Meet Adam
Adam has a private optometry practice in London’s Primrose Hill.
He opened it in 2001 and can not think of anywhere else he’d rather be.
He’s married to Juliet, with three lovely daughters, all of whom are old enough to leave home but refuse to. He’s a Spurs season-ticket holder but please don’t hold that against him. A little sympathy would be appropriate.
He studied Ophthalmic Optics at The City University, London, a very long time ago, and is a Member of the British College of Optometrists.
At the age of 26, Adam set up Eye-Tech, in Soho, creating an opticians with a fresh attitude, innovative interior design and sold previously unheard-of eyewear brands such as Alain Mikli, Oliver Peoples and LA Eyeworks, which were very exotic in the late 80s.
After selling Eye-Tech in the 90s, Adam had a seven year sort-of sabbatical. (Thailand, NLP, self development, spiritualism, living the kind of life you can only enjoy when single and in your thirties).
Then, after making and losing a (paper) fortune from an original film publishing idea that he started – which reached an unrealised market cap of over £20 million – he started a family, which was the catalyst to open a new practice.
In 2001, he opened in Primrose Hill. Since then, the world of optometry has changed enormously – there are optical chainstores galore, bringing the profession into a race for the lowest prices with new eyewear brands popping up seemingly every week.
Adam has steadfastly stuck to the quaint old-fashioned values of good service and excellent, personal eye care and high product quality.
The issue of dry eyes has been around for many years but up until recently, all we could do was offer a degree of sympathy and suggest using various eye drops.
A lot has changed in the last decade and new high-tech treatments, including Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) and Low-Level LED Light Therapy (LLLT) offer very good results in the treatment of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) symptoms. (The world of Dry Eye loves an acronym).
After completing additional training at Moorfields Eye Hospital, Adam has built up a successful Dry Eye Clinic.
More info on Dry Eye and our treatments can be found here.
Varifocal lenses tend to have a bad reputation. It’s commonly thought that they cause problems for the wearer and most people don’t get on with them.
The primary reason for this dissatisfaction is down to poor dispensing, usually as a result of inaccurate measurements taken by the optician and suboptimal lens types being dispensed. Human nature is such that people are more likely to tell others about a bad experience rather than those who get on well with them.
Properly dispensed varifocals work really well.
To ensure success, an eye exam coupled with extensive knowledge of lenses will determine which lens type would suit best, as there are many types of lenses available, all with different features.
We use the Zeiss iTerminal, an instrument that accurately measures the position of the pupil in the frame, rather than solely relying on handheld rulers. After all, we are well into the 21st century.
Further info on progressive lenses can be found here.
(Thankfully I gave up smoking in 2011).
Sometimes being detailed and obsessive can work. Like when making glasses and measuring eyesight to ridiculous levels of accuracy. I accept that at other times, being overly detail-orientated can be annoying.
Anyone know anyone else who lists every film and TV series he’s watched and book he’s read and ranks them according to his own star system? Thought not.
But to me, it makes perfect sense. Who wouldn’t want to record these things? And if you need any good recommendations, I’m your man.
And who on earth has a timer to ensure that tea is brewed for the precise amount of time?
(3 minutes, 20 seconds, a nice stir, squeeze and then 2.3ml of semi-skimmed milk, as you’re asking).
A Spurs season-ticket holder for longer than is healthy, Adam suffers far more than he deserves.
The recent Europa League win hasn’t made him any happier and he really wishes that he could have been a QPR fan, which was his originally local(ish) team growing up, with no expectations and therefore no hope to lose.
Unfortunately this is impossible, so he’ll continue to be miserable for the foreseeable.
My immediate family comprises:
– Juliet, my loving wife of over 25 years, holds the family together.
– Finley, Tibetan Terrier, an exceptionally good boy.
– Maya, mechanical engineering graduate (a Masters!), now climbing the corporate ladder in business consulting.
– Rosie, mechanical engineering graduate, fairly normal for a middle child, the most glamorous person working in water infrastructure.
– Bobbie, student learning how to party and have fun and slam doors when she comes home.
– Me
Nothing reveals ones age more than the music that you listen to. OK, I suppose grey hair and wrinkles are indicators too, but being stuck musically in the 70s is fairly symptomatic of being what can really only be called an old fart.
Adam is adamant that he has fantastic musical taste and if you disagree that’s down to your poor and misguided opinion. How can anyone not have a Top Ten that includes eight Bowie songs and five by Steely Dan?
Sometimes I don’t leave Primrose Hill for months.
Having lived in the area for over twenty-five years, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. And having a four-minute walking commute is a pleasure that I really appreciate and don’t take for granted.
About five years ago I was daft enough to volunteer to organise the Christmas lights in Regent’s Park Road and have now become lumbered with the unenviable task of raising money and sorting out the lights every year (not what I originally intended).
I’m also active in the Primrose Hill Business Association and liasing with the police about crime but, as I really can’t stand local politics, I have no interest in extending my community interests much further. So I won’t be applying for Mayor just yet.
I fear that our lovely Adam is a little bit delusional.
Someone needs to tell him that no amount of tennis, pilates and boxing will make him 25 again. Poor thing.