Consulting the Right Opticians at the Right time

Just as eyes are the windows to a person’s soul, they are also the windows to the world around you. If they’re not taken care of properly, the dirt would accumulate on them just as it would on any window in your house. The result… your vision gets murky and cloudy. Slowly, the world would start looking darker and darker until you lose your vision. 

Eye diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration are causing sight loss among millions every day. According to an estimate by RNIB, approximately 2 million people in UK alone are living with sight loss. While sight loss can be related to gender, genetics, over-exposure to sunlight and smoking etc., ageing is the most common cause of sight loss. The risk increases as you grow older but the good news is, it can be treated. Like any other disease, it is the right diagnosis at the right time which may help you to control loss of sight in eyes.

When you’re getting your eyes checked, make sure that you get in touch with the right opticians. Choose those opticians who are not only proficient at testing eye sights but also have the ability to identify any abnormalities or disease symptoms. Specsdirect2u offer you just the right service with an efficient and experienced team of opticians. Our team is equipped with the latest knowledge and instruments to determine the accurate level of your vision and check for any abnormal conditions. Located at multiple locations in Glasgow, we offer free eye testing at your choice of location. If you are uncomfortable or unable to visit one of our offices, we can visit your home and perform an eye test there. Remember that it is Free Of Cost.

Get a prescription from us and browse our wide range of prescription glasses to choose from. We have glasses to suit all ages and genders. You can have designer and budget frames for yourself. Add to that a lens of your choice and you’re ready to go.  If you want to send prescription frames or sunglasses to someone that you care about but aren’t sure of their prescription, why not use our Gift Vouchers scheme?

Our website gives you complete directions for ordering and sending a gift voucher. Go ahead and improve your vision with style using our wide options for different kinds of lens, frame designs and sunglass tints.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog. We hope you subscribe to this RSS Feed to enjoy all future blogs, and please connect with us using the social media buttons at the top of the screen. The main website is www.specsdirect2u.co.uk where you can see the full range of Designers that we sell.

A Focus on Women and Eye Health

This week we are focusing on eye health for women. It may surprise you to know that around two all blindness and vision impairment are found in women. Therefore April has been designated Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month in order to promote eye care and health knowledge, particularly for women.

There are a lot of different things that can affect your eye health, some of which are genetic, putting you at a higher risk, some are linked to longevity, however many are linked to lifestyle.

While there isn’t a great deal you can do about the onset of some eye diseases, the one thing that you can do it to make sure that you get a regular check-up at Specsdirect2u. We do not just check that you can still see clearly, although that is a primary task, we also carry out various checks and tests in order to pick up early stages of any eye disease. Here at Specsdirect2u we have four local branches where you can pop in and book an appointment, or you can give us a call. We have very friendly expert opticians who will carry out your eye examination. Don’t forget that eye tests in Scotland are free so there is no excuse not to have an eye test at least once every two years.

Outside of regular eye checks there are a number of things that you can do in order to help reduce the likelihood of you developing an eye disease or condition that may lead to you losing your sight later in life.

Sunglasses

It may seem like sunglasses are a handy fashion accessory on a sunny day. In fact sunglasses do a lot more than stop you from squinting on a bright day. If your sunglasses have good UV protection you will reduce the amount of damage that UV rays can do to your eye. UV rays of various wavelengths are absorbed by different structures within the eye and if you do not protect your eyes you could be putting yourself at risk of developing cataracts, macular degeneration and causing other general damage to the eye that can lead to sight loss.

If you don’t have any sunglasses we recommend that you get some now that spring and brighter days are on the way. If you don’t know where to start then why not check out our range of sunglasses that we offer here at Specsdirect2u. We offer everything from budget frames through to the latest Ray Bans and there are both prescription and non-prescription options for them all.

Diet

Mum’s are very fond of telling kids to eat their carrots so that they will be able to see in the dark. Although not strictly true, you do need to make sure that you are getting the right nutrients in order for your eyes to stay healthy. So let’s start with the carrots. Carrots are a good source of beta-carotene, as are sweet potatoes, spinach and kale, which may slow the progression of macular degeneration.

