a weaker RX so thet you wouldn't need bi-focals( for up close reading), If they would have given you your full RX then you would have needed a bi-focal cause it would have made your near blurry but wouldn't have made your distance but a little clearer. I hope that makes sense. Ive worked at an optometrists office for three years and was very confused at first but now i understand, i hope this helps you!