Will hobby glasses damage my vision?

Options for buying ready readers, or hobby glasses are infinite, from the chemist to the petrol station, supermarket and book shop. But are these harmful for your eyes?

No. Wearing off the shelf reading glasses is not harmful for your eyes or vision.

BUT what could be harmful is skipping full eye checks. These regular eye examinations are when we identify any early signs of problems which can effect your vision long term.

It may be that ready readers are absolutely fine and a good choice to help you see clearly for reading and other close up tasks. An eye examination can confirm this. We can demonstrate a personalised prescription and compare with off the shelf reading glasses so you can judge the difference yourself.

We have a great range of I Need You reading glasses, perfect if you don’t need individualized prescription glasses, or to have a spare pair, and the quality of the lenses is ensured.

Jackie Low - Extern Optometry Student 2022

Jackie Low is a final year student completing her optometry externship at the University of Auckland.

Claire and Sally will be supervising Jackie and reviewing her findings. We invite you to make an appointment with Jackie. 

Please allow an hour and note the examination fee will be reduced to $75. We are delighted to be able to mentor and support final year students here at McDonald Adams Optometrists.

Vlad Zorzoliu - Optometrist

Optometrist Vlad Zorzoliu has joined us. Vlad completed his Optometry studies at the University of Auckland and has been working at Central Otago Optical in Alexandra.

Vlad loves the way as an optometrist you can help people see better; in his words ‘be an advocate for eye health’.

Vlad is experienced in contact lens fitting including speciality and hard lenses. He has a natural rapport with children, drawing on skills gained through coaching tennis.

We are delighted to have Vlad on our team, particularly as our appointment book has been very busy! Another optometrist will mean less wait time for a consultation.

Vlad, Sally and Claire are available for online bookings.

Book an Appointment Online

or call us on 09 425 9646

Things we can see in your eyes.

As part of every eye check we examine your eyes with a microscope - have you ever wondered what we can see? Here is the big reveal!

A lot of the tissue in the eye is transparent - so that light can pass through to get to the retina. Let’s start at the front - the cornea. We often see evidence of previous infections or injuries. In the fluid filled chamber inside the front of the eye our microscope allows us to see cells floating. Checking the lens we look for early signs of cataract. Then we see the vitreous gel, where we often find the ‘floaters’ which people describe for us. Finally the retina comes into focus.

The retina is red - sometimes seen as a red eye in photos taken using a flash. We have a check list as we examine the blood vessels, the optic nerve and the macula.

Sometimes we want to go deeper - to ‘look’ at the layers of the retina in more detail. This is when we use OCT scanning technology. While the information this provides is quite amazing, it does not quite match to viewing down the microscope - seeing individual red blood cells tumbling along the capillaries at the front of the eye will always be special for me.

I Need You Reading Glasses

We have a great range of I Need You reading glasses. These are perfect if you don’t need individualized prescription glasses, or to have as a spare pair. I Need You reading glasses are designed by a German Optician who has an eye for new trends. These readers are manufactured according to stringent European standard (DIN EN 14163) for the exacting German customer.

There are great choices; find your favourite style and update your wardrobe with new colours. I Need You glasses are a fashion statement for people who want a little more pizzazz with their hobby glasses.