It’s so hard to find glasses that fit that I avoid replacing them even when the lenses are scratched and the prescription is outdated. Where can I get more customization in the fit?
The problem is my nose. The place where bone and cartilage meet is unusually high and sharply wider. Therefore, the sides of my nose below this point are pretty vertical and there is nothing to support the pads from sliding downward, so the glasses fall until they start to pinch closed the very flimsy lower part of my nose. I can’t breathe, and the tops of the frames are at pupil level.
I deal with this by buying wire frame glasses so the pads are on little curved prongs, and straightening the prongs so they point almost straight backward and slightly upward. This lets them sit on my nose above the joint, where there is an outward flare to support them. But since they are sticking so far out, the added leverage makes them gradually spread – and it always takes weeks to get them worked into an acceptable shape.
The opticians I have found so far have been disappointing, and the whole glasses industry seems to be a fashion industry as opposed to quasimedical optics. I know damn well that if I broke a bone, I’d quickly wind up with a custom fitted cast that was an exact match for my shape, even though I’d only wear it for weeks, yet glasses are for life! Is there anyplace that specializes in truly versatile fitting?
Unfortunately, unless you live in one of the handful of states that licenses opticians, there are no legally binding qualifications to be called an optician. Your best hope to find out if they really know what they’re doing is to ask if they’re ABO certified. If they are, they’ll be glad to show you their certificate. They’ll probably even have it on display. If they don’t know what you’re talking about, go somewhere else.
Have you tried having the frame shop adjust the curve behind your ears? Mine bent the frames a bit more to fit more snugly behind my ears and the stopped sliding down.
Try Cockeysville Opticians, tell them your problem. If you see a frame you like but doesn’t fit your bridge, ask if it comes with a larger bridge size.
I feel the OP’s pain. My problem is the arms of the glasses. My head is bigger than Thai heads – no comments, please – and all the glasses over here seem to be catered to their size. The newer fashions are long and flexible but cannot accommodate my thick lenses. Fortunately I can have reading glasses made out of them since I’ve started wearing contacts most of the time, but for regular glasses? Very hard to find something that fits.
I loathe the current fascination with narrow rectangular frames. They look hideous and do not flatter my face at all. It used to be that optometrists offered a wide selection of frames so you could find ones that suit you, but now they’re slaves to what passes for fashion.
In 2002, I managed to find probably the last existing pair of frames that actually suit my face, but I use them as reading glasses when I’m wearing contacts. To go back to regular eyeglasses (which I really need a lot of the time), the only option I have is to special order prescription lenses in Ray-Ban aviator frames. Expensive!
My husband is struggling right now. He broke his glasses in March and had an eye exam and a new set of glasses ordered March 29th. In the meantime he is wearing the glasses from two prescriptions ago and they are pinching his face and making his temples green. The frame was bent badly but he cannot function without his glasses.
He has astigmatism and a prescription of +16.5 in one eye and +16 in the other. He buys small wire frames because otherwise the glasses get heavy and very thick. Since he is round headed and bald/shaved head I don’t think the look suits him, but it is better than heavy thick frames. He always has to adjust the nose piece on glasses.
His contacts are also on order and we don’t really have a good understanding on what the hold up is. The lab that is grinding the lenses keeps breaking them and he is accustomed to delays with glasses, not so much with contacts. Its been 6 weeks, crazy!
My problem is that no part of my body is exactly symmetrical, especially my face . . . and especially my eyes, eyebrows, nose and ears. No matter how much the optometrist adjusts my glasses, I still have to bend them in a few places to get them to fit. And now that I’m wearing bifocals, it’s an extra chore to get everything aligned. People always tell me that my glasses are crooked, because they don’t align with my eyebrows (which are not the same height). I have to explain that the glasses look crooked from THEIR point of view, but they’re finally perfect from MINE.
Forgive me if I’m stating the obvious, but I haven’t seen frame sizing mentioned at all. It’s a fairly exact science, and most frames carried by optometrists are clearly labeled with their size in millimeters. It helps enormously if you can narrow down a size range that works for your face - that way you can shop online.
Most frames are printed with three numbers, some with two. They are lens width (each), width between lenses at the widest point, and length of the arms. With dashes between, like this: 50-22-157. Lenses are usually between 40 and 60 millimeters across, and bridge width is between 16 and the mid-20s. Arm length doesn’t impact me much, but for some people it’s important (arms being too short and digging into the backs of your ears is downright painful).
This is something I’ve spent a great deal of time experimenting with, because the width of my face is so small that even children’s frames usually are comically too wide (plus, the styles are awful). I’ve found that a lens width of 40-42 and a between-lens width of 18-22 (although the style of the bridge makes a big difference in the comfort of the fit, so should be considered), is generally a near perfect fit.
