I’ve gone through it, my loved ones have gone through it. It’s not fun.

My goal with Vicci Eyewear was to make this aging snafu a little more palatable, and recently we’ve teamed up with several board certified optometrists to help us make an even bigger impact.

And so today I want to share a few questions with you, some of the most common ones we receive at Vicci. But I’ll answer them with a bit of help from our talented OD team.

Why can’t I read something close up anymore (menu example)?

This is a common, and highly universal process that kicks in around 40. The clinical term for it is ‘presbyopia’ which means that the natural lens within your eye struggles to alter shape in order to gather focus on items near you.

So you go to grab a menu and your lens struggles to fixate on it properly.

Dr. Barnett puts it this way: “presbyopia isn’t a failure of the eye outright, it’s just a universal and biological process that kicks in around 40.”

Why do my eyes get dry AND feel tired-ish at the same time?

We hear this from a lot of people who reach out to us and are looking to purchase eyewear.

Now this one’s a little less about age and more about reduced blinking. However, getting more sedentary with age can play a role especially if we are spending all that time starting at screens.

Keeping our eyes set on a fixed distance for hours forces our muscles to stay too contracted, causing a dryness sensation.

But dry eyes aren’t always super obvious.

In fact, Dr. Noh, who happens to run a clinic in McKinney Texas, consults with us and says that “watery eyes and sensitivity to light can also be linked to dry eyes.” And that “dry eyes is often the most underdiagnosed conditions in [her] field.”

I guess the thesis here is that you should always defer to an OD or optician with questions when you sense this kind of irritation in vision.

How often should I get my eyes checked as I age?

Dr. Barnett recommends you get a “comprehensive eye exam every one or two years [for adults who wear progressive lenses].”

And I think it’s important to tie this into your eyewear buying process as well. I find that vision needs can change pretty fast as we get older, and you might get a pair now that isn’t perfect in a few years.

Dr. Noh gives insight on the actual eyewear buying process, that if “something doesn’t feel right when you pick up your new glasses, say something.”

Keeping your body and vision well-positioned for years to come

Thinking about post 40 health, we have to consider all areas of the body; especially vision.

There’s no reason to fret or fear your eye care specialist. Visiting with them regularly and consulting about the best eyewear for you, keeps you reading menus at normal length.

For me, watching one of my close friends get diagnosed with cancer was a pivotal moment. It came out of the blue, as it usually does. And I wasn’t fully emotionally prepared for how it would affect me.

It’s easy to rationalize how the diagnosed person would have their life changed, but you don’t realize that it will also affect you deeply as one of their closest friends.

I saw firsthand what the illness could do to someone physically, emotionally, and also financially. This person had a massive hill to climb regarding new medical decisions, debates and questions over insurance (that’s the most headache inducing one for sure), doctors appointments, and just the overwhelming level of uncertainty that comes with each day.

Luckily they had a close-knit family around them, but even then there were menacing questions at play.

This is where the Rofeh Cholim Cancer Society swoops in to help. They focus hard on the financial side of battling cancer. Like helping patients with health-insurance coverage, connecting their families with much needed medical referrals, and continually being that advocate for them throughout the treatment journey.

So the support my friend received was tangible, it wasn’t just a list of doctors to call off an online directory.

Seeing that level of guidance and hands-on help left a lasting impression on me. I saw how cancer does so much more damage than physical, it creates a number of ancillary crises in its wake, especially on the admin and financial side of things.

Getting that right introduction into the best insurance options and referral help can be transformative. Anyway, I think RCCS gets this reality more than most. That’s why Vicci Eyewear and I got together with them.

One of our main contributions is through the RCCS’s annual hockey tournament. Standing on the ice at that event, with a community so united around a common goal, I saw nothing but pure beauty.

Every player who shows up is there because of cancer, whether on themselves, a friend, family member, our community member. And it’s not purely about financial donations, it’s a simple way to come together.

This cause is more than just compassion, it’s about helping families keep coverage, find the right doctors and physicians, and articulate the options in front of them in layman’s terms.

Now we’re four years in and I’m still as inspired as I was on day one.

Having crafted eyewear and accessories for women between 40 and 65, I’ve grown a deeper understanding of the causes they care most about; and one of them also taught me about brand building with a greater purpose.

