The Spectator

Our eye health is something we all too often take for granted, only visiting an optician when our current prescription leaves us struggling to read, or when we fancy an upgrade on those designer specs. Yet our eyes are such a delicate part of the body, and can reveal a lot about our general health – even if they don’t feel any different – so it’s hard to overstate the importance of regular checks.

Enter The Eye Place, an independently owned practice that manages to be both charmingly old-school and at the same time, cutting edge. At the helm is Alex Kemp, a third-generation optometrist who’s garnered an enviable reputation over the last ten years for his use of state-of-the-art technology, creating an advanced eye examination that’s entirely unique to the practice. Alex and his team of optometrists believe that early diagnosis is key when treating eye diseases, and their use of top-level digital technology to diligently monitor eye health is at the heart of what they do. To experience the world’s most advanced eye exam, patients enter The Eye Lab. Here, the Optomap offers thorough screening and diagnosis of a range of potential eye problems, viewing up to 80 per cent of the retina compared to the 20-25 per cent seen using more conventional techniques. The process takes a fraction of a second and produces a detailed image of the back of the eye; Optical Coherence Tomography is a non-invasive imaging scan that uses light waves to take cross-section images of the retina and can detect conditions including age-related macular degeneration, diabetic eye disease and glaucoma. Then there’s the aptly named Eyegienist, a unique new service created by The Eye Place, which monitors and manages progress of anterior eye conditions, from meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) to blepharitis – or in layman’s terms, dry, irritated, allergic, or watery eyes. Once your dazzlers have been given a comprehensive MOT, the team will select your ultimate lenses.

The Eye Place work with many suppliers, and choose lenses depending on the prescription, frame type and what the spectacles will be used for. In particular, Seiko produce some of the best lenses in the world, with the most precise optics available on the market. Prescription in place, it’s onto the fun business of choosing your perfect frames (or contacts), and at The Eye Place, you’ll be spoilt for choice. At the recently opened branch in fashionable Fitzrovia, you’ll find a full range of desirable specs made by premium brands – from well known names like Tom Ford and Persol, through to lesser known artisanal designers such as ROLF, a small, family-run business based in the Tyrolean Alps.

And it’s not only Fitzrovians who can boast this appealing practice as their local, with branches on Belsize Park’s Haverstock Hill, and Fleet Street, too, The Eye Place couldn’t be better placed.