20/20 Vision

Many people may think that 20/20 vision stands for perfect vision, but it does not. 20/20 vision is the fraction used to describe what “normal” vision is for a person. Someone who has 20/20 vision can stand 20 feet away from the eye chart and see what a person with “normal” vision can see at the same distance. Better than 20/20 vision is 20/10 vision. Someone who has 20/10 vision can stand 20 feet away from the eye chart and see the same thing a person with 20/20 normal vision sees when they are only ten feet away from the chart.

The statement 20/20 vision was determined by many doctors in a study. With the many patients eye doctors have seen, they have come to understand what “most” people are seeing as “normal" vision. Because standing 20 feet from an eye chart was comfortable and could be seen clearly by a majority of the patients, this was said to be not perfect, but “normal” vision. Someone who happens to have 20/200 vision or worse would be considered to be legally blind in the United States.

A person who has 20/20 eyesight may still be diagnosed with other eye sight problems that may include issues with depth perception, peripheral vision, eye coordination, focusing ability or color vision problems. Someone with 20/20 vision still may need to wear eye glasses to help correct other problems that may not necessarily be related to being able to read an eye chart from 20 feet away.