Tips for Choosing the Perfect Eyeglasses

Choosing glasses feels like a question of taste, and it partly is. But most of the regret people bring back to the dispensary is not about the style. It is about frames that slip, lenses that are heavier than they needed to be, or a shape that cut off the reading part of a progressive lens.

Start with the fit

A frame that fits sits level, grips lightly at the sides of the head rather than squeezing behind the ears, and does not slide down when you look down. That last one is the test people skip in the mirror and regret at a desk.

• Bridge width decides whether the frame sits at the right height. Too wide and it slides; too narrow and it perches.
• Temple length should let the arm follow the head and bend gently at the ear, not press before it gets there.
• Frame depth matters if you are in a progressive lens. There has to be room below the pupil for the reading portion to exist.

Then the lenses

• Metal frames are light and adjustable, and hold their fit well.
• Acetate gives more color and a stronger look, and is easier to adjust than people assume.
• Titanium is light and hypoallergenic, which matters if you react to anything at the nose pads.

A higher-index lens material makes a strong prescription thinner and lighter, and a flatter frame front glazes with less edge thickness than a curved one. Your dispensing optician will raise this without being asked, but it is worth knowing that the frame and the lens are one decision rather than two.

Then how it looks

Face shape guidance is a starting point, not a law. Angular frames add definition to a rounder face; softer shapes suit a stronger jaw; a frame with more weight at the bottom balances a narrower chin. Try the ones that break the rule as well — the rule is a generalisation and your face is not.

Take a photograph in each of your shortlist and look at them the next day. The mirror in a dispensary is a persuasive place.

Before you leave

Have the frame adjusted while you are in the shop, and come back when it settles — it will. Adjustments are free at Optha for the life of the frame, and a frame that fits is worth returning for.