Archive for May, 2010

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Questions about Coatings

Monday, May 31st, 2010

As we optimistically brush off the BBQ and dig out our sunhats, thoughts often turn to sunglasses and sun protection for the summer months. Anti-reflection coatings crop up again and again in our query box, as people wonder if they give relief from glare. The coating actually helps for night driving, stops eye strain under bright lighting, and makes your lenses look invisible.  Here are a few Q and As that might help your buying decision…….

What does the coating look like? How do I know if it’s on my specs?

The coating is not visible like a dark tint, but if you look at the back of your lenses, and tilt them under a bright light, you’ll see what we call a residual colour, like an oil slick on water. Colours vary from greeny-blue through to gold. With the specs on the coating is invisible, and it looks as if you have no lenses in your glasses.

Does the anti-reflection layer work like a sunglass colour?

The short answer to this is no! However the anti-reflection coating does have some value on bright days. The coating cuts glare by allowing all visible light through to the eye. On an uncoated lens some light is reflected back, which interferes with your vision, causing discomfort. So although it doesn’t darken things down like a sunglass tint, a coating does make your vision sharper and clearer, even on sunny days.

Do you need an anti-reflection coating on sunglasses?

The point to note here is that the dark tint and the AR coating do two different things. The coating makes your vision sharper; the coloured tint dulls everything down. The AR coating will help you to make the most of your sight; it will also cut annoying back reflections, like being able to see your own reflected eye in the back of your lenses. So for most people it helps to have both.

The coating has peeled off my specs in the past – what did I do to it?

In the early days, coatings were only expected to last the life-span of the prescription, and often degenerated over time. Nowadays, they’re a lot tougher. Do be careful with them though – don’t leave them anywhere really hot, clean as instructed by your supplier, and take care not to get anything sticky like hairspray on the lenses.

We’re always happy to help, so if we haven’t covered your query here, feel free to mail us at TheinternetGlassesCompany  We’ll try to help with any aspect of eye wear, so come, on, give us a challenge!

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Investment Dressing

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Fashions come and go in every aspect of our lives, and love them or loathe them your glasses are as much a part of your look as your hair, clothes and accessories. Obviously your specs have to fit that look, and if you’re a classic dresser, and don’t appreciate constantly changing, have a think about the long term decision of investment buying in frames that never go out of style…..

For Women – Although this is the category where you can never be totally fashion proof, there’s always a neat metal in any Opticians collection. Gold is always around, in a size that fits your face without going oversized or minimally trendy. Simple silver is always an option too. Steer clear of decoration for true simplicity, and avoid trend setting plastic sides or twiddly bits. A Fifties type plastic in solid brown or black will always be sexy, functional, and in style. For something a little different but always around, a classic cat’s eye shape always hovers on the edge of cutting edge!

For Men – In a plastic frame it’s the Michael Caine heavy square shape, wildly on trend for hot young things, classic for the older gentleman! Useful in tortoiseshell or the most solid black. Steer clear of trendy by avoiding very chunky sides or wild coloured linings.  In metal there’s the simple dark silver or gold square frame, or an Aviator. The latter works well in gold, for a Seventies vibe that never seems to want to go away.

For Sunglasses – There are years when sunnies just don’t seem to alter at all, and shapes like the classic Jackie O round plastic have been around since before the Beatles! Some classic Rayban styles have been around for over fifty years too, without showing signs of going away. The gold Aviator with a green or grey lens, and the Blues Brothers Wayfarer shape are perennial favourites. These shapes and colour combinations have not changed since they first hit the scene. And if you’ve got any doubts about classics, just remember, if it’s good enough for Kate Moss, it’s definitely good enough for you!

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Out With the Old

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

As we welcome in David Cameron and wave goodbye to poor old Gordon, the country is heaving a sigh of relief that all that nonsense is sorted and we can get on with our lives. As the Tories bring change from New Labour, what else should we be moving on from?

