Posts Tagged ‘online optician’

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A Little Extra

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

When you order specs, from the High Street or the online optician, there are some extra bits that you have the option of buying. Are they worth it? What do you gain form adding them to your glasses? Have a quick check and see if those little extras will enhance your life….

Thinner Lenses – these will benefit you if your prescription is more than plus 2.00 or more than minus 4.00 in the sphere section. Thin lenses are light weight, have less white rings reflected in the lens (goodbye bottle bottoms!!) and look nicer in your frames. They are not worth it if your lens power is less than stated above, unless the weight of your specs is unbearable.

Anti-Reflection Coating – this will benefit you if you use a computer and/or drive at night. They cut eyestrain and fatigue, make your sight sharper, and make your specs look better as people can see your eyes, not their reflection! The only downside is that they do show up smudges, so don’t pick this option if you’re in the middle of a building site!

Photochromic Lenses (Reaction lenses) – these go dark in the sun, so opt for them if you like nipping in and out of doors, and enjoy hobbies such as sight-seeing and walking. If you drive a great deal you may wish to opt for permanent tints instead, as photochromics are not at their best behind the windscreen, where they don’t go dark enough for some people.

UV Coating – If you’re an outdoor person, but don’t like dark lenses, these will protect your eyes against UV damage in all conditions. The UV protection is built into photochromic and tinted lenses, so you don’t need to add it to these options.

Tints – these are useful to turn a prescription pair of specs into sunglasses, you can go as dark as you like and in a colour that suits your chosen frame. Keep them in the car for daytime driving, but remember they are illegal for night driving, you always need to keep a clear pair with you.

Life may even be a little easier with these little extras, so have a serious think about what could benefit your lifestyle.

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The Skin You’re In

Friday, April 16th, 2010

We’ve all heard the statistic that the skin is the largest organ in our bodies. It keeps our stuff in and keeps the outside world out, as well a notifying us of danger, pleasure, heat and cold. The skin of the Mr or Mrs Average weighs around 3.6kg, and if stretched out- a gruesome thought! It would be about 2m squared. If you are a spectacle wearer, your skin might just cause a few problems during the everyday wear and tear of specs perched on your nose, so take note of some hints and tips to keep your wonderful skin, and your specs in tip-top condition.

We see a couple of very common problems with the skin regularly in practice. Mostly we deal with sores and broken skin due to badly fitting glasses, usually where the specs have suffered an accident and the frame is way out of line. This causes holes in noses and behind the ears. Unfortunately these areas have very little padding, they are mostly skin over bone, and it only takes a day or two of constant wear to cause damage. If your specs are uncomfortable, don’t keep wearing them! Pop an old pair on until you can get your specs adjusted, by posting them to the online optician or going to a High Street store. If you don’t have a spare, use a pinch of cotton wool under the affected area to relieve the pressure. Creams etc may make the skin worse, so keep it clean and dry. Take your glasses off whenever it’s safe to do so, to allow the area to heal.

The other common problem is a rash due to allergies. Many frames have a base of Nickel Silver, and this is a common allergy danger point. Or frames come in that have chipped or scratched, exposing the metal base. When new, frames have several layers of protective lacquer, but this can be eaten away by skin acids and pollutants over time. There are two things you can do to help with this – choose a hypoallergenic frame, such as Titanium, and look after your glasses really well! Wash them with warm soapy water every night after wear, and this will stop the build up of harmful substances that can damage your frames.

So remember, prevention is better than cure and a little maintenance will serve you well. Look after your glasses and they’ll look after your skin!

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A Pain in the Neck!

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

For various reasons people often find it’s a pain to wear specs – they slip, mist up, get in the way when you’re doing certain things – but what if they do cause you an actual pain?

The most common complaint of pain is due to Sinus problems. As any sufferer knows, this can be unbearable, and if you wear specs you may end up dreading having to wear them. Sinus problems can cause severe pain around the eye orbit and the pressure of specs can cause swelling and fluid retention under the eye. Apart from leaving your glasses off, there are a few things you can do to alleviate the discomfort. Firstly, do all you can to treat the Sinus problem, with suitable medication. Some patients find that inhaling steam can help to clear blockages. Wear specs that are as lightweight as possible, and make sure they don’t sit on the face. If your frame is metal, larger nose pads will spread the weight, and make sure they are not too close to the inner eye. If your frame is plastic make sure it fits well all around the bridge and keep the shape shallow. Keeping a couple of different frames to wear in rotation will help to give your face a rest.

Facial Neuralgia can be incredibly debilitating, causing agonising pains around the face and the ears. Anyone who has suffered from Shingles that has affected the face will know how nasty this can be, and a lingering problem that can take months to heal. As with Sinus problems, you need to do everything possible to alleviate pressure and reduce the weight of your specs. If you are in pain behind the ears then you could select a frame that has straight sides, which hug the head. This balances the weight and stops inflammation of tender areas. If Neuralgia arises from dental problems then a frame that rests on the cheeks will aggravate this. Again, go shallow and reduce the weight and the pressure.

