Archive for category: News

Eye issues can range from minor irritations to serious conditions that require immediate medical attention. While some problems can be treated at home or with the help of a healthcare professional, others require emergency care to prevent permanent damage or vision loss. It is important to understand which eye issues require urgent attention to ensure prompt treatment and prevent complications. In this article, we will discuss the types of eye issues that require emergency care and the steps you can take to seek appropriate medical attention.

What is an Eye Emergency? 

An eye emergency is a situation where immediate medical attention is required to prevent permanent damage or vision loss. Eye emergencies can include injuries, infections, sudden changes in vision, or other serious conditions that affect the eyes and surrounding tissues. It is important to seek medical attention as soon as possible if you experience any symptoms of an eye emergency.

Types of Eye Emergencies

1. Eye injuries

Injuries to the eye can range from minor scratches to serious trauma. Blunt force trauma, foreign objects in the eye, chemical burns, and cuts or lacerations can all cause eye injuries that require immediate medical attention.

2. Sudden Vision Loss or Changes

Sudden changes in vision, such as blurriness, double vision, or loss of vision in one or both eyes, can be a sign of a serious condition and require immediate medical attention.

3. Eye Infections

Infections of the eye can cause redness, discharge, swelling, and pain. If left untreated, infections can lead to serious complications and vision loss.

4. Chemical Exposures

Exposure to chemicals or other irritants can cause serious damage to the eyes and surrounding tissues. Immediate medical attention is necessary to prevent permanent damage.

5. Eye Surgeries

Complications from eye surgeries, such as bleeding or infection, can require emergency care to prevent further damage.

Steps to Take in an Eye Emergency

If you experience an eye emergency, it is important to seek medical attention as soon as possible. Here are the steps you can take:

1. Stay calm: Try to stay calm and avoid rubbing or touching your eye, as this can worsen the situation. 
2. Seek medical attention: If you are experiencing severe or sudden symptoms, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. If you are unsure whether your symptoms require emergency care, contact your eye doctor or healthcare provider for guidance. 
3. Follow instructions: If you are given any instructions or medications by a healthcare professional, be sure to follow them carefully to ensure proper treatment and recovery.

Common Signs of an Eye Emergency

1. Sudden loss of vision or blurry vision
2. Severe eye pain
3. Chemical exposure or burns
4. Foreign object in the eye
5. Eye trauma or injury
6. Eye inflammation or redness
7. Eye discharge or excessive tearing
8. Sudden onset of flashes or floaters
9. Eye swelling or bulging
10. Double vision or seeing halos around lights.

What Eye Issues Require Emergency Care? 

All of the above eye issues require emergency care as they can be signs of serious conditions such as retinal detachment, glaucoma, or infections. It is important to seek medical attention immediately to prevent further damage to the eye and potential vision loss.

Conclusion

It is essential to be aware of the eye issues that require emergency medical care. Any sudden change in vision, severe eye pain, sudden loss of vision, chemical or foreign objects in the eye, and sudden onset of flashes or floaters are some of the most common eye emergencies that should be immediately addressed by a healthcare professional. Prompt medical attention can prevent permanent damage and preserve vision. 

It is always better to err on the side of caution and seek medical attention if there is any doubt about the seriousness of an eye issue. In addition, taking preventive measures such as wearing protective eyewear and maintaining good eye hygiene can help reduce the risk of eye injuries and emergencies.

If you need the help of opticians in London, contact Perspective Optometrists. We offer the finest niche eyewear and eye care available to you. Book an appointment and get the eye care you need today!

Monthly Perspective: May 2019 Highlights

Off the Beaten Track

On a recent family holiday to Norway, during amuch needed pit-stop to refuel, we came acrossthis treat;

Kvikk Lunsj is Norwegian for “Quick Lunch”, a little known four-fingered chocolate bar created by Norwegian company Freia back in 1937. I think for most of us, if asked to name a four fingered chocolate bar, KitKat would be the brand that comes to mind. Kvikk Lunsj is relatively unknown outside of Norway. When putting it to the taste test with our chocoholic 5 year old as the chief taster, the verdict was “yummy”. Unfortunately we didn’t have a KitKat handy to do a blind tasting but a quick Google search showed us that this “yummy” verdict was endorsed and further qualified by the Guardian newspaper in 2017. Kvikk Lunsj beat KitKat in almost every category;

Thickness of chocolate – Kvikk Lunsj has a thicker chocolate layer and feels heavier.

