Prescription glasses boring and expensive? Not with Glasses Direct!

On September the 4th last month I had some pretty rubbish news. Not the kind that rips families apart, but the kind that is a complete annoyance. I was diagnosed with bi-lateral cataracts (my blog entry about it is here).

It is quite hard to describe what I see but everything has a bit of a grey fog, especially around the outsides of lights. Apparently there are two types of cataract, ones when you see better in daylight and the other when you see better in the dark. Fortunately I fall into the latter  - well it is coming into Autumn and every cloud has to have a silver lining and all that! 

I mentioned that I was going to get a pair of glasses made up from Glasses Direct (their website is here), a cheaper pair and my NHS ones too for backups. There are an awful lot of things coming up very soon that require money - I have a birthday with a 0 on the end of it on Tuesday, the following Sunday it is one of my sons' 18th birthday, we have a bit of a break then on the 26 of this month is it my husband's birthday and on the 27th it is our first wedding anniversary. Please blame him for the timing of the last two as I let him choose what day we got married!

So, my new glasses came from Glasses Direct. They were, in a word, amazing. They called to check I had my prescription correct as it is quite a strong one, and were more than happy to answer any emails or phone calls I had.

I ordered my first pair from them on the 5th of September and even with quite a complex prescription they were with me on Friday the 13th of September. It took my local Optician (who, I hasten to add, is absolutely fantastic) until the 27th of September to get my NHS ones to me. 

By far, the glasses I got from Glasses Direct are the more comfortable, functional and better in every way. I won't harp on (again) but they have trained Opticians to answer your calls and emails and nothing is too much for them. They knew I was recently diagnosed with cataracts and talked me through everything that my own Optician didn't have time do (not due to the fact he didn't want to, it was more of a time constraint)

Browsing my emails on the 29th of September I saw that they had a HUGE Autumn sale on. 40% (yep, that is absolutely correct) off all glasses over £55. I couldn't pass up on the offer! 

This is what arrived on the 3rd of October. Now I make no secret of it that I live in the Isle of Man which is usually covered by "Highlands and Islands" for postage so I was a little pleased to say the least! First up - the quality of the cases is superb. Not quite sure you could run your car over them but I have sat my sizeable bum on them a couple of times and they more than take the pressure..

First up on the left we have "Vanessa" (here on the website) and on the right, "Audrey" (found here on their website). I know to most these probably aren't looking the most attractive glasses out there but I need something with a very large lens, and I actually adore the styles of these. "Vanessa" had wanted to be my initial purchase but was out of my price range at the time so I went with "Audrey" but in pink.   

"Vanessa" is a gorgeous brown and pink ombre effect, but is also available in both purple and blue colourways. They have a great lens size and are now for "best" when I go out. I love the almost 50's retro styling to them and they are incredibly comfortable to wear.

"Audrey" (named after Ms Hepburn herself) is a really oversized lens - which helps when you have cataracts. I am guessing they are a Marmite pair of glasses - people will either love them or hate them. I adore them and even though I have quite a small face, I have been assured by those that would tell me bluntly if they didn't look great on that they do. Again, the retro styling is what brought them to my attention (as well as already having a pair and loving them!).

All in all my buying experience with them has on both recent occasions been fantastic and their customer service phenomenal. From double checking the prescription of one rather upset person earlier on in the month to that said person now being the proud owner of 3 pairs of glasses for under £70 I couldn't be happier. 

At the prices that they have, I can now literally change my glasses through the seasons and to go with what I fancy wearing each day. That is before I decide which goes best with the makeup I want to wear on the day too! 

The website is incredibly comprehensive, showing you how to measure your glasses, how to make sure you get the right ones for the shape of your face - you name it. During office hours there is always someone to speak to you if you want some information or support.

You can even trial out frames at home to see what you think of them and buy your own prescription in sunglasses too.

I most certainly will be buying them online again, as the savings speak for themselves. 

Find Glasses Direct on their Website

their Twitter

and on Facebook

Fi x

*I have not been asked or paid to make this blog entry by Glasses Direct, nor am I affiliated to them. I think this is obvious considering I have 9 followers. I am just a grateful customer and would love for somebody else to get the pleasure I have had from their product. 

Not what I was expecting..

I haven't written a blog entry in a few weeks as I have had a bit of a problem. My sight has been a bit "off" to say the least. 

I first noticed it about 4 weeks ago, so after a couple of weeks I booked an optician's appointment. I didn't do it sooner as I had taken quite a tumble with one of my epileptic seizures and that has in the past knocked me out and my sight has been a bit fuzzy for a few days after. Naughty for not getting it checked up straight away, I know, but when you can have up to 60 seizures a week, you tend not to dwell on the small things. 

