Back to Life, Back to Visual Clarity

If we’ve learned one thing during this lockdown period (and, in truth, we’ve learned a lot), it’s to value the closeness of family and friends! Also high on our list is the importance of taking better care of ourselves, and paying attention to the needs of our body on a daily basis. From head to toe, we’ve made a commitment to a new health maintenance routine. And throughout the month of May, with MAGRABi, ensuring optimal eye health just got a whole lot easier… and a whole lot more affordable!

Why is this so important to us now? Well, we don’t have to think too hard to see how our habits have changed over the past couple of months. We’re talking ‘screen time’ here. Locked down, whether we’re working or just chilling, our eyes are focused on one screen or another during almost every waking moment.

Work? It’s the MacBook, the schedule of Zoom meetings, the way the business day extends into the evenings because, well, everyone knows we’re home!

Social? Smartphone apps for keeping up on the latest from our family, Houseparty (who’s still using it? Suddenly it feels just-oh-so March 2020!) with friends, Twitter for an unedited and unverified newsfeed, and Instagram because, well, just because! Taking a break? That’ll be Netflix – sometimes big screen (HDTV), sometimes small screen (iPad), but always a screen.

How are we going to fix things? By looking closer at our working and living conditions, assessing our screen use, and reviewing our current eyewear – do we really have what we need?

How are MAGRABi going to help? In recognition of the knowledge that we’re all using digital devices more than ever before, through the month of May, MAGRABi are offering FREE UPGRADES across their range of Essilor solutions.

Step 1: Working and living conditions: working in the right conditions can help mitigate the effects of computer eye strain. What can you do? Firstly, how is your lighting? Too much sunlight or excessive room lighting can cause strain. Close the blinds, and dim that light! ‘Soft white’ LED bulbs are more comforting to the eyes. Also, adjust the brightness of your screen – seriously, when did you last do that? Balance it to the brightness of your surroundings – and check the contrast… too much or too little and you’re setting yourself up to have problems. Get this right, and your eyes will thank you. Use a high-res screen too (ask your boss for an upgrade!)

Step 2: Screen use: Digital eye strain is a ‘thing’. Add up all the hours you’re looking at a digital device and, like us, you’re a prime candidate for digital eye strain! Don’t worry though… we have the solution! There are simple eye exercises (some no more taxing than remembering to blink more often), recommended break times, and the all-important 20-20-20 rule! Read more here

• For children, there are special considerations. You can read more about those here:

How Much Screen Time is Bad for Kids?

Step 3: Current eyewear: Are you wearing the right lenses? Get an eye exam: you should be doing this regularly anyway, but, if it’s been a while, then now is definitely the right time! Let your optometrist know if you’re experiencing any eye discomfort, describe your working conditions, and let him know the distance you are from your screen when you work – this way he’ll be able to prescribe the best lenses for you.

Step 4: Now, what’s the deal with MAGRABi? Throughout May, you’ll find valuable upgrade deals on Essilor lenses, with savings of up to AED 2,000.

• Buy any lens design with CFUV or sapphire coating, and upgrade for free to Prevencia coated lenses! (save up to AED90)

• Buy aspheric single vision lenses, and upgrade for free to Eyezen Start or Prevencia coated lenses! (save up to AED400)

• Buy digital single vision lenses, and upgrade for free to Eyezen Start Fit or Prevencia coated lenses! (save up to AED470)

• Buy digital progressive lenses / Comfort 360 / Physio 360 / Varilux X / Varilux S, and upgrade for free to Digitime Lenses with Prevencia coating! (save up to AED2,000)

What you need to know:

• Prevencia – the first smart blue-light blocking lens. The coating on Prevencia lenses is specially designed to filter out the harmful blue-violet light of digital screens, yet allows through the beneficial blue-turquoise light… which is exactly what you want to happen, especially when you’re on the quest for increased screen time!

• Eyezen Start – lenses for your connected life. For the first time in single vision lenses benefit from an optimization of the whole lens surface for both far and near vision thanks to 2 reference points. An Eyezen Start lens brings the right power throughout the lens according to objects’ location as well as gaze direction. Wearers benefit from relaxed vision especially while using digital devices.

• Eyezen Start Fit – like Essilor’s amazing Start… only even better. Remember how the advent of HDTV made previously grainy TV viewing a now-strikingly clear experience? This is the measure of the effect the digital coating and personalization of Eyezen Start Fit lenses gives! Personalized to the frame you select, it’s high-definition for your eyes, making everything you see appear sharper, clearer and more vivid.