I’m wearing a Nine frame, which is a Japanese design, which I’ve had for about nine months. It’s very light (in fact it weighs 9 grams), but is very robust which it has to be as I’m afraid I’m not as gentle with my frame as I should be.

The team chose this frame for me. It’s sufficiently stylish to keep me looking up to date. There’s a bit of blue, and it’s got grey sides. I have had some compliments about my specs.

I have Hoya MyStyle V+ varifocal lenses correcting for long sight, astigmatism* and presbyopia* and my right eye needs a stronger lens so I need good, bespoke, digital lenses to correct for all that. Diabetes has affected my right eye where there’s a patch of sight that isn’t as clear as it should be due to diabetic damage. This happens when the finest blood vessels in the eye fail, it’s a common ocular side effect of diabetes. Colleagues keep an eye on that for me with the digital OCT retinal layer scanner. Routine eye checks are important for general health. I added a Blue Control filter on my lenses because preliminary research indicates it may reduce my chances of acquiring age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). Too much blue light disrupts sleep patterns so I am sleeping soundly.

I wear glasses all the time, for driving and for work, which is mainly seeing clients and administration. I can see long distances, but without glasses I get significant tiredness and a headache.

I never wear contact lenses, my eyes are small (and male eyes are deeper set than female) so I find it hard to get contact lenses in. I also have a dry eye condition which makes contact lens wear more challenging. I currently have a photochromic pair of glasses on order.

* Astigmatism is where the eyeball is no longer round (commonly it’s more rugby-ball shaped), which affects focus. Presbyopia is an age-related gradually increasing difficulty in focusing, commonly leading to the requirement for reading glasses.