Bifocals – anybody out there still wearing them? What are you thinking? Are you still listening to cassette tapes and using a slide rule too?! Now that so many of us use computers and live pretty dynamic lifestyles, it’s a wonder that bifocals have any place today. Switch to a varifocal – it lets you see everything without changing specs, it looks good, and you have computer distance sight too.

Glass Lenses – there are still some clients who believe that glass lenses give better sight than plastic. Optically however both materials are now just as good. Glass isn’t as safe as plastic, and is heavy. It’s useful if you work in a very dusty atmosphere and your lenses scratch really easily, but otherwise there’s no advantage to using it and it’s not really the safest option to wear bits of glass on your face!

Rimless Frames – dare we say it?! This fashion trend went out when Sven left the England squad. There are plenty of ultra lightweight groovy frames out there that mean you don’t have to resort to paying a fortune for flimsy bits of metal that hold your lenses in place. And if you got some in the hope that you’d look like you’re not wearing spex, we have some news for you – you still do!

Tiny Frames – big is beautiful again folks, and although we’re not heading back to the halcyon days of the Deirdre Barlow, the size is creeping back up. As lenses are lightweight nowadays and technology moves on, specs are still light weight even if they’re big, which is why the larger trend will be still be comfortable. So stop peering around and over the top of teeny little frames, and remember that size really does matter!

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No Stigma

Friday, May 28th, 2010

When opticians hand out prescriptions to patients, or tell them about any visual defects, patients can be confused about words used or explanations that are not clear enough. One repeat question is on the subject of Astigmatism – I’ve got a stigma we’re often told! So let’s clear this up once and for all….

An Astigmatism is nothing to worry about, is very common, and can fluctuate along with your amount of long or short sightedness. It may cause headaches and your vision will probably be blurred if it’s not corrected by glasses or contact lenses. Most people have some amount of Astigmatism, they’re either born with it or it develops over time.

It simply means that your eye is shaped more like a Rugby ball then a football. Look at a football and of course you’ll see that the curve is the same all over the surface. With a Rugby ball there are different curves for the long and the short diameters of the ball. An Astigmatic eye is like this, and the defect lies either in the Cornea or the lens inside your eye. The eye can’t focus incoming light where it’s supposed to, as two different images are produced, from the two curves of the Rugby ball.

Your sight can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses. The lens has to be held at the correct angle, as everyone’s Rugby ball is at a different orientation. Contact lenses for Astigmatism are weighted or have the bottom chopped off to hold them in place, spec lenses are simply cut and placed at the right angle. Along with the Astigmatism you’ll most likely be long or short sighted, this is the Sph part of your written prescription. The Cyl part of your prescription deals with the Astigmatism, and the Axis part is the angle at which your lens must be set.

When your Astigmatism is corrected for the first time, your vision might seem a little strange, because you’ve been used to coping without help. You might even feel a bit sea-sick for a day or two! It wears off quickly as your eyes adjust, and vision is usually much more comfortable with the right lenses in place. So don’t worry – there’s really no stigma attached to it!

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Celeb Watch for the New Government 2010!

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Greetings Celeb watchers, hope you’re all fluffing up those pussy cat bows and chic court shoes now we’re all grown up, posh and Tory for summer. A new PM, more importantly a new PM’s wife to keep an eye on, and sunshine on the way. What more could we want? Some new stuff of course, so who are we watching this week?

Sarah Jessica Parker – can we wait any longer for SATC 2? Hurry back Mr Big! SJP rocking a funky look in a very cool huge shield sunnie. Always ahead of a trend SJP, Carrie would be proud!

Julia Roberts – Adorable twins – check. Huge beaming smile – check. Tres chic and always on trend gold metal Aviator – check. What’s not to like?! Always stay sunny Julia!

Halle Berry – knock out bod and legs to die for, but what’s this – are mirror shades back in fashion? They actually look pretty amazing on the luscious Ms Berry, but then what wouldn’t?

