Choosing the Best Frames for
Your Face and Lifestyle
After years of dispensing here are some things I’d like to share with you. There are rules for selecting the perfect frames and ways to better the odds that your glasses fit properly and work with your prescription.
First, bring your prescription with you. Sure, that seems like obvious advice, but a script in hand streamlines the whole eye glass selection process.
An efficient optician can immediately steer you away from frames that aren't optimal for the lenses you'll need.
For instance, if you've got a strong prescription, your thick lenses will look better in a smaller frame. A delicate or rimless frame can be quickly overwhelmed by a thick hunk of lens.
Choose a frame that contrasts the shape of your face, not one that mimics it. The key to a great looking frame is geometry. The ideal face shape is an oval, and since most of us aren't so symmetrically lucky, we look sharper in frames that help us achieve an "oval effect," or, in blunter terms, downplay our defects.
If you're of the round-faced persuasion, try frames with sharp angles: rectangles, trapezoids, and the like. Round glasses would accentuate your chubby cheeks.
If a weak chin's your problem, a frame that's slightly wider along the bottom edge will give the lower portion of your face the heft your chin can't. Rimless frames are another good option since they don't add more "weight" up top.
If your cheeks and jowl span broader than your forehead (a shape often called the "base-down triangle"), choose a frame with a dramatic top edge to draw your admirers' eyes up.
Bigger isn't better. Even today, when tiny frames are the rage, the most common mistake people make is selecting glasses that are too large for their face. Understand that the bigger the frame, the more weight and distortion there'll be.
Baby boomers take heart: several top quality manufactures have developed progressives, (aka no-line bifocals), for your over-40 eyes that work fine in tiny frames.
Choose a frame that complements your coloring. You're either a warm (yellow-based) or a cool (blue-based). Here’s a trick: I look at your veins; if they're more blue than green, you're a cool and should consider frames that are black, reddish brown, slate blue, and dark tortoise. More green? You warm-bloods are better off in camel, khaki, and copper. For the outgoing warm, try fire-engine red.
The Price of Beauty
Last year, Americans shelled out $37.1 billion for eyewear, according to the nonprofit Vision Council of America.
A thrifty consumer can get better deals with independent optical stores versus the big box chains, which are bound by product loyalty and pricing constraints.
Typically, people spend about $150 (lower average) to $250 on frames. With the pricier frames — in the $300 to $400 range — the superior quality of the materials allows them to be both elegant and strong. The metals tend to be more valuable (titanium, gold filled) and durable, the hinges stronger (which means they'll stay in adjustment longer), and in many instances the detailing is hand-done.
The cumulative benefit of these features (and many more) makes them more costly, but produces a product worthy of years of use.
We carry frames from around the world, to help you get the look you want. See a sampling of the lines we carry.
The Artful Eye Optical Emporium
265 East Main St.
East Hampstead, NH (map)
603-382-1195
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Frame Maintenance It's important to take care of your frames and maintain them with the occasional refitting at your local optician. Fitting Your Frames on Your Face:
The use of lenses to improve vision dates from around A. D. 1000 with the reading stone, what we call the magnifying glass. It was employed by nearsighted monks, which might account for their bizarre haircuts :)
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