There is almost nothing commercially available right now that fits me, ist women’s glasses have a lens width of 48 plus - not sure if people these days have broader faces, or if it’s just a style thing - oversize, and very wide rectangular, frames are definitely ‘in’. But I’ve had great luck shopping online for vintage 42-20 deadstock frames.
Yeah, same here. I’m a tall, quite thin, man, and my face is pretty narrow. But the bridge of my nose is a bit wide, as a result of a broken nose many, many years ago. 44-22 works well for me, but not many frames come in that size. My favorite frames are from Art Craft (like this and this), which makes vintage-style frames. Actually, I guess they’re not “vintage-style,” since Art Craft has been making the same frames since long before they were retro. But they’re hard to find. I end up buying frames online when I need a new pair and taking them to my optometrist.
Well, many of the posters here are having similar experiences.
I am somewhat unsymmetrical, especially the height of my ears, and I have a bit over a half an inch of difference in how the arms or side pieces end – one curves up, the other curves down, to make the glasses level (as my eyes seem to be level). The arms are usually thicker in the vertical dimension than the horizontal, so they are more difficult to bend vertically, but it works.
I did notice that frames sometimes have various size numbers, but that doesn’t seem to be useful. In any glasses shop I have shopped in, it’s not like buying pants, where they have a variety of waste and inseam dimensions for pants of the same design. You don’t get to go through a stack looking for your size. All the frames are scattered around in no particular order, and it seems as though a given design only comes in one size - and in fact exactly one item. I am sure these things are mass produced, but I can’t tell that from looking at them in the store, it’s like every single pair was invented from scratch.
What I really wish was that some seller of glasses would start custom shaping the bridge piece to fit each customer’s nose. I actually experimented with this once. Back when I was an ardent mountain biker, I modified an old frame by removing the nose pieces and making my own assembly of wire and epoxy, shaped sort of like a mushroom but with a saddle top, and it fit the bridge of my nose perfectly. Those were the only glasses I have ever had that fit. They looked ridiculous, of course, but the fit was wonderful! I also made a clay cast of my nose, and then an epoxy model of my nose using the cast (so the model is “positive” like my nose and I can fit glasses to it). But all this fooling around is such a frustrating pain in the ass.
If somebody wanted to make a business out of this, I think it would be a wonderful success. I would pay $1000 extra for glasses that fit. Hell, why not? Putting air conditioning in a car costs about that, and it only lasts a few years and gets used maybe a hundred hours a year or so. Glasses are constant! And who doesn’t like seeing???
The eyeglass stores I have used (I have been buying glasses for 30 years) have never properly fit me for glasses. They let you wander around trying on frames till you find one that you think looks good and they stick lenses in it. It was not until I started looking online that I understood the three numbers described above. Find a pair of glasses and see if you can find those three numbers and work from there. I recently ordered from Zenni using that technique. I ordered a cheap pair of frames with single distance lenses. If they did not work I was willing to try again (they cost less than $12 including shipping). It turned out I did not have to do that as they fit me better than anything I have ever bought in a brick and mortar venue. You may need to determine your pupillary distance (look online for an explanation of that).
One thing that is true is that you cannot simply pick out a frame and expect it to be in your size, especially if you have an odd size.
I read your last post again and I will make a few more suggestions. I think that your problem has less to do with your nose and more to do with the proper width of the eyeglasses and the length of the arms. It seems to me that if those measurements are correct your glasses will rest properly on the bridge of your nose without slipping down.
You say you would spend $1000. Get $100 worth of cheap frames from Zenni.
Order a cheap pair online with an 18mm bridge width and see if they slide down. I think you may find this is the answer to your woes (although certainly the arms will still need adjusting by a proficient optician - everyone’s face is at least slightly asymmetrical).
Most opticians do suck at fitting glasses. Certainly I’ve found none to be helpful in finding the correct size, they’re content to try to convince me to buy $300 frames which are enormous on me. I had to figure out how important sizing is, and figure what size fits my face, on my own.
I’ve been known to go back to The Hour Glass up to half a dozen times to get the fit right. Most places will adjust any pair of glasses, but they will caution you – if you didn’t buy them here, we won’t be responsible if we break 'em. I’ve never had an optical shop break my not-sold-there glasses and I assure them I’m willing to assume the risk. I’ve even found that certain opticians are better at this than others, so I will go back and specifically ask for the person who hooked me up right last time.
– and all the glasses over here seem to be catered to their size. The newer fashions are long and flexible but cannot accommodate my thick lenses. Fortunately I can have reading glasses made out of them since I’ve started wearing contacts most of the time, but for regular glasses? Very hard to find something that fits.