Archive for April, 2011

The Right Way

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

In these days of off the shelf ready readers and internet spec providers, it’s easy to assume that glasses are a simple product that you can buy without resorting to High Street Opticians and bespoke products. As professionals who work in practice and on the net we are very aware of our responsibility to deal with patients with the same care and attention whether you sit in our chair or yours before your screen!  So how do we provide an optically perfect service and the best products to you, even if we don’t see you face to face?

Firstly, we always source high quality frames and lenses, and we road test them on ourselves. We are rigorous with our testing and all our work in the Lab. No job leaves us until we are totally sure it complies to British Standards and our own very high expectations of the finished article. This involves checking and re-checking specifications and durability, and conferring with the client if necessary.

All orders are overseen by our Optometrist and the Dispensing Optician, and if the information you give us does not look logical, or we don’t think your choices will work, then we’ll let you know! We love the fact that we still have this interaction even with our online clients, and always enjoy the chance to chat!

Patients mail us their prescription and their pupil distance, which your own Optician will supply. By law they must give you the prescription as part of your eye exam, the pupil distance is a grey area which they are not legally bound to give you. There may be a charge for this, but if you have a higher prescription it’s worth having it measured correctly. It rarely fluctuates much through adulthood so you’ll probably only need it once! We look at all your details to ensure that you’ve entered the correct information – with our years of experience it’s easy to spot any possible mistakes!

So rest assured that even online we can deliver a well made, optically correct pair of glasses. And if for any reason you are worried about them, or think you or us have made a mistake then don’t worry – send them back for a full and no fuss refund.

Varifocal Glasses

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Take the Weight off!

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Although we can send mankind to the moon and perform all kinds of medical miracles, one thing we can’t entirely do just yet is re-write the laws of Physics. Why do we need to, you may ask – but you would want to do just that if you are unlucky enough to be long-sighted………

Long suffering long-sighted patients have several problems when it comes to specs. Their lenses are thicker in the centre and thin at the edge, resulting in magnified eyes, heavy lenses, and increased reflections that interfere with vision. Also, when it comes to making that all important choice of spec frame, your prescription may limit your options if you want the specs to look good and perform well.

Fortunately, we can help you to make the best decision and end up with glasses you love!  There are two points for you to consider, to give you the right frame happily married with the perfect lenses. When choosing a frame, you need to find something small, evenly shaped, and certainly not rimless or semi-rimless – these will have exposed lens edges that will chip easily. Find a size that suits your face but always veer towards the smaller end of the scale. If you mail us your prescription and pupil distance, we can go through some suggestions with you. It’s always a compromise between what will suit your lens power and your face!

With the lenses there are three aspects that we can work on. An anti-reflection layer will improve your vision, and get rid of unsightly magnifying rings within the lenses. A high-index material gives a dense lens that is thin – just go for the thinnest option you can afford. A lens which is also designed to be flatter will decrease centre thickness and make your eyes look more natural behind the lens. This is called an aspheric design – we do mess with Physics a little here, just to make life that bit better for you!

Working all these little improvements into your new glasses will give you the best outcome in every respect, and don’t be afraid to ask for help – trying frames before you buy, asking our advice and taking the time to pull all this together will be a weight off your mind – and your nose!!

Varifocal Glasses

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In the Chair….

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

If you’ve had an eye exam recently you may still be reeling from the banks of equipment, twinkling lights, strange puffs of air and odd hand held widgets that the optician wielded in front of you. Did they explain what they were doing? And why? Here are a few round ups of what goes on in the big chair……

Optical History and General Health – A good optician will ask all sorts of nosy questions, from what medication you are taking to what you do for a living. These topics all have crucial bearing on what they are looking for in terms of your general and eye health, and what lenses they will prescribe, so don’t be shy – tell all!

Pressure Test – This is the infamous puff of air which is bounced off the eye, to read the internal pressure. High pressures can be an indicator of Glaucoma, an easily treated eye disease if the symptoms are caught early. It really is worth putting up with two minutes of discomfort to avoid advanced Glaucoma!

Fields Examination – this involves some form of checking for gaps in your field of vision. Most practices use a screen which the patient watches and then presses a device to tell the optician they have seen flashes of light. This again can show early signs of Glaucoma, among other diseases.

Retinoscopy – This is a hand held device that the optician uses to read your prescription, without your input! It’s a starting point for the test, and is useful for patients who cannot respond, such as tiny babies or very elderly patients.

Subjective Examination – This is the point where the Optician puts different lenses in front of your eyes and asks you to read their chart. Don’t panic that you can give the wrong answer! It’s checked repeatedly to ensure that the result is correct.

Opthalmoscopy – This is another hand held device, which the optician uses to peer into the eye. They can examine all the internal structures for signs of abnormalities.

Retinal Imaging – There are 2D and 3D scanners to give in depth examination of the retina. Images can be stored for future reference and e-mailed to Consultants. This is the newest and most advanced stage of an eye examination. Not all practices offer it as yet, so you’re lucky if you’re offered it!

Colour Vision – If there are doubts about your colour perception the optician may test you with a series of coloured images, asking you to interpret the patterns.

