Did you know that the tarsier:
We are big horror movie fans here in visiondirect.co.uk, but we’re also a bit stumped when it comes to picking a costume this time of year. So to celebrate the upcoming festivities and give our customers some awesome costume ideas, we made an infographic with everything you didn’t need to know about horror movie facts. It includes all the interesting bits of trivia from horror movies since 1896!
We have a great collection of Phantasee contact lenses this year and we think they are the best way to take a costume to the next level, so at the bottom of the graphic is some suggestions about how to put together a fast and cool costume from some of the most famous horror movies, in 3 steps! But you’ll need to order ASAP!
If you like the graphic and want to share with others, you can copy this embed code at the end of the graphic to put it on your own website or share it on Facebook.
[Source: Brainless Horror Movie Facts from Vision Direct]
Happy Halloween!
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<area shape="rect" coords="6,2718,613,2777" href="http://www.visiondirect.co.uk/maxvue-vision-sdn-bhd/phantasee-crazy-lenses" alt="Phantasee contact lenses" target="_blank"></map></a>[Source: <a title="Brainless horror movie facts from vision direct" href="http://www.visiondirect.co.uk">Brainless Horror Movie Facts from Vision Direct</a>]
A while ago, a customer was trying to describe our mascot Tikki with something in line with “That…creature, or what it is”. In fact, Tikki is a tarsier. In this blog post, you will learn more about tarsiers and how Tikki the tarsier ended up being a mascot for Visiondirect.co.uk.
Tarsiers are an endangered species that today are found exclusively in Southeast Asia. The tarsier, which is a type of monkey, has a head and body which together makes 10-15 cm with additional limbs about twice that and a tail 20-25 cm long. The tarsier is a carnivore primate that primarily eats insects, but also the occasional bird, snake, lizard or bat.
Originally, we used the Tikki for an advert on the London underground because it was attention grabbing, the large eyes also play along with theme of an eye related service and the surprised look was a good expression for our astonishingly low prices. Tikki was originally intended for use only on the advert, but because of its’ success, it increasingly became part of the brand image. Tarsiers are sweet creatures, but also endangered. 
Some efforts are done to preserve tarsiers in the wild, for example the Linan and Tupi project. The project is located in The Phillipines and involves ESI, where also rain forest and local culture is part of the preserving efforts. To support tarsiers and help to ensure they stick in there, you can donate to ESI here, or adopt a tarsier at WWF.
At VisionDirect.co.uk you will see more of Tikki, in fact soon we hope to have a Tikki page dedicated to comparing prices per lens across our categories of contact lenses. Often customers ask what the cheapest daily disposable is (Aura by the way…) or monthly coloured lens (ColorMaker for those interested). We think Tikki can be more than just our mascot and help you with, for example, price comparisons!
Have you heard of the name “Easyvision” before? This is a contact lens in disguise. Highstreet opticians sometimes relabel lenses, for their convenience but at your expense. To create an entirely new packaging does not come for free, so why pay for the overheads when you can actually buy the same lens cheaper in its original packaging online?
How to find your original contact lenses
Why do opticians rebrand contact lenses?
Highstreet opticians such as Specsavers, Boots, Dollond & Aitchison and Vision express are commonly taking the original contact lenses, putting them into their own packaging. This is confusing for you as a customer, but clever by the optician as their product appears unique despite the content being identical. They can then charge more, which does not benefit you as a customer. Vision Direct sells original branded lenses and can therefore offer lower prices.
We at Vision Direct take an interest in all things eye related, and it’s no wonder we get all giddy with excitement when we think about our burgeoning eye lexicon. It’s not just contact lenses and contact lens solution soup here at Vision Direct towers – oh no. We know a good time when we see one, and word games are right up there. So without further ado, it’s time for us to walk down that optic nerve of fun and check out some of the eye phrases that have been catching our, er, eye recently.
There are heaps of famous quotes related to eyes, and some, like “An eye, an eye, my kingdom for an eye”, that we made up. A great quote related to eyes comes in the form of “The eyes are mirrors to the soul”. Now, Mrs Vision Direct was sure that this was Shakespeare, but a bit of research tells us that it is in fact an old proverb – Yiddish, to be precise. It’s fairly self-explanatory, but captures the beauty that first attracted us to the eye, and led to a grand career in contact lenses and other eye products.
The Bible can be a source of refuge for Vision Direct in our darker moments, not least because of the wonderful quotes on eyes contained therein. Well, they’re not exactly beautiful, but they’re certainly well known. “An eye for an eye” is a good one, coming as it does in the Old Testament, which is often full of vengeful heroes like Samson and Gideon. This was developed further in the New Testament through Jesus, and became the famous “turn the other cheek” maxim. Much later, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, jr, said that an eye for an eye “leaves everyone blind”. And how right they were.