Sandra Bullock – The Rom-com Queen looking a bit of a fashion Princess in a fabulous graduated tint that sets off her killer cheekbones. Sandra has quietly stunning looks and she pulls off this severe style with no problem.

N.B. note to Cheryl Cole, glad to see you’re out and about having fun, but please have a chat with Will.i.am about those blue and yellow diving mask specs he’s wearing. When Hugh Grant wore them to the cinema in Notting Hill that was funny, but the joke’s as old and grey as Hugh now…..

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Glorious Glasses

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Glasses are a pretty unique product, vital to our lives and fulfilling more than just the function of correcting our sight. Take the time to seriously think about this fantastic invention that many of us would struggle to live without, and be thankful that you have the opportunity to use them in your daily life….

Glasses are an interesting blend of function and fashion. There is no other product that’s essential to our safety, comfort and wellbeing but that can also be part of our persona and our wardrobe. People use glasses to give them an image at home or work, to hide behind, to add to their character. Would Chris Evans, Harry Hill or Dame Edna be the same people without their iconic specs? Would we even recognise them?!  They are woven into our body language and used as a prop, and an indicator of our personalities. Bubbly kid’s presenters wear wacky, fun bright colours. Scary stern people who want to intimidate us wear strict sharp metals, (Ann Robinson you know who you are!) Stars ramp up the glamour with oversized sunglasses, (anyone mention Victoria Beckham and Madonna?) And yet for all these superficial factors they are still an essential medical device to many.

Corrective glasses enable us to function fully as we go about our daily lives. We wouldn’t be able to drive, work, or read without them in many cases. Ever forgotten your specs and tried to read the menu in a dimly lit-restaurant? Or tried to drive without the lenses that give you twenty-twenty vision? On one of our trips to help out at an overseas clinic this really was brought home to us. We met a lady who had been unable to feed her family since she broke her specs. We recycle unwanted glasses to impove the lives of people in developing countries. We fitted her with new specs and now she can work again and put food on the table. Her gratitude and complete joy at having her sight restored was something we will never forget, and it changed the life of both her and her family. That’s how important glasses can be.

So if you have a visual correction, don’t moan about them being a nuisance, or begrudge paying out for specs – be grateful that you can easily and cheaply give yourself the gift of sight.

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Changing Times

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Having watched many patients over the years cope with Cataract surgery, it’s very interesting to see the progress that has been made with both the operation itself and the aftercare. Cataract is usually a condition of later life, when the lens inside your eye – not the one in your specs! – Goes opaque over time. Contributing factors can be trauma, smoking, and UV exposure. More rarely babies are born with congenital Cataracts.

As opticians the first sign that we see are tiny opacities within the lens in the eye. We monitor these closely, and tell the patient a Cataract is developing when we are sure that changes are occurring. The operation can only be performed when the cataract is ready, so we refer to an Ophthalmologist and they make the decision as to when the eyes are ready. If both eyes need treatment this is done at separate times.

Back in the good old days, the op required general anaesthetic, a large incision, stitches that sometimes affected the resulting prescription, and very strong specs. The patient also needed drops for quite some time after surgery. This had a big impact on the patients daily routine, and as patients are usually elderly, it was difficult and stressful. If there was a lengthy wait between the two eyes the patient’s sight was badly affected until after the second op.

Thank goodness we’ve moved on! Waiting lists are now shorter and procedures have been simplified and streamlined at every step of the way. Local anaesthetic is used, and the opaque lens is now replaced with an implant, so even patients who were very short sighted before the op only need minimal prescriptions and are back on their feet immediately

It’s now as routine as having a tooth filled, and has little impact on the daily life of the patient. If their sight is fully corrected it may even be better than for several years before hand. Where we used to dread telling people our diagnosis, it’s now often a relief to be able to send patients on to actually have better sight.

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Chic Means Geek!

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Pay attention boys – you may have been thinking about a change of style, and the Geek frame has been around for a while and is showing no signs of going away. New collections from the likes of Paul Smith, Giorgio Armani and Gucci are all still full of hunky chunky solid plastic frames, and they’re getting bigger all the time. So if you’re taking the style plunge, how can you make the transition as easy as possible?