Depending on your particular problems and your optician’s specialities you may have the fun of other tests within your practice. Go with the flow and know that your optician has your best interests and your best vision at heart!

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Putting on a Show

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

This weekend sees all things Optical going on in Birmingham, with everyone who’s anyone in Optics attending our trade fair. This is our opportunity to check out new equipment, frame collections and lenses, catch up with our professional bodies, and generally meet up and chat with all our friends and colleagues within our industry.

This is important to you as our customers because we need to stay ahead of the game with the latest styles, the best machinery to make your glasses, and secure the best prices to pass onto you, our precious clients! We constantly look for trends within fashion, and in practical matters like new frame and lens materials. We also like to make sure we buy European product where possible, as in our opinion they cannot be beaten for style and quality.

Our work within the InternetGlassesCompany is important to us in ensuring that as an Internet service you still get the same high standards that you would from a High Street Optician. This means sourcing product we feel will be durable and give you value for money.

The trade fair is often a launching pad for new releases, which we want to know about before they hit the High Street. The thinnest lens materials, most innovative coatings and hot new trends for frames will all be there on the stands. It’s then our job to make the choices that we feel will benefit you over the coming year. Selecting frame styles is the most exciting part! Season after season the designers impress us with new shapes, colours and finishes. We look for new suppliers and specific new models, which involves lots of trying glasses on and admiring our new look!

We try to attend the trade fair in Paris and Milan every Spring and Autumn, which are huge events with too many exhibitors to cope with! Returning to Birmingham every other year is coming home, to familiar faces but exciting new ideas. We hope you’re just as impressed with our purchases!

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The Dark Side!

Monday, April 18th, 2011

The beautiful sunshine we’ve been enjoying through the spring makes our thoughts turn to long summer evenings, the scent of mown grass and barbeques, and for many of you, the excitement of new sunglasses! There are several options for you to choose from to make your sight clearer and more comfortable in bright conditions. So let us guide you through the choices to help you make the most of those shimmering sunny days……

If you don’t need glasses for distance vision, you can take your pick of any shape of style of sunspec, with a light or dark tint, depending on your needs. Make sure the lens is large enough to stop the sun form peeking in round the edges of the lenses, and look through them into sunlight (although not directly at the sun) to see if you feel they are dark enough. Practice a smile and a yawn to make sure they don’t sit on your cheeks, and also check the lens specifications that they give 100% UV protection. Then it’s just a matter of your individual style and you’re good to go!

If you need a distance prescription, for driving and walking around, you need sunglasses made for you with your lens power built in. You may prefer a static tint, which stays the same colour in any conditions, or a photochromic lens, which changes colour depending on the available light.

A static tint is good if you want a traditional looking sunspec, they can be as dark as you need, and give plenty of sun protection and style! Photochromic lenses don’t go dark enough for some clients, and don’t go to their full strength behind the windscreen, but they are good if you don’t need a very dark tint, and you’re in and out of doors during the course of the day.

People find that grey, green-grey or brown lenses are the most effective. The first two options give the most natural and neutral colour for day to day wear. Brown doesn’t give such a true picture of the world but it warms up cold skies nicely! Try a few colours to see which suits your complexion, your frame, and your vision the best.

Take a little time to consider your lifestyle before you invest in your specs this summer, and you’ll get the best out of your glasses and the sunshine!

Varifocal Glasses

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Styles to Watch

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

We’ve had a glorious spring and summer seems to be fast approaching, always the perfect time for a new look in eyewear as well as in our wardrobes. The chunky, heavy weight look of winter can be mothballed for a few months, so what have we got to look forward to in the lightweight look of summer specs styles?

Retro shapes are moving a step forward from square and geeky to round and preppie. We’re talking bold shapes in warm shades of tortoise or ice cold crystal. This is a soft and romantic look for girls, very Women in Love! For boys it’s cool and a refreshing change from angular styles which have been in for to long now.

Colours are everywhere, with hot shades in bright blue, zingy orange and even yellow hitting the fashion pages again. This Studio 54 craze runs through every clothes range, from Top Shop to Halston this year, so seventies inspired crazy shades and frames were bound to follow. There’s more white and cream than we’ve seen for some time too. This suits summer fabrics and styles to complement your wardrobe, but will carry you through to winter – cream eye wear with black winter wear is tres chic!

Logos and details are simpler this year, with visible pins and structural components taking over from twiddly bling as decoration. This is neat and sharp, and less girly than eyewear from the past couple of years. For boys a subtle dash of inlaid metal or laminate is favoured rather than pattern or engraving.

We’re also moving away from a whole eyewear proportion – for years frames have mostly been wide and shallow. We’re now going to the other extreme, with deep frames that are narrower at the temple. Not a look for chubby cheeks or those with high prescription lenses! You’ll be better with neat little round eyes.

Whatever your choice, try before you buy and experiment – this is one fashion where even if you remember them first time around you’re still ok to try them again!

