Adjusting your eyeglasses
Most of the time, adjusting your eyeglasses that we send you is not necessary because the eyeglasses fit properly when you receive them. Eyeglass frames are designed so that they can be adjusted (bent) if necessary to accommodate most any facial structure. When a local optical profession is adjusting your eyeglasses for you, it is called a fitting. In most cases you will not need to fit eyeglasses, but if you do, you can take your glasses to a local optical store for a fitting. Most opticians will do a fitting for free; if they charge you a fee, we will reimburse you for their fitting fee up to a maximum of $15. Just fax us the receipt and we will credit your account.
Be careful, make small and infrequent adjustments
If you do decide to be adjusting your eyeglasses yourself, first you must be extremely careful. The adjustable parts of glasses are small and thin. If your adjustments are done in the wrong way, you can damage the glasses and the manufacturer or retailer will not replace them. If you adjust your glasses too often, the metal may fatigue and break also.
Why do you need an adjustment?
If you have bought eye glasses online, before you begin adjusting your eyeglasses frame, be sure you know exactly what it is you want to accomplish. The two most common goals are to position the optical center of the lens directly in front of your pupils, and to make the glasses feel more comfortable on your face.
What do I do first?
To get the optical center of the lenses directly in front of your eyes, first stand in front of a mirror and look straight ahead, neither up nor down. Put on your glasses and position the center of the lenses directly in front of your eyes. Be sure to look straight ahead when you do this. This shows you the place on your nose that you want the frames on your face. Now, you need to be adjusting your eyeglasses frame so that it will always sit in that place.
My frame has nosepads, what is next?
First, adjust the nosepads so that they keep the frame in the right place. Widening the nosepads drops the glasses lower down on your nose. Bringing the nosepads closer together raises the glasses up on your nose.
Nosepads are attached to nosepad arms, which are welded to the eyeglass frame. You should make only tiny adjustments to the nosepad arms. If you make large adjustments, or frequent adjustments, the arms will break or the weld to the glasses frame will break.
My frame does not have nosepads, what is next?
If your frame does not have nosepads, you only need to adjust the temple tips in order to accomplish your goal.
Adjusting the temples of the glasses
On metal or plastic glasses, adjustments should be small and infrequent in order to avoid fatiguing the frame material. For plastic frames, it is important to warm up the plastic before you begin. You can do this by running the temple tip under hot water for no more than 20 seconds, or by using a hair dryer. When the plastic is warm, make a small adjustment in the temple and then run the temple under cold water to set the plastic in the new position. Be careful of not making the frame too hot or the plastic could buckle and blemish, and the finish on the plastic could bubble and discolor.
Adjustments to the temple tips if your glasses
| are too low on nose | Adjust the bend on the glasses temple tips so that the ends of the glasses temples are more straight up and down. You could also move the beginning of the bend further up the glasses temple arm. |
| are too high on nose | Adjust the bend on the glasses temple tips so that the ends of the glasses temples are less straight up and down. You could also move the beginning of the bend further down the glasses temple arm. |
| are too loose | Adjust the end of the glasses temples so that they bend more inward toward your head and grip your head better. |
| are too tight | Adjust the end of the glasses temples so that they bend more outward toward your ears and grip your head less well. |
| tend to slide down nose | Adjust the bend on the glasses temple tips so that the ends of the glasses temples are more straight up and down. You could also move the beginning of the bend further up the glasses temple arm. You could also adjust the end of the glasses temples so that they bend more inward toward your head and grip your head better. |
| pinch the side of your head | If your glasses pinch the side of your head, you can make a little bow in the middle of each glasses temple. That will have the effect of providing room around the temple of your head, while still keeping the end of the glasses temples in the right place behind your ears. |
| are not even | If your glasses are not even, it means that your ears are not even in relationship to your eyes. This is very common. The adjustment is to slightly raise the glasses temple arm on the side of the higher ear, and/or, lowering the glasses temple arm on the side of the lower ear. When you make this adjustment, be very careful to make the bend in the temple itself: do NOT put any pressure on the hinge holding the glasses temple to the glasses frame. If you make the adjustment by bending the hinge, the hinge could easily break or become damaged. |