Depending on the equipment used by the doctor, a prescription may be in plus or minus cylinder form.

For surfacing, the lab uses the minus form, meaning if a pr escription is written in a plus cylinder form it must be transposed before proce ssing. Transpose a prescription written in plus cylinder form to minus cylinder form as follows: 1. Add the sphere and cylinder powers to determine the new sphere power. 2. Change the sign of the cylinder. 3. Change the axis by 90 degrees. Example: Transpose -3.00 +2.00 x 30 1. Add the sphere and cylinder powers to determine the new sphere power. (-3.00) + (+2.00) = -1.00 2. Change the sign of the cylinder -2.00 3. Change the axis by 90 degrees. 120 The transposed prescription is: -1.00 -2.00 x 120