Varifocal Glasses

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Seventies Chic

Sunday, April 3rd, 2011

It maybe the fault of shows like Life on Mars, or just fashion having a retro moment, but think Studio 54 for your style inspiration over the coming months and you won’t go far wrong. Yet again, it’s time to dust off the Bianca Jagger white trouser suit and frizz up your afro, as flares, wedges, and floaty maxi-skirts fill our wardrobes. Obviously it’s essential to find the eye wear to suit, so rifle through your Mum’s drawers and dig out those beauties of years gone by……..

Welcome back Dierdre Barlow, all is forgiven, as we embrace our George and Mildred past and look to those forgotten icons with their blue eye shadow and flicky feather cuts. Seventies specs were huge, with frames that sat high above the eyebrows and low down on the cheeks. We all had dented noses, but what price fashion?!! Plastic for preference, with rounded lenses and a lush colour palette that went through all those yummy colours like brown, yellow and orange. (This is not a fashion fad for the faint-hearted!)

Frames with faceted edges, sides that swept up from the lower rim, and Aviators were all in vogue. The Studio 54 disco vibe was all about massive lenses, smoky graduated tints, and lots of white. Frames were fairly simple, without the detail and bling we’re used to today – size was all that mattered! A little gold trim or a stripe colour way was our only concession to decoration. Fade effect frame colours were also cool, with two-tone finishes.

Boys all wore Aviators, except for John Lennon wannabes in tiny NHS gold round eyes. Black, gold or bronze were the options, with chunky side joints and deep lenses. The colour was shiny, no matte or antique finishes. Bright yellow gold was the most popular choice! Smoky tints were again the most popular choice, although when mirror lenses came in boys were quick to spot the potential of a lens which made it impossible to tell what or who you were looking at!

So on the plus side, these fashions were cool, iconic, have stood the test of time, and certainly gave good coverage in the sun and wind. You couldn’t see the frame edges and you didn’t have to keep your eyebrows tidy! On the minus side you misted up like mad and your nose developed a ridge thanks to the weight. Still, you have to suffer for fashion, and at least if you pinch your Mum’s old pair they’ll be cheap!

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Update on ARMD

Saturday, April 2nd, 2011

At present Age Related Macular Degeneration is the commonest cause of blindness in old age in developing countries. Across Europe alone there are over 12 million patients. At the moment there is no cure for the commonest ‘dry’ form, so research into possible risk factors is valuable in trying to reduce our likelihood of suffering this disease. ARMD leads to retinal damage, destroying your central vision and making it difficult to recognise faces and see fine detail. Glasses will not help to restore sight once it is lost.

Three definite risk factors have been proven over the past few years – family history, age, and smoking – with only the latter being an avoidable choice. Stopping smoking will immediately reduce your risk, although obviously this is less effective in an older person. Recent research has looked at other risk factors which can be managed by the patient, to help prevent the disease.

Our diets have always been under scrutiny in examining which vitamins and minerals may protect the retina. Free radical damage is a cause of ARMD, and anti-oxidants in our diet can help to protect against this. You can up your intake of green leafy vegetables and a selection of coloured veg, or take a supplement to ensure you are consuming enough to protect your retina. Look for one with high levels of Lutein, Zeaxanthin and Meso- Zeaxanthin.

Lifestyle factors such as taking moderate exercise, maintaining low cholesterol levels and lower BMIs also reduce your risk. Wearing 100% UV protection sunglasses also prevents retinal damage, which is of particular importance if you have light coloured eyes – blue or pale green or grey. You have less natural protection with these eye colours than those with darker eyes. Even on days when there is cloud cover UV can burn through, so make sure you wear UV protection if you’re spending half to all the day outdoors.

As we’re living longer the diseases of old age will take their toll on our extended lifespan. Doing all we can to reduce our risks will benefit sufferers and the health systems required to support them.

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Magical Magnification

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Specs that magnify small print or devices for giving extra magnification to patients are an interesting product that you only think about when close works begins to be a problem. For most people this happens after the age of forty – life begins and so does a new relationship with reading glasses! The eye loses the ability to focus on small print as part of the natural ageing process, and threading needles, and reading tricky stuff like menus become difficult, especially in poor light. At this point it’s time for a little extra power to magnify the details and save you from suffering eye strain.

Magnification is a marvel that can be adjusted, depending on the working distance and the size of object you are trying to see. We use magnification every day – if you’re trying to read something on the TV screen, but it’s too far away or too small to see, you move nearer. This increases the size of the image on your retina, and it becomes clearer. Lenses do this job for you, focussing the image on the retina at the distance that you need it.

Sometimes, you only need maximum magnification for a specific job, such as a jeweller examining a gemstone or watch mechanism. You can buy magnifying devices such as the watchmaker’s eyeglass for these jobs. You only use them for the occasional problem and they bring the minute object into focus at the distance you need. If you have problems reading all day every day however, reading glasses which you can keep on for long periods do the job the best.

If your specific job or hobby is at a set working distance then we may need to calculate magnification for you. For instance – a librarian reading book spines on a high shelf will need different power at work, or for hand sewing at home. If you tell us what you do, and the working distance, we can sort the right strength for your individual needs.

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