Taste – the chocolate taste was creamier, almost like swiss chocolate in Kviik Lunsj

Quality of chocolate – Kviik Lunsj was less sweet with a more cocoa taste coming through.

The wafer – KitKat edged it with a crispier wafer.

In-fact Nestle, who manufacture KitKat have lost several high-profile rulings against their attempts to trademark the four fingered shape. Every time this hits the news, it seems the winner is Kvikk Lunsj as it gets a little more publicity and no doubt wins over a few more taste buds.

In Norway, Kvikk Lunsj is marketed as a refuelling snack when skiing or hiking in the great outdoors which portrays a more wholesome image for a chocolate bar. There is something satisfying about stumbling upon a little known find and supporting the Davids rather than the Goliaths of this world. It is a philosophy that we employ at Perspective. We go out of our way to seek out suppliers that are niche. We are often pleasantly surprised by the passion, innovation and quality displayed by more niche eyewear companies versus the big players. They take a little more searching to find but are much more rewarding to work with in the long run.

Needless to say, we stockpiled on a supply of Kviik Lunsj at Oslo airport duty free on our journey back to London and are still chomping our way through them!

I did contemplate replacing the gorgeous Ocelot Chocolates that we gift our clients as a Thank You with Kvikk Lunsj for a short period but flying Ryan Air meant that our luggage allowance was limited. I am glad I didn’t as Ocelot Chocolate is another small, family business that produces delicious, high quality chocolate and we are glad to support them. We also love the look on our clients face when they collect their new glasses and see an unexpected and enticing chocolate box waiting for them.

Upcycling

A few months back I received a phone call from an elderly neighbour. They rang to say that they have a chair that they thought my daughter would like and wanted to arrange a time for us to go and see it to decide whether we would like to keep it.

Now, my daughter Meghna is 5 and does not spend much time “sitting” so a chair was not top of her desirable items list. But she was sufficiently intrigued by the fact that someone wanted to gift her a chair that we arranged a time to have a look. We were taken through into the living room and the chair was unveiled from under its white cover. Meghna’s face lit up when she saw the chair. It was a proper grown up armchair in a miniature size. After trying it out she declared “It’s a perfect throne for me!”, making my neighbours chuckle while alarm bells were ringing in my head!

The story behind the chair is that both my neighbour and her elder sister were gifted a chair each from their mother when they got married. My neighbour’s sister, now in her mid-90’s has had to go into a care home and so she sent the chair to her younger sister with instructions to find it a new home. With a story like that we could hardly say no to giving the chair a home and so it came back with us there and then.

BEFORE

That same week, during an eye examination I discovered that one of our many talented clients at Perspective, Charlotte Fletcher, has started her own upholstery business. I couldn’t help but show her a picture of our newly acquired armchair and get her opinion on sprucing it up.

This was followed by an exciting visit to Charlotte’s workshop in Belsize Park to discuss ideas and look at fabric options. More fabrics followed in the post, a shortlist was made and the winning fabric was democratically (with strong campaigning from me) selected. We transported the chair to Charlotte’s workshop and left it in her capable hands for a few weeks. Three weeks later it was all ready to collect. I couldn’t wait to see it as our fabric choice was bold and I had trouble visualising the result but I took a leap of faith – and here it is;

AFTER

We are delighted with the result. It has taken its place in our living room as a modernised, upcycled chair in a bright pink and white geometric fabric, ready for the 21st century. Hopefully, it will stand the test of time in our home too. If you have any upholstery upcycling projects, I would highly recommend Charlotte Fletcher Upholstery.

