The debate about the p.d continues to rage on in Optics! When you have an eye test and they either use a ‘trial-frame’ (that odd looking pair of adjustable specs that opticians use) or the automated machine that swings down in front of you with all the lenses inside it (phoropter), the Optician must set the instrument up with the correct p.d to be able to test you properly, so it is routinely measured during a sight test, but it is never noted! So much so that if you request the measurement in most cases it is refused.

The p.d is needed so that the optical centre (the optimum vision point of the lens) is positioned directly in front of your pupils when your wear the specs as intended. This is very important both for visual comfort and clarity. If this is set incorrectly there may be visual consequences the higher the prescription the more important it is.

Some online retailers use average values depending on the gender of the customer, this may mean that the p.d could be many mm out! Some will give you videos and demonstration how to measure it yourself. It isn’t difficult to do, but it does need to be accurate. You can see this on You Tube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvO2gwt3Rak&feature=related 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o18-PIaIro4            

There is even now an ‘app’ for the iphone for measureing the p.d it will cost £3 to download and seems to work quite well.    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id381060059?mt=8   This seems allot to pay when we can do it for nothing!     

As the p.d is a measurement between your eyes this is generally fixed during adulthood unless there have been changes in facial structure or characteristics. This is why ciliaryblue are happy to take this measurement from your existing glasses, old or new. We prefer to use p.d’s measured by your Optician, but this isn’t always possible. When we measure it we tell you what it is so that you can use it in future with us or other online retailers.

So please ask for your p.d during the eye test, as it has to be measured and the Optician will find it very difficult to refuse the information when put on the spot!

Failing all of the above you can always email us a photo with you wearing the frame to be reglazed and we can use a scaling program to measure the p.d from the photo.

Jeeper Peepers Retro Eyewear are selling retro styled frames that can be glazed with your prescription. Many of them are sold as ready readers and come with reading lenses, these can be removed easily and replaced with new lenses. The frames sell for as little as £14 and look fab. If you purchase from them they will give you a discount code to use with us so our lenses are even cheaper!

They can be found at http://www.jeeperspeepersretro.co.uk/

Please contact us on 01455 293417

We are often asked what do different levels of tint look like? As we are internet based it is very difficult to describe, so we thought we would give you some idea, with comparative photos.

A very light tint, say 5% is only just visible, the more the percentage the darker the tint. The darkest tint we do is a full suntint at 85%, which is really quite dark. The darkest one on the photo is 75%.

The lenses available on the website for £22 are a full suntint, but you can always ring and specify a different level of tint, it won’t affect the price at all. All our tinted lenses have a UV coating applied too, this does not affect the appearance of the lenses but will block all harmful UV.

We do hope this helps.

Pleas ring on 01455 293417 or email info@ciliaryblue.com

Persol frames are regarded as being some of the best made and certainly the most iconic in nature, the likes of James Bond, Steve McQueen and various ‘A’ list stars wear them. We have recently had customers wanting the lenses of their Persol frames changed for blue tinted lenses. We can do this of course, replacing them with ophthamlic quality lenses tinted blue with anti-scratch and UV coatings also. They cost £30 and can be ordered over the phone, please ring on 01455 293417 or email info@ciliaryblue.com.  The effects are fantastic as you can see rom the picture below.

Ciliaryblue have been selling our ultra-clean coated lenses now for 5 years, these come with anti-scratch, anti-reflection and the ultra-clean. they cost slightly more, but stay cleaner, are easier to clean, are water-proof and don’t steam up as much as standard lenses. Essilor have been advertising thier equivalent lens on TV recently. If you want the equivalent lens then look no further than the MAR/UC lens with ciliaryblue.

Link to the advert: http://bit.ly/h8aZE1

You can order online or over the phone.

The price of spectacles in Britain was again discussed, this time on the TV programme Rip-off Britain. The price of spectacles have been the focus of much attention for some years now with internet availabilty meaning that the prices could easily be substancially lower than the high street while still providing a successful business model. The internet is here to stay as is the supply of spectacles. The high street prices will always be higher, the quality may well be exactly the same, it really comes down to how you want to shop? 

See programe here: http://bbc.in/dFIWPi

We have been providing lenses-only for some time now, so the customer can use their own frame new or old and have it glazed/reglazed. Our prices like most internet stores is around 1/2 to 1/3 of the equivalent on the high street.

We try very hard here at ciliaryblue not to let the fact that we are internet based affect our customer service in any way. The fact that we are remote to most of our customers, means that the communication lines we use have to be even more stringent. We try not to miss any phone calls, those we do, that don’t leave a message we ring back. We try to reply to all our emails within 30 minutes,  answering emails from 7.30 am until 10.30 pm including weekends. When we can’t email or leave a message we will send a text message instead.

We use a P.O Box address because we have more than one lab address and not all the post goes to the same one.  Our base is now in Market Bosworth and the land line number there is 01455 293417, this is run by Chris my Operations Manager, he has many years of glazing experience and knows the industry inside-out. Feel free to ring him for advice or help with ordering.

Email address info@ciliaryblue.com

Feedback is always useful and we often make changes to the way we operate and to the website based on the feedback of individuals, so thank you to all those who make the effort.

Phil (Owner-Optician)

When ciliaryblue was set up we decided not to sell frames, only the lenses. This is because we feel it is hard enough to choose a frame when you can actually try it on, to do this remotely must be infinitely more difficult?

We have teamed up with a trusted frame supplier and now sell a quality frame as a Ready Reader. These are designed for occasional use or for use over contact lenses. They are glazed with the same quality lenses that we would sell via the website and sell from £10 on eBay. They can be supplied with anti-scratch or with anti-scratch/glare too.

You can visit the shop at http://shop.ebay.co.uk/ciliaryblue/m.html

You can of course ring and purchase direct on 01455 293417.

When we set up ciliaryblue, we from the outset wanted to make the pricing structure clear, fair and simple. We didn’t want to charge you more to glaze a rimless or semi-rimless no more to have your p.d measured from your glasses, not even any more for postage and packing. So the price quoted is the price you’ll pay.

We are always ready to answer emails with our extended out-of-hours service and the phone during normal working hours.

Email: info@ciliaryblue.com                            Phone: 01455 293417

9/01/11… Update. We have now sold many of these items, mainly direct from our website, it seems they are fast becoming the monocle to be seem with, beautifully simple and crafted.

We have had so many requests for monocles that we have made our own rimless version. We have tried all sorts of designs and combinations and come up with this!

They are available in powers +1/+1.5/+2/+2.5/+3. They can be made on 38/40 and 42mm diameter.

They can also be ordered with anti-scratch, anti-scratch/glare or the anti-glare/ultra-clean coatings.

They will cost £7.50/£11.5/£15 respectively.

Go to ebay at http://shop.ebay.co.uk/ciliaryblue/m.html

You can buy them direct from us if you wish, just ring on 01455 293417.