Over the years, I have come to realize that I am a lot pickier than about 98% of the general population – including opticians and other eye care professionals – when it comes to picking out the right pair of eyeglass frames. Following are a few of my cardinal rules for finding a great fit for you.
1) Size matters! Sometimes height (you don’t want to cut off the reading power of your bifocals), but always width. Many of today’s trendy styles are rectangular, and I feel like I’m always fighting to get my patients into frames that aren’t wider than their face. A frame that’s too wide will put undue pressure on the bridge of your nose and the tops of your ears, even when adjusted as well as possible. Additionally, especially if you have a stronger nearsighted prescription, choosing a frame that’s too wide for your face will result in really thick edges on your lenses. Not only are thick lenses cosmetically unappealing, but they can also result in more dizziness or distortion when looking through your new glasses.
2) Adjustability can matter. I love the look of chunky plastic frames as much as the next person (and I had a couple pairs before my LASIK surgery), but keep in mind that the thick plastic arms and lack of nosepads severely limit the extent to which these frames can be adjusted to fit your face. Does this mean you shouldn’t consider plastic frames? Absolutely not, but you’d better make sure they fit really well to begin with, as opposed to expecting that you’ll be able to adjust away a poor fit.
3) Weight can matter. If you’ve never experienced problems with glasses becoming uncomfortable on your face, you can disregard this section. If you HAVE had problems, or in general don’t like having glasses on your face, go for as light a pair of glasses as you can. Rimless is great but can be expensive and is not available in all opticals. Half-rim glasses are a good compromise, as are plastic frames or some of the newer titanium frames. If you know you’re really hard on your glasses, titanium and/or some of the newer styles with flexible bridge and arms would be advisable, especially over a half-rim or rimless design.
Hopefully that helps get you started! Obviously certain other styling elements should be considered, like fair-featured individuals generally not going for fat, black frames, but I won’t get into that here. In a future blog, I will plan to go over considerations for which bells and whistles to choose for your lenses once you get the right frame; until then, happy shopping 🙂
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