Posts Tagged ‘short sighted’

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Back In Contact

Sunday, March 4th, 2012

If you’re around forty to fifty, and you’ve been short sighted since your teens, you may remember the heady days of hard contact lenses. These rock solid tiny circles of plastic may have saved you from the hell of NHS specs, but for many they were the corrective measure you loved to hate. Lots of patients come into practice nowadays, and shudder at the thought of contact lenses because their only experience of them was stressful at least, nightmarish at worst. So if you are of this lost generation, take a deep breath, read on calmly, and think about getting back in contact with contacts!

Hard contact lenses are rarely dispensed today, with the vast majority of patients wearing soft contact lenses, which are high water content, safe, comfortable, and flexible in their wear regimes. They can correct long and short sightedness, astigmatism, and even come in bifocal and varifocal forms. The first thing you will notice is the size difference – hard lenses had to be small, so oxygen could still reach the eye around their periphery. Soft lenses are made of oxygen permeable material, so they are much larger – covered the coloured part of the eye. They are also as lightweight and floppy as cling film – amazing if you were only familiar with seriously hard hard lenses!

Your first task is to think about which aspects of your lifestyle would be improved if you didn’t have to wear your specs. Would golf be easier? Would you feel great on dinner dates? Would it be nice to look different for work and home? Or would you like to wear lenses all the time? There are lenses that you wear for a day then throw away, lenses that you keep in and sleep in for up to a month, lenses that you pop in when you need them. Some need cleaning regimes, some are disposable. If you do need a cleaning system, they are simple and low maintenance today, and very portable for travel.

So whether you wore them in your youth, have never screwed up the courage to try them, or think you’re too old – think again! Go on, be brave, and make contact with your optician!

Varifocal Glasses

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Teenage Troubles!

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

Everyone knows that for teenagers life can be one long trauma, awash with raging hormones, adolescent angst, and parents who just don’t understand. Amid the confusion, to add to their woes, this may be a time when sight changes and they need glasses. If you have a troubled teen at home, take note of a few points about their sight and the correction they might need.

If your teenager is suddenly short sighted, then be supportive and don’t show your dread if they’re told they need glasses. You may not want your little Princess to have to wear specs, but projecting your feelings onto them won’t help. Offer an opinion when selecting styles, but recognise that their friends or the dispensing optician will have constructive things to say too.

Investing in a frame that they love may colour their lifelong attitude to wearing glasses, so it may take a little time and money to find something they are happy with. Thinned lenses may cost a little extra, but what price the self-esteem of a teenager? Spec wearers can be a target for bullies, so keeping confidence high and making sure they are proud of their specs can save a lot of heartache.

Contact lenses can be fitted from childhood onwards, so if your teen is sporty, consider this option. They need to be motivated to wear them but offering this choice can make sure they are relaxed about sight correction, and wearing contacts for some of the time can make spec wear more appealing too – all teenagers love experimenting with different looks!

The NHS supply a voucher up to age nineteen (if in full time education) which should cover the cost of spec lenses. If you’ve used this, online suppliers can be a useful option for low cost extra pairs. Frames are funky nowadays, so with a little patience and shopping around you should be able to find a style they love. The geek look is

cool right now – just don’t tell them it’s like the old NHS pair you had to wear!

Varifocal Glasses

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Don’t be Short Sighted!

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Of all the corrections that we see for the under forties, myopic, or short sighted eye defects are the most common. If you’re myopic, you’ll see very clearly close too, but far distance will be blurry. How close up you can see depends on how short sighted you are! There are different issues for patients regarding their different eye problems. Here are some of the FAQ’s we get about glasses and lenses for short sighted people.

I heard that my short sightedness is a risk factor for detached retinas. Is that true? The problem with being short sighted is that your eyeball is too long. Your retina lines the back of the eye, and in trying to fit the elongated eye it can weaken and tear. You are at a higher risk, although a detachment can happen to anyone. The important thing is to be aware of the symptoms – sudden appearance of floaters, flashing lights, or loss of vision. Seek medical help at once, and then the chance of a small tear turning into a detachment is much reduced.