When I sat in the same room for the first time with people involved in The Pink Agenda, I noticed how they were there because of a person, not from a statistic.

Breast cancer is a cause that affected everyone in that room very deeply. Whether it was their friend, sister, mother, they all had that horrible reality in common.

Many of our customers at Vicci experience the same reality, and so when this chance first came along to partner up with The Pink Agenda, it was a no brainer for us to jump in.

Having been partners now for several years, we’ve seen the organization’s impact firsthand. They’ve managed to raise over $13.5 million for research since 2007.

And while that’s an amazing achievement, the money is far from the thing that defines them.

The Pink Agenda has operated a program called FAB-U-WISH which grants wishes to women who are battling breast cancer. This can be something as simple as a new dress, or as lavish as a trip to a certain location they’ve wanted to visit.

I recall hearing about this program and thinking, ‘that’s it. That’s what it needs to be about right there.’ Helping women in the midst of the biggest battle of their lives find solace. And proving that you should never stop dreaming.

From the brand perspective, this is a breathe of fresh air. People like us (business owners, entrepreneurs, marketers) tend to be caught up in press releases, business-centric events, and email newsletters. But this concept of granting a wish, and more specifically giving these women something to be excited about, is the only thing that truly matters.

So anyway, I’ll keep this brief.

The main reason Vicci Eyewear joined forces with The Pink Agenda is because they aren’t just doing something to look good. They are doing something tangibly good with impressive results.

As a piece of gratitude towards their organization, Vicci has sent them portions of sales of our Sofia frames in Pink Quartz.

We’ll keep showing up for The Pink Agenda and continue to learn from their ways.

I am very passionate about eyewear, not only for its fashion but also as a means of transforming sight.

In 2012 I founded Vicci Eyewear, whose goal is to develop stylish eyewear and accessories while helping people improve their vision.

This mission has helped thousands of people, who I’m proud to say are our customers, and it’s lead me to join forces with several unique causes that have a shared goal.

Our relationship with The Vision of Children Foundation started with one customer, not a marketing plan.

It was Maria Delgado. She was the initial intro we had to organization and it’s great work. She told us about the research being funded to better understand and treat hereditary childhood blindness. She spoke about the support available to children and families living with genetic vision disorders.

Her introduction stayed with us, deep.

At VICCI, we spend our days thinking about sight. We make eyewear, obviously, so that connection may seem certain. Hearing about the Foundation’s work put it in a different perspective. A pair of glasses can help someone read a book. It can get you through a workday, or drive safely. Most importantly, be able to recognize someone you know from across a room. Those simple, normal things can have a surprisingly big effect on everyday life.

The Foundation is looking at something much bigger: helping children with inherited vision disorders have the possibility of a future with sight.

That is difficult not to care about.

What also made the relationship meaningful was how Maria approached us. She wasn’t trying to sell us a sponsorship package. She was telling us about something she personally believed in. She knew the work mattered and thought we might see that, too.

She was right.

Once we learned more about the Foundation, we wanted VICCI to get involved. We jumped in feet first, and have since supported events by gifting VICCI frames and other gifts for charity. It’s in this way we’ve been lucky to share the organization’s mission with a wider audience.

Imagine the pride we felt supporting the Springtime Tea. More recently, extending to the Vision for America event. Such events are huge because they bring people together and eventually help raise both funds and awareness.

Still, I don’t think support should end when an event does.

The photographs get posted. The guests go home. Decorations come down. Then the work continues.

That is the part I find most meaningful about our relationship with the Foundation. It has become something we continue to support rather than something we simply participated in once.

It has also changed the way I think about how a company’s sense of purpose develops. We tend to think of purpose as something that starts with a founder or leadership team and then reaches the community. Our experience was different.

A customer opened the door.

Maria introduced us to a cause that mattered to her, and in doing so, gave us the opportunity to become part of something that mattered to us as well.

VICCI is in the business of eyewear. We want people to see clearly and feel comfortable. We envision people to finally feel like themselves. That is why supporting research that could help children preserve or regain their sight feels like a specially meaningful extension of that work.

This partnership wasn’t born from a campaign. It started with a conversation, a trusted customer, and a cause worth listening to.

We are grateful that Maria started that conversation. And we are proud to keep showing up for The Vision of Children Foundation.