Moving on, it’s time to talk about fruit. Apples, to be precise. They’ve played an important role in history, from Sir Isaac Newton to Steve Jobs and his shiny toys, and, of course, they make an important appearance in the Good Book. For did the serpent not tempt Eve with the fruit from the tree of knowledge? True, but you can also talk about the apple of your eye, which again comes from the Bible. This particular phrase refers to something or someone that you cherish – that is the apple of your eye.
Animals also have eyes, and form the basis of some other great phrases. You can have eagle eyes, or eyes like a hawk, meaning that you can spot delicious looking voles and carrion whilst on the wing. There’s also the “eye of the tiger”, a song made famous by the film Rocky III. It’s best to focus on the heroism part of this phrase, rather than the descent into self-parody which comes later.
As you may have noticed, we announced a new social network called Goggle+, which was acknowledged by Businesswire, Tony Rocha and Yahoo finance alongside others.
But…did you check the date yesterday? We have to disappoint some of you, as Reddit noticed, the idea of Goggle+ was in fact a joke!
(The 10% discount offered to honor the day was not a joke and we are, however, available on Google+ so please feel free to add us to your circles.)
As a nation of animal lovers, lap of luxury cats with diamond encrusted collars and pampered pooches that eat prime steak are not such an unusual occurrence. Many animal lovers maintain their pet’s health more keenly than they look after themselves, as evidenced by the sizeable market for pet health insurance – but can animals really wear contact lenses?
In fact, therapeutic soft contact lenses have been used by vets to treat eye conditions in animals like cats, dogs and horses since the late 1970’s. Originally designed for human usage, therapeutic contact lenses effectively act like a bandage for the eye, protecting a cornea that is damaged or diseased from the continual friction caused by blinking eyelids. During the period that the contact lenses are in place – in animals this is usually around five or six days, after which time the lenses fall out – the damaged cornea gets time to heal.
It was human therapeutic contact lenses that were first used in animals, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, often made it difficult to find lenses that were a good fit. Things have moved on, and since the 1990s there have been contact lenses specifically produced to fit the eyeballs of different domestic pets, while there have been custom made contact lenses manufactured for a range of more exotic animals, including an elephant!
As well as occasionally needing therapeutic soft contact lenses, pets can also suffer from a range of eye conditions that humans develop, including cataracts. In humans, cataracts are treated by removing the clouded lens within the eye, and replacing this lens with a synthetic substitute. Since around 2005, the same kind of intraocular lenses have been available to treat cataracts in animals. As well as pets like cats and dogs, a performing sea lion at Sea World in San Diego has had cataracts treated with intraocular lenses, as has a blind kangaroo and a number of brown bears in China!
Leaving aside these surgical implants, tinted contact lenses that sit on the surface of the eye are also becoming increasingly popular as a cosmetic solution for dog owners, and can cover up damage or disfigurement to the animal’s eyes. While a range of these contact lenses are now made specifically for dogs of different sizes, measuring the curvature of the cornea prior to fitting is not standard practice (as it is in humans), and so a bit of trial and error is often involved before the right shape of lens is found.
Well, the quick answer is no. However, the fact that you can’t hasn’t deterred some contact lens wearers, according to a new report from Bausch & Lomb.
In order to raise awareness of the need to comply with a solid cleaning regime, Bausch & Lomb have reported that one out of every five contact lens wearers in the UK has used a substance other than their contact lens cleaning solution in an effort to clean their lenses.
The most common substances other than lens solution are tap water and saliva, both of which are rife with bacteria that can be damaging to your eyes and lenses. Some of the things used have raised our eyebrows here at Vision Direct. Fruit juice, butter, petroleum jelly and baby oil are what some lens wearers have resorted to.
Dr Michael Pier, director of professional relations for Bausch and Lomb, said it is essential that contact lens wearers stick to products that have been recommended by their opticians.
“It’s crucial for contact lens wearers to follow proper contact lens hygiene to maintain eye health and to keep their lenses clean and comfortable,” he said. Read more.
Canadian documentary maker Rob Spence has always loved science fiction. When he lost his eye six years ago, he took inspiration from some of his heroes.
“There are so many characters in pop culture and science fiction that have a camera eye that pretty much anyone who loses an eye at least makes a joke about getting a camera eye.
“In my case, I just actually did it.”
With the help of a former satellite company employee, he developed a camera which fits into his eye socket, and “eyeborg”, as he calls himself, was born.
Do brown eyes see better than blue? Here’s an interesting little article about eye colour.
