Lasik | Poppy's Style

I am blind as a bat. Astigmatism and over -5 in each eye means I cannot see a thing without glasses or contacts. It happened years ago at school and I was mortified. I had no idea that I was struggling to see the blackboard and I felt such a loser for needing glasses. I never had the NHS glasses but my first pair were from Boots Opticians and horrific. Mainly because at 14 I hadn’t done that much research into the spectacle market and really I was so ashamed I had to wear them that even trying them in the opticians was utterly disturbing. By 17 or so I had my first pair of gas permeable contact lenses that scraped across my eyeball with every blink, but as far as I was concerned red eyes were preferable to glasses. My how times have changed.

We are now inundated with amazing glasses – which even people with 20/20 vision wear, though I have never understood that. A variety of daily and monthly contact lenses are available and I even get mine to correct my astigmatism. Lasik of course is now done routinely, though it still scares the bejeezus out of me which is fine as at the ripe old age of 41 I have been told to wait a few years so my ‘old sight’ can develop before I have it done.

I am a daily contact lens wearer – I love my glasses these days, but to be honest I just find them inconvenient, but with working in front of a laptop so often I need to start wearing my glasses more as my contacts just make my eyes tired. So as some of you know from my Facebook page I embarked on the hunt for some new cool frames.

I love statement glasses – I like them big and bold and prefer plastic to dainty metal frames. That being said the dainty metal frames may suit me better. My current pair are these Oliver Peoples Wacks in cocobolo. I like them a lot but they are big.

They are also expensive – with lenses we are talking $600. So I thought I would investigate Warby Parker. Warby Parker are online only (I think they have bricks and mortar in NYC). Online glasses shopping is a novel concept – surely you can’t choose without trying them on? Well Warby Parker have devised a genius model where you can choose 5 pairs to try at home, then model for friends, share on Facebook (they’ll even give you their preference on their page) and hopefully come up with a consensus of the best pair for you and then buy a full set with prescription lenses for just $95! I could have a pair for every day of the week! So I chose my 5 pair tried them and not only did most people dislike all of them on me – the one that some did like was one of my least favorites. So great idea Warby Parker but not that successful for me.

After revisiting my optician I realized I am going to have to suck it up and pay through the nose for my favorite pair. The Wacks come in 2 sizes and I have the largest size. After trying the smaller size in black/tortoise I fell in love with them. They tick all my boxes of style, comfort and color. Cha ching – ordered and paid for,

Now I am also intrigued by colored frames. I’ve always played it safe with the tortoise shell as it suits my coloring – but recently I have been drawn to the new aubergine, blue and red frames that are coming to market. I tried a pair of SALT Brixton frames in velvet purple which I LOVE – but can I carry off purple every day?

I then discovered that the Wacks frame is now done in a beautiful blue color – Havana blue. So I’ve ordered them to compare with the SALT frames. I’d love a pair of colorful frames for fun – that can add some pizazz to an outfit! I just need to decide on the color – plus do I need another pair of Wacks? I do think that if there is a frame I’m happy with why change it except in color? I’ll let you know the verdict. Meanwhile my cocobolo frames are being transformed into sunglasses for me. Look out for more photos of me with my goggles on:)

Still in the contacts today while my lenses are being fitted and I’m feeling pretty tired after a stressful morning having an old filling removed – I hate the sound of the drill and the smell of tooth dust! My knuckles were white! I’m wearing my Hudson jeans, Tory Burch Eddies, Zara owl t-shirt which I love and my Zara jersey black jacket. Lovely and comfortable for a traumatic morning!