Blogs

Practitioners will no doubt be aware of the horrific story in the Sun of Jacqueline Stone who lost an eye following contact lens wear . It is aways going to be difficult to prove decisively what the cause of the infection was, indeed all reports point...

An amazing story has this week emerged about a quick-thinking optometrist who spotted the emergence of a brain tumour. Tabloid newspapers including the Daily Mail reported on the case and Optician has more details in this week's edition. The credit goes to Anna Lewin at Haine & Smith Opticians Chippenham after referring her 23-year-old patient to the hospital for eventual surgery. More remarkable was that the benign tumour had reached the size of an orange over a number of months without diagnosis. The message that regular eye tests are also able to pick up underlying health conditions is constantly sounded by the profession. Unfortunately though during times of austerity many are still more fearful a trip to the opticians, or dentists for that matter, is going to cost them. Nevertheless, the profession should continue shouting from the rooftops about interventions like these because there are some things you just can't put a price on. Joe Ayling, news editor.

Italian acetate specialist L.G.R has hit the mark for 2013 with its glasses and, if you continue below, its sunglasses too: simply amazing material...

It's been a little while since a contact lens story has caught my eye, but this piece about an antimicrobial hydrogel that can destroy multidrug-resistant superbugs is just the thing to get me started: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1249924/1/.html It reminds me of a previous post on an antimicrobial coating that had been signed up by a contact lens firm http://www.opticianonline.net/opticianspace/blogs/the_contact_lens_blog/archive/2012/05/11/superbug-killers.aspx if not quite as far along the road to commercial use - but I stand to be corrected if this is not the case. Anyway the latest gel seems to have possibilities in contact lens coating, wound healing, skin infection treatment and dental fillings. As it's a biodegradeable gel that can be naturally eliminated by the body, I imagine it's more likely to be used with daily disposable contact lenses, although details on this are a bit thin on the ground. I for one can't wait to see some of these technological developments making it into a finished product, optical or dental.

As I recovered from my New Year's flu I decided to settle down and watch Kill Bill Vol. 2 while doing that whole two-screen thing and looking for some new brands. Then I received an email from Maya Sapir, the owner of Hamashkifa opticians in Tel Aviv. Not only was she presenting to me a rather stunning collection of spectacles, the frames in question were inspired by Kill Bill! But let's not

I had the pleasure of taking Mrs Optician Editor to the panto this Christmas. Dick Whittington in Woking with Pudsey the dog. ( The trip was for some young nieces of course). In the second half we were all offered 3D glasses for the shipwreck scene and my 3D-cynical wife was bowled over by the effect. I was quite impressed myself! At one point I saw her reach forward to try and touch a Nemo-like fish that was swimming in front of her eyes, something she strongly denied. It was interesting how one small exposure to this technology completely changed her view.

Menswear tailor Oliver Spencer has teamed up with Eye Respect to produce a collection of terrific sunglasses including these two, Bob and Sid.