Archive for August, 2010

Who Makes the Big, Oversized, Retro-Style Eyeglasses Spotted on Lindsay Lohan?

Regardless of what you think (or if you even care) about Lindsay Lohan’s personal-problems, run-ins with the law, probation violations and occasional crimes of fashion, Lilo has always had great taste in eyewear and sunglasses.

She’s been a die-hard fan of the Sama and Badgley Mischka lines for years — frequently shopping for eyewear at Sama’s West Hollywood and Beverly Hills boutiques.  Loree Rodkin and Sama’s Sheila Vance even created a giant, oversized sunglass —  “The Lindsay” — specifically for Lohan.

So we were kind of tickled when Lohan was spotted over the weekend shopping for eyeglasses and sunglasses at the West Hollywood Destination: Sama boutique. According to Just Jared, Lindsay had just reported to the courthouse for her probation check-in and then headed over to Destination: Sama to shop for sunnies.

Now, I’ve never had to report to a probation officer (and intend to keep it that way), but I can’t think of any better activity to do after meeting with local law enforcement than to go shopping for some new sunglasses. In fact, I can’t think of any better activity to do anytime than shop for eyewear. But then again, it’s my business.

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The First Batch of Our New Chrome Hearts Eyeglasses and Sunglasses Arrived Today At Urban Optiques!

Just in time for the Fall eyewear buying season, we just received the first shipment of the latest and hottest Chrome Hearts eyeglasses and sunglasses.

Big, bold, retro-inspired acetate frames continue to be hot, hot, hot … and the first selections of the season that we received from luxury eyewear maker Chrome Hearts provide you with some amazing new eyewear options that just can’t be found anywhere else in Metro-Detroit.

We were so excited about these new 2010 Chrome Hearts models that we snapped a few pictures to get you as fired up about these designs as we are.  We’ll be adding another 15-20 additional pieces over the next few weeks, so if you don’t see something in here yet that makes your heart skip a beat (which we think is unlikely) —  keep checking back … you will.

VSP Taps Dr. Michelle to Answer Member and Reader Vision Care Questions in New Monthly National e-Mail Newsletter

This month, VSP, the largest not-for-profit vision benefits and services company in the U.S. with more than 55 million members, debuted its newly redesigned EnVision e-mail newsletter.

Aside from an entirely new look and feel, the newsletter also features a new monthly “Ask the Eye Doc” column written by Urban Optique’s own Dr. Michelle Calder Cardwell.

Dr. Michelle will be a regular, ongoing monthly contributor to EnVision — which goes out to nearly 5 million subscribers nationally — answering questions from members and the general public around vision care.  Not only are we honored and thrilled that VSP chose Dr. Michelle as its resident vision expert, but we also love the new newsletter format and design.

To sign-up for the VSP EnVision e-mail newsletter which features articles on vision care and eyewear fashion and trends, visit the VSP website.  If you want to ask Dr. Michelle a question, you can submit your questions for the “Ask The Eye Doc” monthly feature here.

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A New Study Says Contact Lenses Account for More Pediatric Injuries Than Any Other Medical Device.  Find Out How To Help Your Kids Benefit from Contact Lenses without the Injury Risks.

In late July, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a report that found over a two year period, emergency rooms treated more than 33,000 injuries due to contact lenses — making the eye the most frequently injured body part among children due to medical device complications.

When we saw the report and the headlines, we weren’t entirely surprised.  Children are one of the fastest growing segments of new contact lens wearers, representing more than 10% of the total population of contact lens wearers.  The growing popularity of contacts among children makes sense: Today’s new breed of soft contact lenses are more comfortable than ever and contacts are often an attractive alternative to glasses, especially for active children, ‘tweens and teens.

On the other hand, as the report from The American Academy of Pediatric’s demonstrates, contact lenses and children can also be a recipe for injury, and possibly permanent eye damage or vision loss, if parents aren’t monitoring and supervising the wear, care and replacement of lenses in their children.

According to the data, the most-frequently reported injury diagnoses due to contact lenses were corneal contusions/abrasions, conjunctivitis and hemorrhage.  The study also showed that most contact lens complications were the result of non-compliance with the  recommended wear and care regimens, as well as replacement schedules.

Misuse of contact lenses in both adults and children can lead to problems such as eye pain, bacterial infections, corneal ulcers, and even permanent vision loss or blindness.

Are Contacts and Kids a Good Mix?

Why so many problems?

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Yelp Regularly and Erroneously Filters Real, Legitimate Reviews from Our Patients and Clients. Read the Reviews of Urban Optiques that Yelp Won’t Show You.

Deep down inside, we really do love Yelp at Urban Optiques. 

It’s such a great concept:  Allow people to write reviews and share their experiences at local businesses with the rest of the world. We’ve used Yelp reviews repeatedly ourselves over the years to choose everything from salons to restaurants, and not just here in Metro-Detroit, but in cities all across the country.

But over the past year, Yelp has lost its way.

And if you are a business owner or occasional “Yelper” (the term for people who write reviews on Yelp), Yelp has demonstrated that your opinion doesn’t really matter much.

We’ll set aside the allegations (and pending lawsuit) that claims Yelp “extorts” small businesses for money to remediate negative reviews. We just don’t know enough about the details of this to know if this is true or not.

But we do know that Yelp is regularly filtering real, legitimate reviews of businesses and not publishing them to a businesses Yelp profile. We know this because right now there are four of our client’s reviews that are not being shown with our listing.

Yelp: It’s Not Our Fault! It’s the Machine That Does It All!

Why does Yelp do this?

Well, they claim that they have developed an algorithm that can sort out real reviews from fake ones.

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