Posts Tagged ‘thin lenses’

Extra Special Service

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

After a busy year here at the Internet Glasses Company, we’ve been filing and tidying ready for New Year. Looking back over some of the queries and special orders we’ve had we thought we’d share with you some of the trickier challenges we’ve helped our clients to deal with…..

Mr Hauss had been struggling with bifocals because he suffers from arthritis and his balance is a problem. He told us that he’s always felt unsafe on the stairs. We suggested varifocals, with a lower reading corridor to ensure he can see his feet and the steps clearly. Our guarantee allowed him to try the lenses at home, and he knew he could return them if he couldn’t adapt to them. Six months on, he’s just ordered a spare pair!

Miss Campbell had never worn glasses before and had spent several months window shopping in Opticians but feeling intimidated by all the choice and options. We helped her to decide on plastic lenses with a coating, to make her vision as good as possible and keep them lightweight. After a couple of try-before-you-buy back and forth practice runs she chose a chunky plastic frame for socialising, and a sleek metal for work. We’re now working on another pair that we’ll glaze as sunglasses!

Mrs Banks had already invested in clear distance glasses, prescription sunglasses and reading specs from her Optician. While she liked all these for the jobs they were designed to do, the constant swapping about was annoying her. After a few e-mail discussions we learnt that she doesn’t need the readers that much, as due to her myopia she can usually manage to read just by removing her distance specs. So we reglazed the distance frame with photochromic lenses. She can see in them in all light conditions, whip them off to read, and keep the dark sunnies for holidays and readers for tiny details if she needs them.

Mr Biant kept breaking his rimless specs but wanted something equally light and subtle. We sent him some try-before-you-buy options, and he chose a skinny metal in a matt metal so they weren’t too shiny and obtrusive. We used the thinnest material plastic lenses with an anti-reflection coating, to reduce weight, thickness, and give an invisible lens look. He has now ditched the rimless and eight months later, hasn’t broken anything yet!

So if you need help with what will suit your lifestyle and your spectacle prescription, don’t be afraid to ask our advice and utilise our many years of experience. There are real people on the other side of your keyboard, qualified as Optometrists, dispensing Opticians and lens technicians. So don’t be afraid to make our acquaintance and give us a challenge – hope to hear from you soon!

Varifocal Glasses

Get a New Look for New Year!

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

When the last shreds of wrapping paper have been tidied away and the last sprout has been munched, we turn our attention to a fab new look or entire new lifestyle for New Year. It’s a time to brush away the cobwebs of winter and look forward to an improved 2012. Amid the health resolutions and vows to give up all vices, how about taking the easy option to improve your looks – some fab new specs with a few tiny tweaks to make you see better and look better!

If you wear bifocals – this older format of lens is seen as cheap and easy option once you need help for close and far vision. It does show the world that you’ve reached that certain age however, and it’s pretty hopeless at the computer. Change to varifocals – no visible line, middle distance correction for laptops, VDU screens and i-pads, and all with a no fuss full refund policy from the IGC!

If your lenses are thick – higher prescriptions can result in chunky heavy lenses. This can lead to sore noses and ears, and they can minify or magnify the eye too. Switch to thinner material lenses to reduce weight and flatter your eyes. There will be less visual distortion at the lens edge too.

If your lenses obscure your eyes – standard lenses in slightly higher prescriptions can reflect light back, hiding your eyes and interfering with your sight. Choose anti-reflection coated lenses which will allow all the light through to the eye. This means that people see you not themselves, and will allow you to maximise your sight. They also make vision much more comfortable for night driving and at the computer.

If you struggle with ready readers – it’s not an expensive option to order bespoke reading lenses in your glasses. Ready readers do the job for brief snatches of glancing at small print, but for prolonged periods of reading you need your proper prescription set at the correct measurement for you. Keep your ready readers for emergencies only -  then close work will be less likely to cause eye strain.

Varifocal Glasses

Communication Breakdown

Monday, July 12th, 2010

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Some of the most common problems that consumers have with glasses boils down to the same cause time and time again. It’s not the product or the optician’s prescription that means people aren’t happy with their glasses – it’s their expectations against what the specs actually do. So let’s try and repair this communication breakdown …………

My new reading glasses are really good for reading the newspaper but now I can’t see the Computer – what’s gone wrong?