I’m twenty two and I’ve been getting more short sighted since my teens. Will it ever stop?! The good news is that usually by the mid-twenties the progression of myopia slows down. It’s hard to generalise and if you’re at the higher end of the scale the changes may go on a little longer, but it will stop at some point! As you get older you’ll get a little more long sighted, so your lens power will neutralise a little. The other good news is that you’ll need reading glasses much later than if you weren’t myopic!

I’m very short sighted and my Optician says I can’t have Photochromic lenses because they’ll look dark around the edges? Really?!

Photochromics work thanks to crystals in the lens material that go dark in the light. As your lenses are thicker at the edge than in the centre, you’ll have more crystals there, so the edges will appear darker. How noticeable this is depends on your lens power, the size of the frame, and the type of Photochromic lens. There are specific photochromics that are designed to get round this problem, or you could opt for prescription sunglasses that have a fixed tint.

Prescription varifocal glasses online

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Good Looking Glasses online

Friday, September 10th, 2010

If you need strong spectacle lenses to correct your sight, you probably know that you have to take a little more time before you make a decision on your glasses. A dispensing optician can guide you through the choices, but if you want to buy online the options can be daunting. Here are a few pointers to give you some ideas, and remember we’re always happy to help via e-mail or on the phone.

If you are short sighted, your lens power will have a minus sign in front of it. Your lenses will be thicker at the edges than in the middle, and may have unsightly white reflecting rings around them. From about power -4.00, a thinner lens material will help to reduce thickness and weight. Adding an anti-reflection layer will cut down those dreaded bottle-bottom reflections and improve appearance.

If you are long sighted, your lens power will have a plus sign. Your lenses are thicker in the centre, and thin at the edge. Your lenses will magnify your eyes, and from about +2.00 a flatter lens design will help to minimise thickness, weight, and the magnification of your eyes.  Again an anti-reflection layer will help to make the lenses appear thinner when people look at you.

Whatever your prescription, flatter lenses will help, so look for aspheric lenses, where we change the optics of the lenses to reduce the curve while still giving you the strength you need. Choosing a small frame will also help, reducing lens thickness and weight. For long sighted patients we can also make the lenses to fit the frame, rather than cutting them out of a large lens to start with. Making the lens with your frame in mind reduces the centre thickness and makes it flatter.

If you’re short sighted, a plastic frame will disguise edge thickness and look trendy! A rimless or thin metal will leave all your edge thickness on full display. If you’re long sighted, your lens edges will be thin, so you can choose a metal, but rimless or semi-rimless will make the edges of your lenses vulnerable to chipping or breaking. So think about the practicalities before you fall in love with a frame – you might not love it after the lenses are fitted if they look thick or are heavy.

So, a little time spent before you press that enter key and make your purchase will ensure that you love your new look. If you want our opinion on your choice, don’t hesitate to ask. We’re here to help you look good as well as see perfectly!

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Reading Between the Lines

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Out to dinner last night with five fifty-something friends, the conversation at one low point came round to counting grey hairs, checking out expanding waistlines and advancing wrinkles, and that other issue of ageing – reading specs! This was a hot topic because in the dimly lit restaurant only three of us could read the menu, which annoyed our waitress somewhat! The interesting thing was how six different people with different lifestyles have different ways of coping with needing help for reading….

Sue doesn’t go out to work but tends her small flock of specialist sheep which she hand rears. As she’s short sighted she doesn’t need specific reading specs yet, she just takes her distance glasses off! She then has to retrieve them from the barn or the paddock and wipe off any sheep dribble!

Phillip travels all over the world and is long sighted for distance and needs help for reading. He has Varifocals which go light and dark in the sun. This lets him see at any distance, and when work takes him to South Africa he has sunnies built in!

Jeremy is a GP, he uses vocational lenses for his desk and computer. He pulls them down his nose and looks over the top of them to talk to patients.

I’m bashing away at the keyboard all day, so I use an old pair of reading specs for the screen, and my strongest new ones to read small print.

Johnathan sells cars, he wears contact lenses, a distance lens in one eye and a close work one in the other. This means he can spot a potential customer a mile off and can always read the small print!