Don’t assume that discomfort is something you have to put up with if you wear specs. Talk to your Optician or mail your online optician – they’ll have come across a similar problem before and will be able to suggest a frame that will help you.

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Optimum Position

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

When a patient has a problem with their glasses it seems an obvious answer is to query the strength of the lenses. Sometimes of course the prescription has been read wrongly, or sight may have fluctuated, but more often than not the glasses are correct and so was the examination. So what else may be wrong?

The positioning of the lenses in your frames is as crucial as the correct power. If you have an astigmatism then the lens has to sit at the given angle – the axis – on your prescription. The higher your cyl or astigmatism strength the more crucial this angle is. You’ll feel seasick and suffer distorted vision if the axis is wrong. This was a dreadful problem when frames were round as the lens would swivel at will within the frame!

If you sit on your frame or manage to distort it in some other way, then you may inadvertently change the orientation of your lenses, so get them straightened before you give yourself headaches and eye strain. Return them to your online optician or go back to your high street optician and get them adjusted. If returning them to the online optician make sure they have a copy of your prescription so that the axis definitely in the right place.

The distance of your frame from your eye can also be an issue if you have a high prescription. This measurement is snappily called the back vertex distance, and is the space, measured in millimetres, from your eye to the back of your spectacle lens. Wearing glasses too far down your nose can be as detrimental to your sight as wearing the wrong power, so if you feel the power of wrong then talk to your optician. Here at the Internet Glasses Companywe advise clients if this will be an issue for them and discuss fitting options.

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The Long & The Short of It

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

My husband and I had an interesting time this week, unravelling the mysteries of online optician ordering. We thought we were fairly savvy shoppers, but we realised we needed some advice when it came to buying glasses. After a few mails back and forth to the IGC’s customer service dept, and we’re now sorted, so we thought we’d share our new found knowledge.

My prescription is quite different to my husbands, a fact we’ve always been aware of as we can’t share glasses! I’m minus 4 ish in each eye, he is plus 3.5 and 4.75. Love really must be blind! Apparently, short and long sighted people have different issues when it comes to choosing spec frames, so this was a learning curve for us.

My husband wanted semi-rimless glasses, but this flagged up a potential problem with his lenses. We were told that if you’re long sighted the edges of your lenses are very thin – and if they make them thicker it makes the middle of the lens thick, and husband hates that magnified eye look he gets if his lenses are thick. A semi-rimless exposes the edges of the lenses, so this could make them prone to chipping. He also picked quite a wide frame, and the bigger shape increases the eye magnification.

I chose a big shape because I wanted a dark lens to wear as sunglasses. This was flagged up because with my lens power the lenses are thick on the edge, and the bigger my lens shape the more thickness I get. We were disappointed that we couldn’t have our choices, but pleased that there were explanations and advice for this.

I decided that even if the edges were thicker it wouldn’t bother me, as the tint would disguise it. The IGC agreed with me, and now that I’ve got them, I’m glad I was warned, and I’m happy with them. My husband decided to get a smaller frame with a full rim. We tried some at home first, and picked a pretty funky pair!! We’re pleased with those too, they’re cool and the lenses look really good. The advice helped us to make informed choices, and I was really glad that the orders weren’t just done, as we had the chance to pick products that were better for us.

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The Nuts and Bolts

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

We recently had an enquiry about those tiny, but vitally important little frame components that seem to get a few of you a bit irritated – or maybe just those of you with a screw loose! Always a problem for spectacle wearers – those pesky screws that hold the lenses, sides, and nose pads on.

Plastic and metal frames are very different in construction, and the parts that hold them together therefore differ. A plastic frame has three parts – the front and two sides. A tiny screw holds the sides in place. Sometimes there’s a separate trim piece, so the side is attached to the trim, and this is attached to the front. All of these parts require screws to keep them in place. A metal frame has more bits – a screw holds the rim together, and there might be more screws to hold the nose pads on.

Of course without your glasses on you can’t even see the screws, and it’s not until one works loose that you even know they’re there! You’ll find yourself in queue of traffic with one lens in your lap, or a lone side tucked behind your ear, and not even know that the screw has vanished! As manufacturers we use screws in case you damage a part of the frame. Some old frames used rivets, but it’s more useful to be able to remove and replace damaged parts, and for this you need a screw fixing.

So what can you do to hold it all together?! Well firstly, keep an eye on the screws. Borrow or keep a pair of specs handy to check the screws once in a while, and make sure they’re not working loose. You can buy tiny screwdrivers, but if attempting to use one yourself hold the frame carefully and don’t let it slip – you could scratch your lenses. An optician can repair your glasses by replacing the screws, or if they’re from an online optician mail them to see if you can return your specs for repair. A drop of optical locking glue can make things a little more secure if the problem persists.

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Reading Made Easy!

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

There has been lots written about presbyopia, and what your options are at this stage. We do however gets lots of queries, so here is a quick re-cap on what your choices are.

Around age forty you’ll find your arms get too short! You can still thread a needle or see small print, but you have to hold it further away. Your eyes have become presbyopic and you need help for reading. To decide on the solution to this problem you need to think about whether you need correction for reading, middle, and/or far distances.

