Friday, July 6, 2007

A tearful short story

Posted on Biosyntrx' site (today's Friday Pearl)

The Dacriologist

Carl Djerassi, PhD, father of the birth control pill, developer of antihistamines, developer of environmentally benign pesticides, Stanford teacher of world class chemists, former president of Syntex, novelist, prolific playwright and one of the few Renaissance men in twentieth-century sicence, acknowledged our mutual interest in tear film chemistry by sending me a lovely inscribed gift of one of his books titled The Futurists and Other Stories. One particularly inventive story from this book, The Dacriologist, is perfect beach reading for our ophthalmic and optometric-focused Friday Pearl subscribers.

Dr. Djerassi interviewed Professor Frank Holly, the founder and first president of The International Dacriology Society, as well as the founder of the West Texas Dry Eye Institute while he was researching and writing this short story. We suggest you print it out and take it with you to the beach or to your favorite hammock for provocative summer reading.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Product review: Wiley-X "Blink"

Vendor: Wiley-X
Frame: Blink (in Wiley's Climate Control series), matte black
Lens: Polarized copper

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I used to wear Wiley's "JP3-P" frame for driving - I loved them, and was very disappointed when they were discontinued. They had lousy foam (slippery & made me sweat) but what I appreciated so much about them was the true wrap style of the lens, which gave me better vision for driving than Panoptx' more cumbersome frames which leave a considerably smaller visual field and have much more noticeable side blockage. I also loved the polarized copper lens which is dark enough to protect me from light sensitivity but has great optical quality.

So anyway, I recently finally found the time & money to catch up with Wiley again and bought a bunch of their newest frames, including Blink, Brick, Ink, AirRage and Top Jimmie.

Yesterday was my first serious test-drive. I picked Blink. Blink and Brick fit me better than any of the others. (For reference, in Panoptx frames I normally wear either Solano or Churada.)

I was at a family reunion. I spent about 3/4 of the day outside, including a few hours at the beach playing with the kids, so I got a good sense of how they worked for me in various environments.

Overall assessment: Big thumbs up on almost all counts.

Frame:
It's a nice-looking frame. Ideally I prefer something a little larger and a little less sporty looking (the top of the frame rests slightly below my eyebrows) but I can live with this. My husband is lusting after them.

Gasket:
The gasket fits more tightly into the frame than the Panoptx eyecup and while it made me a little more nervous removing it, I actually like this because I've sometimes had problems with Panoptx' eyecups slipping out. You need to put some effort into popping this one out and it has a robust mechanism keeping it in.

The gasket is vented (much smaller vents than Panoptx, possibly the reason why I fogged up in the car a little but then I'd been running and it was humid). The overall profile of the gasket & foam lining is pretty much comparable to Panoptx.

Foam: The foam on the gasket seems slightly more dense than Panoptx, otherwise they're pretty similar in look and feel.

Fit: The fit is excellent on me - the foam hugs my face closely. However, there's just something about Panoptx that is unique and that I've never seen matched by any other frame: when you put the frame on and you get that "fits like a glove" feeling.

Lens: Like always the Wiley polarized lens is, in my opinion, awesome. From the outside it appears quite dark, but from the inside not at all. I get super protection but at the same time the optical quality is tops. I see only a very slight warm tint through the lens - not an overall brownish tone to everything as so many copper lenses have. It was a very relaxing lens to wear.

Overall experience: Thrilled. I literally did not think about my eyes until early evening when I started needing drops. I could not have managed at the beach especially without something this close-fitting. I think that Panoptx would have given me equal comfort all day but they could not have equalled the vision. I was even able to play a little badminton.

Tip: If you look for the Climate Control series on the Wiley-X website, click on Motorcycle first. (TIME FOR A GRIPE: Wiley-X needs to take a cue from Panoptx and add a dry eye link on their website's home page so people can figure this out!