An eye opening experience with Specsavers at intu Lakeside.

Opticians and health professionals recommend that you should have your eyes tested every 2 years as over 80% of medical conditions can be detected from looking into our eyes. I know that they say that eyes are the windows to the soul but who knew they were also the window to our health?! With conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and even brain tumours being detected from a simple eye test, it’s no wonder that we should be going to see an optician regularly. The last time I had my eyes tested was in 2013 before Bubba was born…almost 3 years ago!! So when Specsavers at intu Lakeside asked me if I wanted to go in for a check-up, I jumped at the chance!

For those who don’t know, intu Lakeside is a huge shopping centre in Thurrock, Essex filled with shops and restaurants and it’s very own Specsavers. I wasn’t aware before going in that Specsavers stores are actually franchises and the intu Lakeside store is run by the extremely knowledgeable and friendly Jay and his business partner (who is also an optician). On arrival at the store I was surprised at how busy it was but it was a Saturday and it was 11am so I shouldn’t have really been that surprised. Even though they were busy, there were staff members everywhere helping customers and I had been in the store for a matter of seconds before some approached me and asked how they could help. I was very impressed as there is nothing worse that stumbling aimlessly around trying to work out where you are meant to be. I was then introduced to Jay who started my consultation by asking me about my previous eye tests, my general health and about my lifestyle. This was all to help get a bit of background about me to assist with the eye test. I was then expecting to trot off to see the optician, read a few letters and words from a screen and then get fitted with those glasses that are really uncomfortable and big to allow the optician to change the lenses around to find my prescription. This shows how long I haven’t had an eye test done for as this is not the way it is anymore!!


I was shown into a side room that had a few technical looking machines in it. The first took a photograph of my eye…an actual photograph!! For those of you when don’t like this type of thing skip down the page a little but here is the picture of my eye…

Amazing right?!? We then went to another machine that checked for a couple of different health conditions and a few minutes later, it was off to see the optician. My time with the optician was fantastic. He started by showing me my photograph and explaining how the white section was my optic nerve and then he (thankfully) told me that I had no serious or underlying conditions. We then moved on to the good old letters on the board. What was different however is that there is now a very snazzy machine that you look into that changed all of the lenses and does the red and green lenses automatically so the optician and I could concentrate on the letters and on finding the lenses that

would be right for me. Once this was completed, it was time to pick my glasses.

The choice in this store is huge and thank goodness that a very helpful young lad called Rob was there to help me wade through all of the choices. Together with Rob and Jay (who joined us part way through) I finally settled on some gorgeous Moschino frames! These frames were actually the first pair that I picked up when I was looking but I didn’t think they suited my face. However, Jay explained to me that when picking frames you want to look lots of different things. For example, you need to look at the way they frame your face, the way they run alongside your eye brows and you need to check that the colour compliments your skin tone and hair colour. These frames ticked all of the boxes for me so it was then off to go and get them fitted.

The fitting of the glasses always seemed like a relatively pointless part to me but the man fitting mine explained how important it actually is. You have to make sure that your eyes are in the centre of the lenses, check that the arms are curved properly to fit around your ears and that the frames sit right on your nose amongst many other things. Learning about this really has made me think twice about ever ordering frames online as without them being properly fitted they might being doing more harm than good. Once the fitting was done I was told that the frames and lenses were in stock so if I popped

back in an hour or so then my glasses would be ready for me! I was amazed as I always thought that you had to wait a couple of weeks to get your glasses but apparently this store is a SUPER Specsavers (my words not theirs!) and they would be ready same day?!?! WOOOPPP!!!

Fast forward a couple of hours and I was seeing a whole new world! Everything was crisp and clear and I loved my new glasses! Not only this, but I was also safe in the knowledge that at this moment in time my eyes were healthy and there were no major problems. My experience at the Specsavers store at intu Lakeside was brilliant and I would highly recommend them. Furthermore, Hubby was booked in for an eye test after me and actually ended up getting glasses as well. None of the staff knew that he was there with me or associated him with me until we went back to pick our glasses up. It was so reassuring to hear from him that he had received the same first class service as I had as it shows that the staffs weren’t just putting on a front because they knew I would be writing about them. So, if you are in the Essex area what are you waiting for? You can click here to see the intu Lakeside Specsavers website and book your appointment today!!

Note: This post was written in collaboration with Specsavers at intu Lakeside.