SWEETIESAL

Glasses Wearer? I love Marks and Spencer for great quality food, clothes and shoes so when I discovered they have an opticians and lots of options for prescription glasses I was thrilled!

I had had my old pair for a couple of years so was definitely ready for a new set and to check out how my prescription was doing for me.

I recently popped to M&S in Manchester for a test and to pick out some new frames. I always find the process so interesting and I have to say it was great to be tested by people who took the time to explain what they were doing and why.

I have also ALWAYS wondered how they even begin to deduce what your prescription is if you are at a new opticians from where you have been previously! Now I know!

There's a machine for that... kind of blows my mind in all honesty! It shows you a picture and reads what your eyes are doing in terms of how hard they are trying to focus and from that they can get a starting point for your prescription. After doing all the health checks, I went into my appointment with the optician Michelle and set about tightening up my prescription. There was not a lot of change really in terms of my eyes worsening which is great. She explained some of the checks she was doing and when she was checking the back of my eyes told me that I should be able to see the capillary network by the way they refract the light through your eyes. It was really very interesting!

I have astigmatism which is where the shape of my eye is not standard - in basic terms, my eyeballs are rugby ball shaped and usual would be football shape. My actual prescription of being long/short sighted is not that bad, my prescription is predominantly to address the astigmatism which is pretty extreme! i.e. they don't even make a daily contact lense in the strength I need for one of my eyes... Good thing I really don't mind wearing glasses!

We got my prescription sorted and then I set about selecting the frames - I was like a kid in a candy shop...! Their own brand frames are gorgeous and very reasonably priced!

I'll post a pic of my new glasses over on my Instagram - I really like them and was really happy with my experience with M&S Opticians.

If you want to book in then they are currently offering free eye tests for SweetieSal readers, just use this link to book your appointment at a location convenient to you and show them this post. I can highly recommend it!