How can I buy large frame reading glasses?

Factual Questions
1

My head is larger than average. The inexpensive ball caps never fit. Even with the adjustable band completely unsnapped.

Reading glasses are tight. The spring hinge breaks within 4 to 6 weeks. The leg breaks off soon after. It’s because the glasses aren’t wide enough.

There’s no sizes on reading glasses. Just magnification.

They say temple fit adjustable. But, isn’t that the springs on the hinge? That’s what breaks after 4 to 6 weeks.

I’ve considered ordering a fitted frame at the Optometrist with 2.5 magnifying lens.

That could cost $100 or more.

2

If you use a mail order service (I use Zenni) they give frame measurements and show you how to measure your own head. I don’t know whether they sell plain readers or they would insist on a prescription.

Another option if you’re a member might be to go to Costco, ask them to measure you and grab a pair of their readers

3

No. That’s not what they mean.

Bend the temples outward while supporting the hinge end of the temple w needle nose pliers so there is no force applied to the hinges while you’re bending. You can get a pretty good S-bend in the temples close to the hinge. Probably get an extra 1/4" width that way per side, for 1/2" total.

Take one of your old ruined pairs and practice on the surviving temple.

4

I can support the frame with needle nose pliers. I just got a new pair of these readers from Walmart. I’ll gently bend and adjust.

Thanks!

I was curious and called the local optometrist office. $175 for readers with custom frames. :thinking: pricey! Thank goodness my cataract surgery eliminated my need for $500 prescription glasses.

Uh, I’ll contine buying these from walmart for $20. They aren’t the cheapest available but I like the appearance and they seem better made than the $10 readers.

Ironman Rectangle Black Reading Glasses

5

My optometrist back in the day always put them on a heating apparatus before adjusting them to make them a bit more pliable.

You may also just be able to go to a place that has glasses and have them do it for free. I know the glasses place in my Walmart does this.

6

I realize now that “with flexible temples” means there’s metal that can be bent and adjusted.

Otherwise, the temple is all plastic and a heater is needed to make adjustments.

Seems simple after it’s been explained.

7

I also have a very large head. Like if you look at an Extra Large sized floppy at a store there’s a 50% chance it will be too small.

I don’t need reading glasses but they have inexpensive ones on Amazon that should fit. You need to search for “oversized men’s reading glasses”.

Good luck.

8

Thank you for the help.

I see Amazon has oversize glasses. Never seen them in the stores.

9

Zenni sells frames you pick with just reader lenses. No prescription needed. Thousands of frame choices, in a full range of sizes. Frames and lenses for less than $20.

10

I suppose that in a similar way, I could do the opposite to “close” the hinge end of the temple? I’ve got a great pair of glasses, that are a little too loose on my head. They work just fine, but if I turn my head suddenly, they’re likely to fall off.

11

Certainly. Most temples are wire, or wire embedded in a flexible plastic that gets softer if heated by e.g. a hairdryer. Get a good grip on the temple just aft of the hinge, then bend inward.

Likewise, the length of temples is adjustable. Temples come in two basic styles, bayonet that just extends straight back to rest atop the ear & clamp the head for retention, and curved that’s meant to rest both atop and behind the ear. The behind part keeps the glasses from sliding down your nose or falling forward off your face as you turn your head. But that only works when the curve starts where your ears are. Too long or too short is a problem.

So just bend the temples up or down as needed to move the curve to fit snugly behind the ears. If your glasses are shaking off, decent bet the temples are too long versus your ears.


Definitely practice your glasses adjusting skills on cheap disposables before working on seriously expensive specs. Or do what I do and go back to the glasses shop where I’ve bought something and ask them to bend my glasses to fit me. Even if they’re just cheapo readers, I’ve never had them say “No, we didn’t sell you those. Go away you cheapass scammer!”

12

I also have a large head. CliC makes reading glasses in large sizes that work for me. I also use some very cheap ones from Costco that stretch easily.

13

CliC is a new brand for me. I’ll take a look.

Thanks

14

My specs are expensive, so your other idea might be the way to go: take them to an optometrist and see what they can do. I’ll do that the next time I go to the mall. Should be no worries about not having bought them there, this optometrist opened in that mall a few months after the one where I got them closed permanently.

Many thanks!

15

I just retired after 51 years as an optician. In the old days ( 1974) the optician fitted the client with frames according to what they wanted and also what they needed, Wider bridge longer/shorter temple length. The US manufacturers slowly stopped making frames this way as European companies (luxottica etc.) took over the frame business. (Shuron still makes u.s. frames the old way) but nobody wants to wear old style frames that cost >$100 each. My bill from the lab that ground the no -line bifocal lenses charged me >$170 just for the uncut lenses that i had to edge and fit into frames, which i did in my basement, on my own time at night on my old durable edging equipment. Everybody thought I was overcharging them

Everyone wants to buy “two pair for $35” and so now you get what they send you.

I was a “dinosaur” who owned my own business and when I was too tired to keep going nobody wanted to buy my shop, so I liquidated everything. A professional optician is like the old Italian guy who made tailor-made suits for men. NOT a big business model in today’s online economy.