A)  If you only have a reading prescription – buy single vision reading glasses. This gives you a wide field of view, they are cheap, easy to wear, and you can keep several pairs by the phone, at work etc. Choose small shallow frames, and then you can look over the top of them to see in the distance.

B)   If you have a reading and middle distance prescription – you can have separate pairs for middle distance and reading. This will work if you only do one thing at a time, like read small print (reading specs) or use a computer (middle distance specs) If however you need to multi-task, then you could go for varifocals – see close, middle distance and far away – good if you don’t use a computer all day long. If you do lots of VDU work, you could have a bifocal, with middle distance power in the main part of the lens, and reading in the segment at the bottom.

C)   If you have a reading, middle distance and distance prescription – then you need varifocals, which have all three powers in one lens. This will let you do everything without swapping glasses around. If you do lots of VDU work or lots of close work, then you could have a separate single vision pair for specific tasks.

Mail the IGC if you need advice, remember that buying from an online optician is cheap enough to let you have separate pairs for your individual needs. Our qualified opticians and dispensing opticians can give you professional help at bargain cost.

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GUIDE : What Eyewear Sizes Mean

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

We’re all aware of how sizes work when it comes to shoes or clothes – even if some of us don’t like to admit what size we really are! When it comes to glasses though, we are not so clear about what size we should choose. So here is a brief guide to what to look for, and what eyewear sizes mean.

Spectacle frames have a size printed on them, usually on the inside of the side arm or across the inside of the bridge. This will read something like 50/20. The first number, which may range from 44 – 68, is the size in millimetres across the lens. This governs how big the frame itself will be. The second number, ranging from around 12 – 26, is the width in millimetres of the spex  bridge.

The current trend for frame size is around the 48mm mark for women, 50 for men, although fashion and style can influence this. In the Seventies when frames were huge the average size was about 58mm, and for sunglasses it’s usually larger. So what does this mean to you? Unlike with clothes, you won’t always have the same frame size, although looking at the size you currently wear is a good guideline.

Some frames are deliberately styled to look good in different sizes, such as the aviator shape for men, which is worn oversized. In the Eighties when round frames were trendy we wore these super small. It’s a good idea to find an online optician who will let you try at home before you commit to ordering, as this gives you the option to experiment with different looks.

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I’m 27 & Now I need Glasses !?

Monday, July 27th, 2009

I just got my first ever pair of glasses last week – it’s been an amazing experience that I want to share with you, as all my friends are bored with me going on about it!

At twenty seven I’m a late developer apparently, my husband is v excited about this as he’s hoping it’s not just about my eyes! Ha! Dream on. The Optician told me it’s unusual to be short sighted at my age with no previous prescription, but there you go, I’ve always liked to think I’m special! I’m -1.00 in my right eye, and -0.75 in the left. I need my glasses for TV, driving, and cinema etc.

I felt a bit disappointed about having them, but as I have a problem that can easily be sorted I’m telling myself to be brave. My husband always buys his specs with the online optician, so we browsed sites and made a short list. I tried his frames on to get an idea of size, and chose some Marc Jacobs – never turn down the chance to shop!!

The world is now a totally different place. There are bricks, leaves, and everything seems weirdly three dimensional. My rapidly developing crows feet have relaxed as I’m not squinting at road signs all the time. I’ve stopped wearing statement jewellery as I love having my specs do that for me. I feel more professional, better dressed, and
kind of grown up!

I wish I hadn’t put up with my short sightedness for so long, as I’m loving my glasses. The online optician is putting the corrective lenses in my Gucci sunnies too, which is cool as I love the frame. Must go now – need to re-watch all Brad Pitt DVDs now I can see him properly!!

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Super Sunnies

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

My excitement levels are so high this week that I’ve had to write and share with you. I’m the proud owner of my very own pair of one off, totally individual designer glasses, and the sun has come out to celebrate with me! I’ll let you in on the secret even though I know you’ll only want them too!

I’ve worn glasses since my teens, and being short sighted I need them all the time for driving, TV, walking around, shopping etc. I’ve always loved sunglasses but have not worn them since before I got a prescription, as of course I can’t see with them on. Browsing an online optician site, I realised that I could order frames and have a dark lens put into them, creating my one off sunnie specials!

I mailed the IGC to check what I would need. With my prescription and a dark tint they said I didn’t need a special UV filter, just a dark tint on my plastic lenses would be ok. I found out I could also have the anti-reflection coat which I have on my clear specs. I kept looking through my magazines to see what style to go for. I’ve got quite a little face so the Nicole Ritchie/ Victoria Beckham huge shades are silly on me.

I saw Chloe Sevigny in a square shaped black frame, Kate Moss has this style too, so I choose a Gucci frame which was near to this. I ordered it with dark grey lenses, and waited with breathless excitement for the post! They came within a week and I love love love them! They are the perfect size and shape and no one else has got a pair exactly like mine – so order yourself some but please pick your own!

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