Rob just needs a little help for reading, but as a teacher he moves around the classroom all day, so he keeps ten pairs of ready readers in every useful location. He can also peer over the top of them to intimidate any troublesome students!

We had an excellent meal and over a few drinks we forgot about the issues of ageing – at least without our glasses on we can’t see the wrinkles!!

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The Perfect System

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

The eye is one of the most amazing organs in our bodies. Our sight is the most precious of our senses, and these small and perfect globes make sight happen by refracting light through it’s systems to help us make sense of our world. The eye is an incredibly complex and sensitive structure, all finely tuned, so it’s not surprising that tiny abnormalities result in visual defects and lead us to need help to correct our sight.

For perfect sight, light has to enter the eye and focus on the back surface. If your eyeball is too long, you’ll be short sighted. If it’s too short, you’ll be long sighted. Specs or contact lenses position the light in the right place so you can see clearly. If the curve of your cornea, the clear window at the front of the eye, is imperfect, then this will also create a problem with focussing.

Light enters the eye through the pupil, the black hole at the centre of the eye. It travels through the crystalline lens, a transparent structure that changes shape to let us see both close up and far away. Muscles hold the lens in place and stretch and relax to alter its shape and therefore its focus. If the lens is not the perfect size and shape then this will add to the visual defect of the eye. So you can see that there are several reasons why you may need glasses or contact lenses.

Once your optical system has been corrected and is working as it should, light reaches the light sensitive layer, the Retina, which lines the back of the eye. Here the image we see is upside down and in reverse! It travels to the brain through the optic nerve, where thankfully it’s put the right way round.

Ophthalmologists and opticians are lucky in that they’re the only clinicians who can examine their specialist organ without cutting their patient open! Thanks to ever advancing screening equipment and retinal imaging systems we can see inside your eyes and spot the very first signs of problems. This fantastic and beautiful system works on our behalf for every minute of our waking day, so look after it by attending your check ups and taking a few minutes to appreciate and maintain it.


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Road Test – Titanium Frames

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

I’ve suffered with my sinuses for years, and wearing my glasses always made this worse. When my sinuses are painful the weight of specs is terrible, making my eyes swell and my nose really tender. This year my hay fever has made it uncomfortable to use my contact lenses, so I decided I had to find some alternative glasses that I can wear.

I mailed off some queries and the InternetGlassesCompany gave me some ideas that might help. I’m only a bit short sighted, so I usually just pick any glasses I like and plastic lenses. I decided that I needed to do everything possible to reduce the weight of my specs, so I was sent some try-before-you-buy frames. There were some with a cord holding the lens in, and some made of different materials. I opted for Titanium, which apparently is tough, light, and doesn’t irritate the skin. I also ordered thin material lenses, and went for a small frame, so there would be less of it!

I was really excited when the spex arrived. They were incredibly light compared to my old ones, especially my chunky plastic frames. They had also fitted big bridge pads to spread the weight over my poor little nose. They felt blissful when I put them on. As they’re small they don’t rest on my cheeks, so within a couple of days my puffy eyes had gone back to normal. No more propping my specs away from my face by the evening, when it was either blurry TV or arm ache as I sat and held my glasses up!

The Titanium is very shiny and slim, and my thin lenses look very sleek in the frames. I thought these would be a necessity frame, (like having Orthopaedic shoes!) but I quite like the minimalist look of them, they’re a nice change from my plastics. They have certainly solved the problem, and the little changes have all added up to really comfy specs.

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To Wear or Not to Wear?

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

A common question that we’re asked is one that may seem to have an obvious answer. If I wear my glasses, will it make my eyes weaker? Will I start to rely on them? Some patients are clearly so concerned that they put themselves at risk by leaving their specs off unless they absolutely have to wear them.

So, why do we need glasses and how do they work? Put simply, you are short sighted if your eyeball is too long, and long sighted if it’s too short. Light is focused in front or behind the retina and your sight is blurred. Some visual defects are also down to irregularities in the surface of the Cornea, the clear area we look through at the front of the eye.

