Alcon renames Opti-free Evermoist to Opti-Free Puremoist

May 23

What the difference is between Evermoist and Puremoist? None. Alcon was simply forced to rename the contact lens cleaning solution since the name implied the solution would be “ever” moist which was not in line with advertisements, where the company said up to 16 hours. Subsequently, Alcon was forced by the advertisement regulators to rename the solution.

Vision Direct is still selling the remaining stock of Evermoist (also available in flight pack, by the way), but will replace the stock with new Alcon Opti-Free Puremoist.

Air optix night and day (Focus night & day) replaced by Air optix night & day aqua

May 21

Air optix night & day (previously Focus night & day) has been discontinued by the manufacturer Ciba Vision but we are still selling whatever stock that is left.

The replacement lens Air optix night & day aqua is an upgraded version of the material and can according to the manufacturer Ciba Vision be used as a direct replacement instead of the Air optix night and day if your prescription of the older lens is unavailable.

As always, if you want to ensure suitability and comfort, consult with your opticians. They can also get samples sorted.

Visions Problems can Affect Children’s Learning Development – Not Just their Eyesight

May 14

We use each of our senses to inform us of what is going on in the world around us, each providing an essential tool in the way we perceive the world and learn about it. As children, our eyesight is especially important to our development, helping us to create memories, learn about our environment, and as we begin to read, develop our language skills.

Vision is very closely linked to the learning process and childhood educational development. Children with undetected eye problems often struggle at school, being unable to read textbooks or view classroom displays correctly. And all too often, young children will not complain of vision problems, as they simply do not know what correct vision looks like.

The Importance of Routine Eye Exams

Early detection of childhood vision problems not only helps children’s educational development, it can also make a crucial difference to the success of treatment, as many conditions are more responsive to early treatment, and many will only worsen if left untreated.

Regular eye check-ups are essential for young ones, not only to check for vision problems, but as a valuable tool to help health care professionals detect eye diseases, as well as more serious general health conditions. All children benefit from regular eye exams, and if your child needs corrective lenses, or you currently buy them contact lenses online, they should also go for at least an annual check-up to ensure that their eye prescription is kept up to date.

Routine Eye Tests

In the UK, a baby’s eyes will be examined within 72 hours of their birth. A second eye exam should follow when they are six-to-eight weeks old, often carried out by a GP. Children’s vision will also be tested before they start school, at around four-to-five years old.

Early Visual Development

The NHS gives the following useful guide to the way a child’s vision should develop over the first year of life:

6 weeks old: children will follow a colourful or interesting object, such as a face, with their eyes
2-3 months old: children begin to reach for things that they see
3-5 months old: children begin to mimic facial expressions and examine objects more closely
6-12 months old: children focus on objects that are both near and far away, they see simple shapes, scribble with crayons and are interested in pictures

What Optometrists are Looking For

During childhood eye exams, optometrists check for a range of, not just eye problems, but general health problems too. Refractive errors, such as myopia (nearsightedness), (hyperopia) farsightedness and astigmatism, as well as focusing problems, such as presbyopia, will be checked for. These problems are often easily solved with the right prescription, allowing you to buy the right corrective glasses or contact lenses online. An eye examiner will also check for signs of amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (a squint) as well as cataracts (cloudiness of the eye lens), and at a later age, your child will also be tested for colour blindness.

When to Seek Medical Advice

If for any reason any of the routine eye examinations are not carried out, or if you notice any deviation from the NHS childhood vision guide above, you should speak to your GP about arranging an eye care check-up. If any problems are found, they can often be corrected with the right prescription for you to use to buy corrective glasses or contact lenses online, while other conditions may require simple refractive surgery.

As children are often unaware of an existing eye condition, parents can look out for the following signs of possible vision problems, and seek guidance from their GP if necessary.

In younger children:

Lack of eye contact
Problems viewing objects that are either nearby or far away
Erratic eye movements
Not turning towards the source of sounds
Frequent poking or rubbing of the eyes
Any signs of a squint, or lazy eye (amblyopia) developing

In older children:

Holding books close up, or far away in order to read comfortably
Sitting too close to the TV
Problems maintaining attention at school
Regular headaches or eye strain

Corneal Ulcers – Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments

May 11

What is a Corneal Ulcer?

