You need better fitting glasses: this is why

 

Everyone wants to wear the frames they see on TV, movies, and what all the celebrities wear on the red carpet or in their latest GQ and Vogue fashion shoot. You see your stylish friend rock a pair of  incredible frames and wish you had a pair yourself.

 

Even though eyewear is an important fashion accessory and is part of one’s individual self-expression, it is also sitting on your face for most of the day and the fit and comfort is also very important.

 

Here are 5 ways you know you have a poorly fitting pair of eyewear:

 

1) The frame sits on the cheeks

 

Most eyeglasses should sit away from the cheeks, at least a few millimeters. A lot sunglasses run the risk of sitting right on the cheeks. Large, oversized plastic which are very trendy nowadays frames with no nose pads may also lead to the frame sitting uncomfortably on the cheeks. In addition, some frames, like the Ray-Ban Wayfarers, have a pronounced pantoscopic tilt in which the frame tilts at a angle less than 90 degrees which causes the frame to dig into the cheeks.

 

What will happen is that when you smile, the frame will rise up and you will be finding yourself constantly adjusting the frame on your face.

 

2) Slides down the nose

 

Most plastic eyewear was designed for Caucasian faces. That means they are designed for the comfort of faces with a nose bridge. A nose bridge is a piece of bone, in between the nose and the eyes, that protrudes outwards. This allows stylish plastic frames to sit comfortably on it. Asian faces, though, generally lack this nose bridge and need either nose pads, which are the standard among metal frame, or a built up nose pad on them, at least 11cm, on plastic frames.

 

Without it, after a while, even the best looking frame will start sliding down the nose and sit toward the bottom of the nose, forcing the person wearing it to constantly push it back up. It’s a tedious and distracting action most people who need a nose bridge are constantly doing.

 

3) Hits the eyelashes

 

Another indication that you do not have a great fitting pair of glasses is that when you blink, your eyelashes are hitting part of the frame or the lens. This can be particularly

annoying if one has eyelash extensions. The solution to this problem is simple: get a pair that has nose pads to give the frame and ones face some room. Or if you have a big plastic frame, have an optician add nose pads to the frames.

 

4) Frames that are too narrow

 

A pair of glasses should complement your eyes; make them look bigger and brighter. Getting a pair of frames that are too narrow, especially if you think that would mitigate some of the problems of fit listed above, frames could crowd out the eyes, making them look smaller than it already is. One’s pupil should lie right in the middle of the frame with at least a few centimeters from the dark of the eye to the edge of the frame. The oversized plastic trend was trying to make eyeglasses complement ones looks and that was why it was so popular. Don’t get frames that are too narrow that it makes you known as the “person with the ugly glasses”.

 

5) Too wide

 

On the opposite side of the spectrum, one might go overboard with the oversized plastic trend. Maybe they had seen the latest Gucci eyewear ad and got a super oversized frame. Some brands, like Celine, are specialists on these type of frames. They are usually for a very specific type of person, someone who might be very into fashion and the latest trends. Although for people who just need an everyday pair of glasses oversized frames that are too wide sends the wrong message. The perfectly fitted pair of glasses should have it’s frame extend to just the side of your temples and your eyes position right in the middle. Anything more will be considered oversized and anything more narrow may be to tight and uncomfortable.