Recycling

From upcycling we move on to recycling. Last month we received our contact lens recycling box from Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturers of Acuvue lenses. We can now recycle your old contact lenses and blister packs packaging. They don’t have to be Acuvue lenses, any brand is accepted. The cardbox outer packaging for contact lenses can go with your household recycling, but please bring the rest to us and we’ll bring out “Conti” our recycling box for you to empty it all into.

Risky Business

The general advice from some of the business consultants that operate in the optical industry is not to open a practice from scratch but to buy a going-concern with a client base that can be turned around. So, it was risky business when we opened Perspective from scratch in 2009.

Looking back, the early days were tough and mistakes were made. Some ideas worked, some failed. But building the business from nothing also meant that we were close to the pulse (our clients), we could be pro-active and make changes for the better by reacting quickly.

Along the journey we didn’t always have all the answers and sometimes we just needed to try things out. This helped foster a culture of empowerment, openness and learning (often a steep curve) in the Perspective team. I am so proud of our team, who have journeyed with us through those years and kept things running.

“When you make a mistake you say Hurray and try again.”

This was something that my 5-year-old told me recently. Her teacher has been encouraging her to take more risks and not be afraid of getting things wrong, explaining that this is how we learn and grow. It really struck a chord! A lesson we continue to embrace at Perspective.

March 2019 – Highlights

To Innovate: “Make changes in somethingestablished, especially by introducing new methods, ideas or products”

Survival of the Fittest

During a recent half term day trip into London to visit the Natural History Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum, I was pleasantly surprised by the gift shops. They were beautifully kept spaces; bright and airy and easy on the eye. More importantly, they were filled with content that made you stop and look despite my husband’s best intentions to steer us past them. The products were quirky, interesting and slightly off the beaten path. I have been looking for some gifts for a few occasions that we have coming up, admittedly browsing online but not really feeling inspired. Ten minutes of browsing in these gift shops and I actually found gifts that had a novelty factor and would hopefully delight and engage the recipients for some time.

A few days later I came across a news article titled “The unlikely stars bucking the High Street slump.” It seems the doom and gloom surrounding retail outlets has bypassed museum and gallery shops. They stayed ahead of the curve by innovating early. My memory of childhood visits to such places was that they were stocked with keychains, pens and badges aimed at visiting school children with a somewhat limited spending power. Not anymore! The gift shop department of these organisations have enhanced their products to include exclusive gifts, designer homeware, books and clothing, and have collaborated with artists and desirable brands to attract shoppers with their unique products.

These shops have overhauled their displays from a bric-a-brac style. Instead their streamlined product ranges concentrate on core themes relating to the exhibitions that visitors have just experienced. It seems that shopping with an experience attached is what makes these museum and gallery shops stand out.

It was a relief to read such a positive success story about retail when most of the news reports so far this year have been so negative about the state of our High Streets. Admittedly museum shops are not in typical High Street locations and they have a different foot-fall pattern but not so long ago they were struggling.

They turned things around by innovating and differentiating themselves. Dan Kennedy, a well known and respected business coach is of the opinion that not all bricks and mortar businesses are doomed. Only those that are uninteresting and fail to differentiate themselves from shopping online.

Our thinking at Perspective and what we talk about a lot in our team meetings is that retail is not doomed. It is up to us to differentiate by;

• Giving clients a reason to keep coming back with personal and exceptional service.
• Invest in sourcing high quality niche products from reliable suppliers.
• Invest in building long-term relationships with our clients.

We are optimistic that as long as retailers work hard at fulfilling these principals the High Street will thrive, the fittest will survive, and our High Streets will be less generic and more interesting.

Guilty Pleasures

Going to the cinema used to be a regular outing either as a Saturday night switch-off after a hectic week, or a Sunday night ploy to stretch the weekend. I was up to date with the who and what of Hollywood, Bollywood and everything in-between. However, for the past five years our cinema excursions have been few and far between, and I am only vaguely up to date with what’s on the silver-screen. Although, now that Meghna has turned 5, I can see that this will all be changing soon. Until then cinema trips will continue to be a rare treat.

