This week 40 years ago a few articles appeared in The Optician of February 28 1975 which easily could be relevant today. Nu Syte Laboratories targeted the ‘hard core’ of people who had hitherto been reticent in accepting soft contact lenses, convincing them that Weicon, a ‘Hema-based polymer lens with 40% hydration’ was the way forward and comforting skeptics with the fact it was made under ‘stringently sterile conditions’. Just in case they were under any illusion.
Elsewhere, an interview with famed journalist and agony aunt, Marjorie Proops heralded her an ‘image-changer’ as she claimed glasses were her biggest extravagance - ‘I spend more on glasses than I do on shoes’ - and while attending art college painted her white translucent frames with lurid nail varnish that matched her outfits.
Later, as she graced the Daily Mirror with her ‘Dear Marje’ column, girls wrote in agonising over the idea of wearing glasses. Her answer was straight forward. ‘The important thing is to look around for an optician who is prepared to spend as much time discussing the right shape and colour frame as he is over the prescription,’ - proving that good advice never goes out of style.