A corneal ulcer, or ulcerative keratitis, is an open sore that develops on the surface of the eye. An infection causes inflammation of the cornea, and although a common condition, if left untreated can lead to serious, long term visual impairment.

What Causes a Corneal Ulcer?

The main cause of a corneal ulcer is a viral or bacterial infection. A range of bacteria can lead to corneal ulcer development, which is why it is so important for users of our online contact lenses to stick to a proper eye care routine. Eye conditions like corneal ulcers are one of the reasons why contact lenses need to be thoroughly sterilised regularly. One-day online contact lenses offer a more hygienic alternative, as they are discarded at the end of each day and replaced with a new sterile pair the next day.

Corneal ulcers can also be caused by chemical injury, as well as by a range of conditions that allow the eyes to be more exposed to bacteria, such as long term vitamin A deficiency, dry eyes, distichiae, where the eyelashes grow incorrectly, corneal dystrophy, and ectropion, which is an eye condition that causes the lower eyelid to turn outwards. If left untreated, ectropion can prevent the eyelids from closing properly, and can lead to the development of a corneal ulcer as the eye is insufficiently protected from bacteria, usually warded off by bacteria-fighting tears.

What is the Cornea?

If you imagine the eye as a camera, the cornea is the camera lens. It is the transparent outer lens at the front of the eyeball, through which you can see the pupil and the coloured iris. It is the cornea that bends light rays so that a visual picture of the world around you can be projected into the retina at the back of the eye, transmitting these images to the brain. Corneal ulcers can interfere with this process, preventing light from reaching the retina, causing distorted or cloudy vision. The inflammation caused by a corneal ulcer can also cause severe pain, and sensitivity to light.

Corneal Ulcers – the Symptoms

Left untreated, corneal ulcers can worsen, and leave you with serious and permanent eyesight problems. The earlier a corneal ulcer is detected, the easier it is to treat, so it pays to know the symptoms. If you find you’re experiencing any of the following symptoms, you should consult your GP:

Persistently blurred vision
Sensitivity to bright light
Swelling of the eyelids
Eye pain and/or eye redness
Any pus or liquid draining from the eye

Corneal Ulcers – Treatment Options

The treatment of a corneal ulcer will depend on the both the cause, and the severity of the ulcer. Typically, a corneal ulcer will be treated with a course of antibiotics. A fungal corneal ulcer will require topical anti-fungal treatment, while viral corneal ulceration will require anti-viral treatment, typically in the form of an eye ointment. Pain medication may also be prescribed, often in the form of special eye drops to dilate the eye pupil.

Most corneal ulcers will heal up within a week, but deeper ulcers may require corneal surgery, special contact lenses, or a corneal transplant to correct the cornea and ease pain.

HEAD branded sunglasses for tennis, squash and badminton – prices as low as £69

May 11

HEAD sunglasses are designer sunglasses practical for sports such as tennis, cycling or other activities where you are active and in movement. Tennis, badminton and squash players in particular can benefit for the price drop on HEAD sunglasses and get ready for the upcoming season!

Geek Power – How Media Glasses can help you Get Ahead

May 10

Not since Revenge of the Nerds have the geeks of this world been granted so much power. Geek chic is big news in fashion circles, and while too-short trousers and elbow patches are all part of the aesthetic, you can’t complete the look without the right pair of frames. Contact lenses have a surprising rival in the form of chunky, nostalgic NHS frames. Even East London hipsters with 20/20 vision are donning fake frames to increase the geek. So here’s a look at the key styles and the brainy types that inspired them.

Woody Allen

The epitome of neurotic geek chic, Woody’s iconic frames sum up this look in a nutshell. Chunky frames, frequently skewiff as he manically ponders the meaning of life, or lack of it, it turns out that Woody hasn’t actually worn the same pair film after film. It just goes to show how many geektastic spectacle types there are to choose from, as well as showing us just how powerful the right frames can be – we can’t imagine Woody’s persona hitting home as hard if he’d been wearing contact lenses, can you?

Mad Men

Mad Men fever gripped us the world over, and it wasn’t just the slick suits, flared skirts and chic cocktails that got us in a twist. Mad Men ushered in a whole new trend for vintage frames, at a time when more and more designers were looking to iconic styles of the past for inspiration. The high street’s now awash with 50s cocktail dresses and lashing of tweed tailoring, and opticians are experiencing an increased demand for vintage-inspired frames too. Think horn-rimmed, retro, chunky tortoiseshell and two-tone and you won’t go wrong.

