See Summer Better

Summer is the time to have fun, be active and be outside. As a health professional, I encourage everyone to wear sunglasses year round but especially in the summertime. The sun is not only damaging to your skin but your eyes as well. The sun is strong and harsh especially to your retina. I have a personal story to share. My brother spent years outside in the sun not protecting his eyes and two years ago his ophthalmologist told him he had retinal damage due to not protecting his eyes. In the past two years, he bought sunglasses and have been wearing them religiously.

Three years ago, I bought my eyeglasses and sunglasses through my hospital because they provided a discount. After paying $800 for eyeglasses and sunglasses (after my insurance and discount was added on), I decided I did not want to pay that much for eyeglasses that I will use for only two years. I also wear contacts and usually only wear my eyeglasses twice a year. Lately, I have been wearing my eyeglasses more since I invested so much money on them.

I had brunch with my brother last week and he mentioned he wanted to purchase eyeglasses at Warby Parker. I was intrigued because my brother mentioned the price of one pair of eyeglasses and sunglasses. I could purchase eight different pairs of eyeglasses or sunglasses with the amount of money of two pairs I purchased with my hospital discount!

I have heard of this company before through social media but never took the time to look into the website until last week. I wondered how people could choose their eyeglasses online without even trying them on. I usually rely on the optometrist or salespeople in the store to help me find glasses that look good on me. Coincidentally, after my conversation with my brother about Warby Parker, I received an email from the brand team at Warby Parker to check out the #SeeSummerBetter campaign. My first thoughts? The eyeglasses and sunglasses styles from Warby Parker are trendier than the styles in the optometrist office. And the price was unreal! The prices are $95 for single lenses and $295 for progressive lenses.

I started browsing the eyeglasses page and found a few that I really liked. I like that the colors are not the traditional black, brown or blue. The colors at Warby Parker are vibrant and colorful and reflects a person’s personality or even mood for the day. The eyeglasses that I liked are the Welty, Leighty, Dahly, Wilky, Keen, and Upton. Yes, that is too many for me to choose from.

Since I wear prescription sung905001021/https://www.warbyparker.com/eyeglasselasses, I started perusing the sunglasses section. I tend to go bolder for my sunglasses color. These are the sunglasses that I liked at first glance: Tilley, Raglan (apparently pink is not my color and is in the picture above), Downing, Banks,Roland, Eastman, Hattie, Madison, Beckett 16, Ellison. Oh my goodness, I can keep on going. I seem to like a lot of sunglasses from Warby Parker!

After perusing the Warby Parker website for the eyeglasses and sunglasses that I like, I started reading the other hyperlinks in the website like the retail locations and Our Story. Little did I realize there is a brick and mortar store less than a mile away from me. I usually jog in the area but never paid any attention to the stores. I always like to hear the story behind a company and the Warby Parker story hit home for me. I always wondered why eyeglasses were so expensive and it is something that people need to see. I personally do not want to spend a lot of money on something I need medically. I usually buy a new pair of eyeglasses and sunglasses every two years or so. I skipped buying a new pair last year because of the ridiculous amount of money that I spent for one pair of eyeglasses and sunglasses in 2013.