Measurement of subsurface damage (SSD) induced by grinding process is of major interest in the development of high laser damage fused silica optical components manufacturing processes. Most SSD measurements methods give only access to the peak to peak value. We herein report on the benefit of using Abbott–Firestone curves to get an insight of the SSD distribution inside the optical material. We evidence on various diamond wheel ground fused silica substrates that such an approach is complementary to a classical SSD peak to peak measurement and bring useful information to optimize a grinding process.