Your optometrist or dispensing optician will ask you about your occupation, lifestyle, hobbies and interests, so that they can assess your visual needs and best advise you on the most appropriate solution to your visual problems. Certain tasks can create specific problems that can easily be solved with the right product tailored to your needs.

Not having the most appropriate eyewear for a particular situation is at best frustrating and at worst can mean certain tasks are impossible to do well. Each year countless mistakes are made, including road accidents, medical errors, and accidents in the home and workplace, because of an inability to see clearly for a critical moment.

Similarly millions of people fail to protect their eyes from the hazards of everyday life. DIY continues to result in countless eye injuries that are completely unnecessary and almost always avoidable if the appropriate safety eyewear is worn. Even ordinary prescription glasses, providing they have plastic lenses afford a reasonable level of protection; however there are many other tougher lens options.

The cost to the NHS of treating eye injuries in accident and emergency departments is huge however it pales into insignificance compared to the cost of health and social care if the injured party is unfortunate enough to be blinded by the incident.

The dangers of UV radiation to our skin are well known and yet few people are aware of the risks posed by UV to the health of our eyes – surely if there were more awareness then more people would invest in good quality sunglasses.