Louis Theroux

He’s been entertaining us and enlightening us in equal measure on screen for well over a decade now, and Louis’ specs never go out of style. More than lending an air of wisdom to everyone’s favourite TV nerd, his geeky frames often heightened the laughs on show, as he stumbled his way through unlikely meetings with the great, the good, and the downright weird in stark straight-man contrast to the oddballs he met along the way. Frequently popping up on the World’s Sexiest Nerds lists, Louis and his serious frames have played a big part in making geek chic sexy over the years too.

Steve Jobs

If you don’t want to go down the heavy frames route, then Apple-founder and all-round genius Steve Jobs offered, perhaps unsurprisingly, a sleeker, cooler aesthetic alternative. His rimless Lunor Round frames still offer all of the nerd power you need, only without the chunky frame, and have become an instant classic with serious media types and tech geeks the world over. Like the iconic computers he helped to design, they’re simple, they’re elegant, and they’re instantly covetable.

If you’re looking for geek chic frames to replace your contact lenses, here are a few pre-purchase tips. These frames are substantial and will get you noticed, so be prepared to take those nerd-bating comments on the chin. If you haven’t worn frames before, try out a slimmer frame first to see if it suits, then trade up to a substantial Woody-style pair. And lastly, always try before you buy. Heavy frames don’t suit every face, so be wary when you’re buying online, and try some out at a local optician first.

1 Day Acuvue For astigmatism discontinued, replaced by 1 Day Acuvue Moist for astigmatism

May 10

Production has been discontinued of the daily toric lens, Johnson & Johnson 1 Day Acuvue for Astigmatism. The toric daily disposable contact lenses are replaced by 1 Day Acuvue moist for astigmatism which can be used without a new fitting, since the lenses have the same base curve, diameter, material and water content. The main difference is an extra moisture ingredient in the moist version; no new prescription is required.

In 2014, Virtual Reality is Coming to A Screen Near You – Your Eyeballs!

May 9

The contact lens once had but one humble goal – to correct the world’s vision problems one fuss-free lens at a time. It wasn’t long before our human vanity turned the simple contact lens into a fashion accessory, allowing us to change the colour, and shape of our eyes, to attract a mate, turn ourselves into red-eyed demons, or simply achieve that cat-eyed look we’d all been searching for. And now we humans are taking contact lenses one step further – with virtual reality lenses.

Yes, you read that right. Contact lenses may never look the same again, thanks to the boffins over at eye specialists Innovega. Their iOptik innovation, a new kind of dual focus contact lens, has the ability to project 3D images onto the eye itself. So if you’ve ever dreamed of wandering around your own virtual reality world without having to strap on that unwieldy virtual reality head gear, your chance to become Predator is finally here. Almost.

What?

These lenses aren’t quite as space age as you might hope. For starters, for these things to work, you’ll still need to wear glasses. You see, the lenses work by projecting images from these glasses, onto the contact lenses, which allows the wearer to focus in on the information being displayed, as well as the world around them, simultaneously. Sound like a headache?

These lenses give your eyes powers that they don’t have naturally. Using two filters for each lens, you’ll be able to focus clearly on two focal planes at the same time. Which is more than a little mindblowing. By directing light to both the centre of the pupil as well as the pupil rim, you’ll be able to clearly see the world around you, only with handy data projected over the top.

WHY?

Never ones to miss a beat when it comes to cutting edge battlefield technology, the US military’s research lab, DARPA, have already expressed an interest, because these new lenses will allow troops in the field a far wider range of vision.

For those of us thankfully not on the battlefield, these new lenses could mean handy visual pointers as we wander round town – directional arrows and the like. It could also turn the daily commute into a world of hands-free fun, as we sit back, relax and watch the latest movie releases directly on our eyeballs, with no need for separate screens. And your favourite console game will be taken to the next level, as your shoot-em-up components, zombies and monsters wander all around your field of vision, making it feel like they’re in your living room. Scary? Exciting? Possibly both.

When?

