Consumer question about Cyl/Axis

Started by Pharmguy3
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Pharmguy3

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Hey there,
I'm not in the field of optometry, but I have a question as a patient in regards the Cyl & Axis on my most recent set of rxs. Hoping I can find an answer here. If someone knows a better forum for me to post this on, please let me know.

I'll start with the situation. I recently had my eye rx checked out a couple times in about a month and a half (after the first time, the rx for my right eye felt off and I never really could adjust). Here are the two prescriptions, in addition to my old rx from last year.

2014 rx (current glasses)
OD: SPH -1.75
OS: SPH -2.50 CYL -1.50 AXIS 180

June '15 rx:
OD: SPH - 1.25
OS: SPH -3.25 CYL -1.25 AXIS 180

August '15 rx:
OD: SPH -1.75
OS: SPH -3.25 CYL -1.00 AXIS 175

Question: In addition to the power for my right eye being adjusted, I also noticed the correction for my OS astigmatism (both CYL and AXIS) was lowered. The recheck was done by a different optometrist. I'm curious to know, is this type of difference simply due to prescriber preference? Would a difference in the cylinder of -0.25 (or even -0.50) even be noticeable. How about a difference in AXIS of 005; is this generally noticeable?

I apologize again if this isn't an appropriate place to post this. I'm new to glasses within the last year, and having them updated feels a bit odd.

Thank you