So, as the reason for your sight defect is physical, wearing glasses or leaving them off will not change your sight. All that happens is that your brain realises that life is easier with the specs on, and you get used to seeing clearly. This makes you feel reliant on them, but if you left them off for a day or two this effect would be lost.

At best you’ll get a headache if you don’t wear them, which will quickly improve once you put your glasses back on. At worst you could cause an accident by not seeing clearly and failing to react. Never drive without your specs if you’ve been told you need them to reach the driving standard.

Keeping your glasses on your face, where they belong, will keep the frame in good condition, and save any eye strain. They’ll always be there when you need them, and you’re utilising the gift of sight at it’s maximum standard. The good news is that leaving them off will not make your sight worse, so don’t panic if you do feel more comfortable under some circumstances without them on, it is allowed as long as you’re not behind the wheel!

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Spots Before your Eyes….

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

If you’ve never had them, you’ll wonder what all the fuss is about. If you’ve got them, you’ll know they’re very very annoying. If you suddenly get them, talk to your Optician immediately – what on earth am I on about?!! Floaters of course, those pesky black or clear blobs that bob about in our line of sight and drive sufferers crazy. So what are they? Are they harmful? And can you do anything about them?

Floaters can vary from person to person, appear at any age, and are more noticeable on bright days against light backgrounds. They are usually bits of cell debris that float around in the Vitreous humour, a jelly like substance that fills our eyeball and helps to maintain it’s shape. They waft about as our eye moves, and you’ll see them most clearly if you look up at the sky or at a white wall. Some become familiar friends!

Floaters are only a worry if lots appear suddenly. This could be an indicator of a Retinal detachment. The Retina lines the eye and is built of a series of layers of light receptive cells. If you are very short sighted your eyeball will be long from front to back, and the retina is thinly stretched around the inside of the eyeball. If the Retina detaches cells will float around inside the eye. Immediate laser treatment can repair the detachment, so the sudden appearance of floaters may be an indicator of this serious problem, and fast action may save your sight.

Contact your optician at once if you feel your floaters are different or have increased in number. Otherwise, they’re an annoyance that you just have to live with. If they seriously affect your sight or way of life, laser surgery may resolve the problem, but this is not without risk and you should seek advice before going ahead. Just don’t look up at the bright sky!

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A Little Help

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Now that the halcyon days of the NHS paying for eye exams for everybody are gone, it’s often a bit of a blow to find that you have to pay for your tests. Do remember though that help is there for those in need, and you can get free sight tests through the Health Service if you meet certain criteria. Your optician should check this with you when you go for your exam, and will then ask you to sign a form. They also need your NI number, and may ask for extra information such as your GP’s name, or where you study. The test is currently free if:

  • You are over 60, or under 16 years of age.
  • You are under 19 but in full time education.
  • You, or your partner receives:
  • Income support, Income based job seekers allowance, Income related Employment and support allowance, Pension guarantee credit, Tax Credit and you are named on a valid NHS Tax credit Exemption certificate.

If you do not qualify under the heading above, but are on a low income, your optician can give you a form HC2, which you fill in with your financial details. The certificate you get in reply tells you if you get any help, and is also useful if you need help towards dental treatment etc.

There are also qualifying reasons under health grounds. If you are registered blind or partially sighted with your local authority, if you suffer from diabetes or Glaucoma, or you are at risk of Glaucoma. If you are the sibling, parent or child of a Glaucoma sufferer and you are over age forty, this also qualifies you for a free examination. If you are a prisoner or on leave from a prison you also qualify. You will have to give details of your GP/Hospital/Prison as applicable on the form. If you are very long or short sighted, and your optician will tell you if your prescription is high enough, you are deemed to have a complex prescription, and this also means a free test.

After your test you will be given a copy of the prescription. You can take this away with you and use it to order glasses from the online optician, in exactly the same way as our clients do with private eye exam forms.

Some who qualify for a free exam also get an NHS voucher, which gives help towards the cost of new specs. We do not accept NHS vouchers, but these are for a relatively small amount, and many clients prefer to pay our modest prices for something nice rather than use the voucher! We also get patients who have used their voucher at the optician to have a spare pair, and then buy their glasses from us for everyday wear.

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