These new iOptik lenses are ready to go. In fact, the Pentagon’s already placed an order. For us mere mortals not at the forefront of US military operations though, a general release date has been pencilled in for 2014. So that gives interested parties two years to save up (these lenses are NOT going to be cheap), Google two years to get their Project Glass up to dual projection speed, and the rest of us time to ponder what this new development could mean for humankind and future technologies. No more living in the real world? Future evil governments feeding 3D propaganda directly into our brains? Or, gasp, no more TV?

Can you Trust ‘Ready Readers’?

May 8

While they may save you money in the short term, cheap, over-the counter reading glasses could end up costing your eyesight. While prescription lenses used to cost hundreds of pounds, competition within the market has brought the price of glasses and contact lenses down, and we’re now seeing a boom in the so-called ‘ready readers’ market – non-prescription glasses that are available from supermarkets and petrol stations for as little as £1 a pair. But can these glasses really compare to made-to-measure prescription glasses and contact lenses?

It’s easy to see the appeal of ready readers. Pick them up at the supermarket without the need for a lengthy eye exam, and at just a few pounds a pair, it doesn’t matter if you lose or break them. But wearing the wrong lens prescription can cause serious problems. Besides the hazards presented by not being able to see clearly, the wrong lenses can cause blurred vision, eye strain, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and even double vision.

The biggest problem with off-the-peg lenses, is that the centre point of the two lenses might not be aligned correctly. This can lead to serious eye strain, as it means that the sight in one eye might be clear while the other is blurred. The brain has to readjust the visual picture for you, trying to rebalance your vision, and this is what leads to strained, tired eyes, and in many cases, headaches too.

Ideally, the optical centres of lenses need to be around 62mm from each side of the lens. Many ready readers fail to meet this criteria, and depending on how near set or wide set your eyes are, the optical centre positioning may be completely unsuitable for your own individual eyesight.

While the cheap price tag may be a sight for sore eyes, this level of affordability often comes at a price. Poorly constructed reading glasses may have uncomfortable frames, unbalanced frames that can lead to head tilt, and may even simply start to fall apart within a few weeks. In some cases, the actual prescription of the lenses has been found to differ from the lens strength shown on the pack. Another issue to watch out for is cheap frames made from nickel, as nickel can cause skin allergies too.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. As the name suggests, ready readers are designed for reading. Those with a lower prescription may find that these over-the-counter lenses are just fine for correcting their vision for reading purposes, but just remember that they’re not designed for walking or other mobile activities. People with a higher prescription of +2 should test out these reading glasses for two minutes in order to check for any discomfort or vision issues, and to ensure that the optical centre points of each lens are aligned properly.

And remember that eye exams aren’t just a vital part of purchasing the right glasses or contact lenses prescription for you, they have an added benefit, in that they can help detect more serious vision problems, eye diseases, and more serious health conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Treating wet AMD with unapproved Avastin could save NHS £84m

May 7

The Guardian and BBC compares the two drugs Lucentis and Avastin for treatment of the most common cause for blindness; wet age-related macula degeneration.

In contrast with the officially approved drug Lucentis costing £700 per injection, Avastin is as low as £60 per injection but on the other hand is not approved for treatment of eye conditions. Avastin was originally developed to treat cancer.

According to BBC, there is no proof of Avastin being a suitable replacement for Lucentis, but NHS has funded a trial with 610 patients that indicates they are comparable according to the Guardian. The NHS-funded research project “The IVAN trial” is unique in that it is the study is one of the largest in its kind, related to eye disease.

The hypothesis of the study reads:

1. Avastin® (bevacizumab) is not inferior to Lucentis® (ranibizumub) with respect to the benefits of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibition in maintaining/improving visual acuity in eyes with chorodial neovascularisation (CNV).

2. Treatment with VEGF inhibition can be ‘safely’ withdrawn at 3 months with monthly review to detect CNV reactivation, i.e. criteria for re-starting treatment can be pre-specified to prevent any difference in average visual acuity compared with continuing monthly treatment.

On the website for The IVAN trial, there are responses addressed to critical comments concerning the size and length of the study, relevancy to cost effectiveness claimed and dosage size of Avastin.

Although preventative care such as using nutritional supplements could help more elderly people to avoid the risk of AMD, the results from the IVAN study so far are certainly interesting for patients already diagnosed with AMD that want to compare the two drugs
.