The amount the frame front is tilted with reference to the plane of the face is called?

• A. Pantoscopic tilt
• B. Frame tilt
• C. Facial tilt
• D. Lens tilt

Answer: (A)

Pantoscopic tilt is the angular difference between the plane of the frame front and the plane of the face. This small forward tilt places the lenses at a slight angle to the wearer’s line of sight, so the optical centers align more closely with the pupils as the eye looks downward for reading and near tasks. This positioning reduces unwanted vertical prism and oblique aberrations, improves peripheral clarity, and helps maintain accurate single-vision or progressive lens performance. It also affects how the frame sits cosmetically and how the lens edges appear. Other terms aren’t standard for this concept: framing tilt describes the whole frame’s position relative to the head, lens tilt refers to the tilt of the lens plane itself, and facial tilt isn’t a typical optical measure.