A few weeks back we had the unexpected opportunity to enjoy one of these rare treats. My husband and I found ourselves with a spare Friday morning – it was a bit like finding a forgotten tenner in a pocket. We decided to go out and spend it straight away!

We booked the 10am show (it used to be 10pm!) so that we could finish in time for school pick up. But rather than just going to the local Vue or multiplex, we decided to savour the moment and booked a sofa (not just a seat) at an independent cinema a bit further away.

We got there early and settled down on our sofa to watch the adverts and the trailers. We couldn’t resist ordering an array of snacks; coffee, salted nuts, sparkling water and freshly made tasty guacamole served with chips. All served to us so that we did not have to miss a moment of screen time.

We munched away and were caught up in the movie, which happened to be Bohemian Rhapsody. I got so caught up that at the end I couldn’t help singing along to Queens’s greatest hits. It was just as well that we had the cinema to ourselves!

For two hours we were completely engrossed, forgot about everything else that was going on, and immersed ourselves knowing that this might not happen again for a while. It was nice
to be able to enjoy the morning in style. Everything was just that little bit more elevated from the sofa-seats, the fresh, tasty snacks and the table service. It really felt like a treat.

My cinema experience made me think about what experience you may get when you visit your Optician’s. When I first qualified, I actually worked for a Specsavers branch in East London. It was a well-run branch and Specsavers are good at what they do but it’s a “bums-on-seats” type of place. My diary was booked every 20-25 minutes. This was intense. Not much time for chit-chat or personal service. The appointments would often over-run and there was never anytime to add any frills to the service. It was exhausting and I have to admit that I didn’t last long there. I can honestly say it was all about targets, numbers and quantity over quality, rather than the people in front of us.

It turned out not to be my cup of tea. At Perspective we are much happier taking 45 minutes for an eye exam, so that we can take time to find out about you and your needs and get it right in a relaxed, unhurried environment with teas, coffees and sparkling water all served with warmth and a smile. Most people have an eye check maybe once a year or once every 2-3 years so we aspire to make a visit to the Opticians feel like a treat!

On a serious note the Perspective team are really grateful for your reviews and feedback. It helps new clients decide if we are the right fit for them by letting them know what to expect.
Your words are far more powerful than anything that we can say ourselves. So, thank you!

Healthy Sight Month

Our February Healthy Sight drive to raise money for ‘Fight for Sight’charity was a great success. A huge Thank You to all of you who came to see us for an eye examination this February. With your
help we managed to raise in excess of £1000 and we can’t wait to donate this to Fight for Sight.

On a separate note, myself and little Meghna kept the team busy with our eyecare needs last month. Meghna has a rare eye condition where her eye muscles overshoot, making her eye turn in more than it should, particularly for close work. Her Paediatric Ophthalmologist suggested that we try a bifocal or varifocal in the hope that a stronger prescription for close work will relax her muscles and keep her eyes straight.

So, a few weeks back we fitted Meghna with varifocal lenses designed specifically for children. She put them on and managed to keep still for about 5 seconds while we checked the fitting and then went off running, skipping and jumping as 5-year olds do. A few hours later, I asked her how her new glasses felt. She simply said, “Mummy, they feel nice” and that was that! So, if you have resisted varifocal lenses in the past but would like to try them it might be worth taking the plunge and giving them a go. You’ll probably find that you can hop, skip and jump in them too and that they will feel nice!

My story is that for a few weeks I had been getting annoying headaches and achy, tired eyes. Initially I put it down to being a little run- down, but then I noticed that I was avoiding reading in the evenings. Luckily, as an Optometrist I have easy access to getting my eyes checked on demand. Every job has its perks!

Sejal carried out a thorough eye test and indeed my prescription had changed quite significantly. My current glasses were too strong and so my eyes were over-focussing and hence getting tired and strained. I wish I could say that there was something I was doing to make my prescription improve – I can only say that sometimes things can improve with age. It took about half a day for my eyes to relax in to my new glasses. Miraculously my headaches disappeared almost immediately.