Other key nutrients you should try to eat plenty of are omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc. It may sound like you will have to eat a hundred and one different foods to make sure that you can cram all of these is, but actually you can get most of them from berries, dark green leafy vegetables, orange vegetables, oily fish, poultry and dairy products.

So in short, don’t take your eye health for granted and if you do nothing else, make sure that you take advantage of an eye examination here at Specsdirect2u.  We also offer free home eye test visits, if you cannot make it into one of our optical practices.  We are in Alexandra Parade, Cambuslang, Duke Street in Dennistoun and Tollcross.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.  Please subscribe to receive all future blogs, and connect with us using the social media buttons at the top of the screen.  We are an Independent Family Owned Opticians and our main goal is to look after your eyesight.  

Day in life of an Optometrist - Lights, Charts and Machines

So, you’re off to the opticians for an eye test. If it’s your first test for a while you might be a little bit nervous about what will happen and the process that you will be going through. In a modern eye test there are many different charts and tests that you will see as part of your eye test, but they all had to be invented by someone, so this blog is to give you some background information about what the tests are, but also a little bit about where they all came from.

The Eye Test Chart

You are probably familiar with the standard Snellen Eye Chart, but what you probably didn’t know is that the first eye charts as we know them were designed in 1843 by Heinrich Kuechler in typical German efficiency in order to make the first attempt to standardise the charts to be used. There was an update to these first charts in 1854, but it was the Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen who, in 1862, invented the test chart that is so familiar today. You might be wondering what was different about Snellen’s chart. It was all about the font, Snellen chose a square font so that letters had the same height and width, which reduced variations in performance.

The Ophthalmoscope

The ophthalmoscope is the small hand held device that an optician uses to shine a light into your eye to look at the back of your eye and also at the lens. In order to do this a beam of light is shone into the eye so that the optician can see the various structures. By changing the angle that they look at your eye your optician can spot abnormalities or any signs of disease. The very first ophthalmoscope was actually invented by Charles Babbage in 1847, who is rather better known for inventing the first mechanical computer. Although his ophthalmoscope was perfectly good, his sales skills failed him and his invention was forgotten. Only 4 years later Herman von Helmholtz, another renowned scientist and physician of the day, invented his own version of the ophthalmoscope and clearly made a much better job of marketing his device as it was used as part of eye tests until around 1920.

Glaucoma Tests

Intraocular pressure, or the pressure within the eyeball, is an important parameter to measure to monitor as a sign of glaucoma presence. Intraocular pressure has been highlighted since Sir William Bowman’s presentation to the British Medical Association in 1826. At this stage though the measurement was literally made by hand with the optician making their assessment of the pressure by palpating the eyeball with their fingers! Fortunately technology has come a long way since then through contact tonometry, where a mechanical device pressed onto the eyeball to measure the pressure, to the current practice of non-contact tonometry that makes the measurement by using a puff of air blown onto the eyeball. There are also other tests that are carried out to make more definite diagnoses of glaucoma as it is not a simple disease.

 

So, now you know more about eye tests and where the practices have come from why not head down to your local branch of Specsdirect2u to make your free eye test appointment to make sure that your eyes are in tip top health.  We also offer free home eye tests if you live in the Glasgow area, call us today on 0141 554 8886 to make an enquiry.

 

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Correct Your Eyesight in Style

There was a time, and not so long ago, when being told that you had to wear glasses was the equivalent to having any chance of being ‘cool’ ripped away from you in a couple of seconds flat. How many of us had NHS thick-rimmed pink or brown glasses inflicted upon us as children in the 80s? Nowadays the situation is very different. Glasses are now cool, so much so that some people even buy glasses that do not have any vision correction properties at all so that they can take advantage of the style that glasses can nowadays provide.

Part of the attraction of glasses now is that designers have turned their attentions to the frames that are available. Now when you go to buy your latest glasses you can choose from top designer names that include Prada, Jimmy Choo and Gucci. The main down side to designer glasses though are the designer prices that they come with. You can opt to buy your glasses from an internet supplier, but you may be taking a bit of a gamble on the quality of the finished product. However, you probably also don’t want to pay the prices that opticians charge.

