Medical Device

Normally, however, spectacles are part of an assemblage of items giving us an overall look in fashion terms. They are classed as accessories along with shoes, jewellery, handbags or watches. But in healthcare terms, they are, of course, a medical device. And in many languages other than English, they are often described as a prosthesis, an artificial part of the body, part of you making you who you are. And choosing your spectacles is therefore a major decision. Increasingly, people own two or more pairs for different occasions or times of the day. And there is a phrase for this in the industry. It's called lifestyle dispensing and it dates back to the 1950s. The idea is that you wear one type of spectacles in the workplace and quite another at leisure or on the beach.