I have big news today! I’ve mentioned a couple times that I’m able to blog again in part thanks to some special glasses. Hart had them made for me based on a recommendation from my headache specialist and a bunch of research he read. They’ve been so helpful for me and the people we sent sample pairs to that we’ve decided to make them available for purchase. Yep, Hart and I are starting our own business so anyone who suffers from migraine can use these awesome glasses. (Well, Hart’s really starting the business; I’m more like his muse and provider-of-different-perspectives.)
These glasses have a precision tint called FL-41 that research shows can help with painful sensitivity to light (photophobia), fluorescent light/CFL sensitivity, eye strain, and even reduce the number of migraine attacks wearers get. One FL-41 study showed participants went from an average of 6.2 to 1.6 migraine attacks per month — that’s 74% fewer attacks.
The tint was suggested by my headache specialist who was concerned that I was over-sensitizing my eyes by wearing sunglasses indoors. I ordered standard eyeglasses with the tint. While helpful for computer time they let in way too much light, which means the glasses didn’t effectively manage general photophobia or protect me from fluorescent lighting, which is a big trigger for me.
After hearing me complain about them (and seeing me always wearing them with a baseball cap) Hart set out to see if he could do better. He wanted to to create FL-41 glasses in frames that would better protect my eyes. He worked with an optical lab and talked to countless different companies before finding just the right lightweight, flexible, wraparound frames — in short, the perfect glasses for a migraineur. The flexibility of the frames and their light weight mean that they don’t put pressure on a head that’s already sensitive from migraine and they also fit a wide variety of faces with no pinching or squeezing.
Wearing these glasses, I no longer fear fluorescent lights at grocery stores, friends’ houses, or doctors’ offices. (I can even go to Ikea without a meltdown!) I also wear them around the house whenever I have a migraine and they really cut down on the pain. At the risk of sounding cheesy, what these glasses really give me is freedom from fear and a sense of control over migraine triggers and symptoms.
The glasses were great for me, but we wanted to be sure they would work for other people, too. We sent some pairs out for feedback and waited nervously. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with testers reporting many of the same benefits that I did. Besides photophobia relief, testers found the glasses especially useful for blocking fluorescent lights and for screen time in front of the computer or TV. Some of the feedback was so touching that it brought me to tears. Once we knew the glasses could help a lot of other people, we also knew we needed to make them available.
Hart is hard at work putting the final pieces of the business into place and getting the glasses made. We hope to have them available for sale in a few weeks. If you’re interested in learning more, enter your email address below so we can contact you when the new company’s website is up. (We promise not to sell or share your email address.) Update: The website is up! The glasses are now available at www.theraspecs.com.
I’ll post again to let you all know when they are available, too. We both hope these glasses can help you as much helped me!
Just a day after I got caught out without ear plugs, I exposed myself to another migraine trigger common in public spaces — fluorescent lights. I am never without TheraSpecs, but I occasionally take them off for a few seconds when I need confirm an exact color match (like choosing embroidery floss). That’s what I intended to do, but got so absorbed in what I was doing that I left them off for 10 minutes.