You may be wondering how to solve this conundrum?

 

The answer is an innovative approach to glasses supply that is taken by Specsdirect2u. They operate out of four optical practices where all of the glasses that they sell are manufactured by qualified in-house opticians. As you would expect, each branch has a wide range of frames on display that you can try on in order to pick the ones that are right for you. If this was any other high street optician you would then be looking at the designer prices that were mentioned earlier. Specsdirect2u have taken their expertise and have expanded their sales to incorporate online sales as well, but with all of the benefits of a local optical practice.

If you have a favourite designer you can go straight to their frames with a single click, so find your favourite Tom Ford frames or search out the latest PodiumRetro frames.

The best bit about all of this? That’s easy, the unbeatable prices that Specsdirect2u offer you. No other optician will be able to beat these prices. So overall you get the best of everything, you get the care, skill and attention to detail of a local optician, combined with wallet friendly prices. If you want proof then just go to any high street optician and get a quote, then come and compare that with Specsdirect2u.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog. Please subscribe to get future blogs automatically and don’t forget to connect with us via Social Media.  The Optical Practice location addresses can be seen on the left hand side of the blog page, along with telephone numbers. 

 

We would love to talk to you, so if you have any questions, please make contact with us.  Main website is http://www.specsdirect2u.co.uk

 

Buy Glasses at Online Prices with the Personal Touch of a Local Branch

Specsdirect2u are a different type of supplier of great value spectacles. They not only offer the fantastic savings of an online spectacle supplier but also the expertise of qualified opticians and four local branches offering eye tests and glasses in the Glasgow area. The company use qualified opticians to manufacture your lenses so you can be rest assured that your lenses will be manufactured to a high standard.

If you have bought glasses from an Optician in the past you are likely to have found that the costs just seem to keep on adding up. This is due to the incredibly high costs that can be associated with running an optical practice, and these inevitably get passed on to the customer. Specsdirect2u manage to combine the best of optical practices with the savings of online suppliers for their customers. You will not find better prices in any optical practice in the country.

Many opticians sell each element of their glasses separately, which can make a seemingly good value pair of frames turn into an expensive pair of glasses. Therefore Specsdirect2u offer a novel pricing system that includes the cost of lenses in the price that you see. The prices are quoted with single vision lenses, but if you need bifocals you simply add £30, and for varifocals you add on £60. However it is also worth noting that you can get a complete pair of glasses with single vision lenses from as little as £15.

If you need more information about lens types and coatings just contact one of the Optical Practices to enquire, a member of staff will be able to assist you.

Although there are budget options available many of you will be looking for designer frames at great prices. Specsdirect2u carry a number of lines of designer frames and offer them at very attractive prices when compared with other Opticians. If you do not live in the Glasgow area do not worry, all you need to order a pair of glasses is your current prescription and an idea of the frames that you might like. If you haven’t got specific frames in mind Specsdirect2u will send you frames to try on in the comfort of your own home so that you can make a decision about which ones you want.

There are 21 different designer lines of frames that you can choose from. The best-selling ranges are by Prada and Ray Ban, but there are also ranges by BOSS, Superdry and Gucci and the newly introduced Tom Ford and Jimmy Choo ranges. There is something for everyone, whether your preference is for rimmed or rimless glasses, budget or designer, rigid or bendable.

 

The Specsdirect2u website also has a highly informative blog section that addresses some of the latest research, news and advances in eyesight and eye care that ranges from dealing with contact lens discomfort through to the effect of poor eyesight on car accident statistics. So not only can you find yourself some fantastically priced glasses, you can also find out more about your eyes and your vision as well.

If you need any further convincing about the great value glasses that Specsdirect2u offers you can also check out the price comparison chart that compares leading high street opticians’ prices to Specsdirect2u. There are also customer testimonials that give even more examples. So if you are looking for great value glasses, then check out Specsdirect2u.

 

Specsdirect2u have 4 Optical Practices in Glasgow:  Alexandra Parade, Cambuslang, Dennistoun and Tollcross.  If you have any queries, please call us on 0141 554 8886.  We would love to hear from you.

 

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