Your "new look" may be a combination of many new looks. It may include contact lenses, sunglasses, occupational glasses and sports appliances but whatever that new look is it will be right for you because you've had our help along the way…

Please choose from the following topics:

• How to choose your new look
• Frames
• Lenses
• Sporting Needs
• Sunglasses
• Face Shapes & Frame Selection

There are many different reasons for choosing a particular frame or lenses or even contact lenses:

• Fashion
• Your colouring and face shape
• Occupational requirements
• Sporting requirements
• Recreational requirements

Not such a daunting task as it may seem, given the right advice and help from your Dispensing Optician.

Frames come in many different materials; metal, plastic (cellulose acetate and cellulose propionate), polyamide, nickel free, Carbon-fibre, titanium & flexible titanium & polycarbonate to name a few. There are sports frames and fashion frames, there are full rimmed, semi or fully rimless. There are large, small and half glasses and they all meet someone's need … maybe yours.

Your frame should:

• Follow facial features wherever possible
• Allow for your lifestyle
• Meet your fashion requirements ie: dark coloured to make a statement or light coloured or rimless to appear as though you have no glasses at all
• Be fitted by your Optician to allow for growth room in children and to give optimum comfort to the wearer
• Be fitted to give the best vision your lenses can provide
• Be a good size and shape for the lenses that are best suited to your needs

There is a frame for every face and need and the choice is easily made given the right advice from your Optical professionals and the result is a stunning pair of functional glasses…not only can you see but you look great too.

The decision of what lenses, will be decided upon by knowing what you want them to do for you and what your needs are. Do you want:

• Light lenses
• Lenses with ultra clear coatings
• Tinted or polarized lenses
• UV coated lenses
• Industrial thickness for safety
• Transitions lenses that darken and lighten as the ultra violet light changes

You may need a prescription to:

• Put on make up
• Read in bed
• See your computer, desk and room all at the same time
• Drive your car when its sunny or when there is headlight glare at night
• Play billiards
• Play another sport such as squash or baseball
• Swim or scuba dive
• Do target shooting or archery

You may have a job with specific optical needs:

• Pilots need to see their instruments above and below their eyeline and the airspace ahead
• Architects need to see a wide near area
• Jewellers need good magnification up close
• Dentists need protection from the UV light their instruments give off
• Computer users need protection from glare
• Drivers also need glare and UV protection
• Sports people need protection from squash/cricket/baseballs which travel fast enough to damage eyes

There are many different lenses from single vision for one set task, to lenses that will allow many focal lengths for multiple tasks. Lenses come in lots of designs and may be thin and light or thick and substantial. There are also many different coatings, finishes and tints.

All these things and more are considered with the help of our team of optical professionals, here not just to help choose the right frame but to make your prescription with the skill and accuracy that ensures the best pair of spectacles possible…designed especially for you.

You only have one set of eyes - protect them

Impact resistant lenses and frames are a must for squash players, cricketers, baseball players, softball players and tennis players to name a few.

Swimmers, scuba divers, billiards or pool players, archers and pistol and rifle shooters can also have their needs met by specific appliances made to fulfill their needs.

Everyone has different tolerances to sunlight and glare so each pair of sunglasses needs to be tailored to meet these needs.

The options range from light to dark tints in varying colours to UV coatings, polarized lenses that totally remove glare, and Transitions lenses that change from light to dark in relation to the amount of sunlight, heat and UV light.

Whether you have prescription glasses or not, your sunglass frame should be of good optical quality, because, lets face it, we are generally pretty tough on our sunnies…so not only should your lenses suit your needs and lifestyle…so should your frame.

Eyes, noses, cheeks and eyebrows need to be taken into account when choosing the right shaped frame for your face. Frames that follow brow and cheek lines often look great although sometimes deviating away from this creates a stunning look. Noses that are long may need a low bridged frame to shorten the nose and short noses are lengthened by a high curved bridge. Close set eyes look good in narrow frames and wide set eyes look good in wider frames, but generally:

Rectangular faces need frames that are softly shaped, not angular. The temples should be set in the middle of the frame to de-emphasise the length of face

Oval faces can wear almost any shape frame but follow the general rule to follow brow & cheek lines.

Heart shaped faces need frames that are wide set at the bottom and the temples should be set lower rather than high.

Round faces look great in interesting angular shapes to de-emphasise the roundness. The frame should also be shallow with high set temples.

Inverted heart shaped faces look great in cats eye shapes and frames that are wide at the top with high set temples.