On the whole, boys are a little less adventurous than girls in changing their look. They’re not bombarded with images of products all the time; they don’t read quite as many fashion mags as girls. Men often grab the first thing they see, safe in the comfort zone of t shirts and jeans identical to the ten pairs they already have at home. So going for new specs can be a traumatic experience, and girls, you need to support your men folk with helpful advice and don’t giggle when they try something new! (Just steer them gently in the right direction – that is the direction you want them to take!)

One of the problems with going for a new look in glasses is that you’ve been used to the faithful old pair, and new frames make you look totally different. So take it in easy stages. If you’ve been wearing a metal frame, start thinking about slightly thicker frames. Don’t go from rimless to solid black plastic in one giant leap! Think about new materials but in the same shape or colour as your old frame, and evolve slowly from there. Try brown before you go for black, or look for a plastic that’s dark across the top but clear at the bottom.

Have a go with our try-before-you-buy offer at TheInternetGlassesCompany, which lets you put frames on in the comfort of your own home without anybody laughing! Canvass a few opinions only when you feel comfortable in your new look. When you hit on the perfect style you’ll wonder why it took you so long and you’ll never be seen dead in your old pair!

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VDU Specs for You

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

We’ve often written about VDU regulations in relation to eye tests and eye wear, and we do communicate with Employers about this issue too. Unfortunately there does seem to a great deal of confusion in the UK about this whole subject.

A recent survey suggested that under half of the employees in this country are properly cared for by their employers in this area. It’s also reported that this is mostly due to the vague regulations and the fact that employers find it difficult to pin down exactly what their obligations are. Of those surveyed, only 69% of employers thought that the regulations were clear and that they were confident in their policies.

Further questioning showed that only 17% of those employers surveyed knew that they must pay for eye exams and VDU specs for employees who use VDUS. The problem lies in the fact that the regulations are not clear on the amount of time eligible employees are at their computers, and for which categories employers have to pay for glasses.

The rules state:  if the employee sends a significant part of the day at the screen, then the employers must pay for the test. If glasses are required specifically for the VDU, then the employed must pay for them. A prescription just for the VDU only arises in people over the age of approximately fifty, who have been using reading specs but then find they need a different power at middle distance, which covers the VDU screen.

If you’re not sure if you’re eligible, talk to your HR department, who can find the answers online – direct them to this article for a start! It makes complete sense for employers to avoid sick leave by looking after their staff and providing this inexpensive and basic service to improve the wellbeing of their team.

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Learning to Love my Specs

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

I’ve been wearing glasses for about twenty years now, since my mid-teens. This is probably the worst time in a person’s entire life-span to become a speccy four eyes, just when every single cell of your body is causing you dread and angst! At least the glasses gave me something tangible to focus (!) my immense hatred on!

I could quite cheerfully have punched the optician when he cheerfully announced that my borderline prescription had tipped over into full blown short sightedness, and I needed glasses. The sulks over the next few weeks were immense! I hid them at the bottom of my rucksack and only dragged them out if my life depended on it. Quite often it really did, as I narrowly missed getting hit by cyclists and small children and wandered into roads thinking I was still on the pavement.

In my twenties I got contact lenses, and the world was changed into 3D and a landscape with birds flying, buildings with bricks etc. The real shock has been the last couple of years, when I’ve gradually drifted back into wearing specs. This new love affair started when I saw a Marc Jacobs frame and was instantly smitten. It was shiny black with sexy curvy sides, and with my chunky fringe and power bob I was transformed into an intellectual and serious force to be reckoned with. I’ve now become addicted to spex, with ten pairs in an array of colours doing all the work for me when it comes to accessorising.

I wish I’d done it years ago, as lenses were never perfectly comfortable on me and I was always smudging my makeup and fiddling with my eyes. So I’ve made peace with my myopia and at least I have an excuse to splurge on Designer fashion!

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