This often crops up when people have their second or third new reading power. We first know we need help for reading because our arms get too short! We find we have to hold things further away to see small print. Reading glasses help you to see fine detail again, at a comfortable distance. Every time it’s strengthened, small print gets closer again, but you do reach a point when your eyes change a little more and the arm’s length or computer distance isn’t clear with reading specs any more. You need a separate strength for the screen, or Varifocals, which let you see everything at any distance.

I’ve been putting my new Varifocals on and off for a month and they’re still not comfortable, I feel much better in my old glasses.

We all need time to adjust with a new prescription or type of lens, but usually it only takes a week or two. The key to getting used to new specs is actually putting them on and keeping them on – don’t switch between old and new lenses. This will make the adjustment period longer. You might feel a bit odd for a day or two, but persevere with the new lens and soon you’ll forget you’ve got them on!

I had thin lenses but you can still see them outside the edge of the frame. So what’s the point of them?!

The issue here is the patient expectation of just how ‘thin’ is thin! There is a choice of materials which reduce the lens thickness, but many different factors affect the final look of a lens. The distance between your eyes, the strength of the lens, and the frame size all have an impact on the thickness. Thinner materials reduce thickness by up to 50%, so will always be an improvement on a standard lens, but with really high lens powers we can’t promise to disguise the lens edge fully.

The way to avoid these disappointments is to ask your optician or online optician as many questions as possible before ordering, and go back to them if you’re not happy with your glasses. Sometimes we can improve what you’ve got, or suggest alternatives that will help you.

Big is Beautiful!

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

There comes a time in every Fashionistas life when you have to be the one to set the trend, and take a brave leap into the fashion unknown. Well this was my week to go for it, and I’ve embraced a new look ready for the New Year! Big is beautiful fashion followers – and I’ve proved it!

I’ve been looking for a new pair of specs for ages, and really wanted something different this time. I’ve done rimless, tiny black metal, bright red plastic and everything in between. It’s always difficult to find something really wow, but having scoured the fashion pages I decided it was time to go big, and chose a huge blue Christian Dior, with very cool diamante bits on the sides.

I mailed the Internet Glasses Company to ask about my lens strength, as my Mum always had to have small frames because she’s very short sighted. Apparently it’s ok to go large with my prescription, which is quite low. They told me I could still have had big frames even with high power lenses if I ordered special thin lenses, but in the end I had thin lenses anyway to make sure they weren’t too heavy.

When the postman staggered up the path with my new specs I was very very excited, and couldn’t wait to hit the streets. For a start, I loved the sense of space – I could hardly see the rims around the frame, it was like contact lenses but without the pain! As the frame is plastic it didn’t feel too heavy although it’s twice the size of my old little metal specs. I was glad I had thin lenses though, they feel very light and apparently this lens is tougher. I’m sure I’ll get a few strange looks to start with, but I’m loving my new look, and setting a trend!

Bully For You

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

We all have an image of a geeky, bullied child in our minds, the clever kid who wears specs and is the target for the playground tough nuts. We would hope that in these enlightened times wearing glasses does not make you the target that it once did. Specs are cool nowadays, they’re trendy, funky, desirable.

If you were bullied as a child then the scars run deep. Many adults are not keen to wear their specs because they remember how they felt as a child victim. Gok Wan has spoken about his experiences in childhood, and how bullying affects self-esteem. He now revels in being a spec wearer, and it’s an important part of his image.

Geek chic is such a hot look at present that you may even look back with fondness at your childhood specs and see how trendy they were. If it’s good enough for Dr Who then it’s good enough for you! If you’re still not sure about wearing your glasses, then think carefully when choosing your new frames. See them as an accessory, a fashion item, a treat like any other exciting purchase.

Go for thin lenses and an anti-reflection coating to make your specs look as good as possible, and to get rid of the dreaded bottle bottom look. Funky frames with detail are interesting and a good way to express your personality. For a fraction of the cost of a designer handbag you get a wearable piece of fashion that’s totally you. That Gucci, Marc Jacobs or Christian Dior can be yours – and it’s a necessity not a luxury!

A browse amongst online optician sites will let you look in the comfort of your own home, if you find visiting the opticians traumatic. Look at it this way – not everyone is lucky enough to need specs!