My eyesight was a bit fuzzy and I noticed that things seemed to be in "soft focus", almost like an Instagram or Snapseed filter. 2 weeks ago I started getting a bit of cloudiness in my peripheral vision too. 

I didn't think too much of this as I had already made my appointment and it was for yesterday. I have glasses for reading and working on the computer but noticed that they weren't doing a thing last week, again not too concerned as I had my appointment coming up. 

So, yesterday I went to see my Optician (a fantastic man called Dr Corlett who has been looking after my eyes since my teens, I am now in my 30's). 

He has recently had a total refurb at his clinic with lots of fancy new machinery so I was quite looking forwards to seeing (no pun intended!) what he would be using on me, especially as he trained in Dallas, TX and had recently been away to buy more specialist equipment. 

I have astigmatism in both eyes (bit of info here) and have been long sighted for as long as I can remember so thought it was just a case of a bit of ageing and a bang on the head taking a while to sort itself out. 

I had the usual chart test, the test when they blow air on your eyeball (whoever thought that one up is not my favourite person!), and then the test which checks for the "tilt" (measured in something called diopters - you learn something new everyday!) in my vision. All standard stuff that I am used to. 

Then we had the "look into the light" bit of the proceedings which was when I mentioned to him that I had been finding things a bit brighter than normal. I am so glad I said this as he brought out another arsenal of tests too. I have no idea what most of them were for, but I do have a snazzy pic of the back of both of my eyeballs now! Ohh, and the dilating drops that make me look like I have had my nose near naughty things too! 

Test over and my ever so lovely Dr Corlett looked at me quite gravely. He is referring me to the specialist at our hospital as....... (drumroll please)......... bilateral cataracts. 

Were you expecting that? No, me neither. I am in my 30's and thought cataracts happened to old people. I guess I am old people! Joking aside, they are rapid onset cataracts and my right eye is going pretty quickly. 

Apparently my eyesight is going to deteriorate quite quickly and I am going to have to wear glasses permanently until I have them removed. The cataracts that is, not my eyes. 

I am going to have my eyesight tested monthly from here on in and can expect to have to need a new prescription each time which is a pain in the backside to say the least! 

As I live in the Isle of Man, we do have an NHS but it works a little differently. As I now have the cataracts I can get free glasses (the dreaded NHS ones) each time. One drawback is the choice. Limited is an understatement! I also need a tint to stop the glare too which the NHS don't provide until I have seen my specialist (current waiting time of 4 months). All the NHS glasses have really small lenses which is a real pain as I need something that covers most of the eye (literally think sunglasses size). I found the biggest ones I could and have ordered them, in plastic tortoiseshell, because I could! 

To get a pair of glasses made up that I actually liked would have cost me over £200 which is quite a depressing thought considering £80 of that was on lens additions. 

Needless to say, I was just a tiny bit upset so I came home and had a look online. Well, talk about a moment of clarity. I remembered a website that I had used ages ago to get some prescription sunglasses (they were fantastic though alas the glasses are now defunct!) but for the life of me couldn't remember the site name. 

Google could though! Please welcome Glasses Direct. The company was only in its infancy when I bought off them last so I was pleased to see them online and going great. Considering that I had just found out that I have been diagnosed with bilateral cataracts, I wanted to email them to see if they would do my glasses. No, no email - they could do one better and you can now call them and speak to a real life optician! I rang them and absolutely not a problem. The lady I spoke to even helped me put my prescription details in the website too which was great. 

I found a pair (with my husband's help) that I liked and would fit my face so I am just about to order them now. I wasn't quite in the right frame of mind yesterday but am ready for it now. All in for just over £40 which is fantastic considering it has the filter and everything I need. If my prescription changes every month or so, I can cope with that for sure. 

I am not going to bother with sunglasses as we are just going into Autumn but they do them too (which is how I knew about them before). If any of you lovely ladies or gents reading this wear glasses and fancy a "second pair" or some sunglasses, I know this is the place to go to. 

I know for now that my eyesight is only going one place and that is backwards, but I am going to do it in style, that is for sure. 

A HUGE downside is that my perception of colour is not great at the moment but I have recently bought some goodies that I will be sharing with you when I can actually see them, lol! 

Anyone late for an eye check? Make that appointment today, please. If there is anything wrong, the sooner it is found the better. 

Much love to you all

Fi xoxox