Bending the Bridge

March 21, 2010 1:21 PM

Is it possible to bend the bridge of my sunglasses to make the fit better?

I love the sunglasses (http://www.oakley.com/pd/4811) that I just bought. Except, they are a little tight on the sides of my head. If I could just bend the bridge a little, they would be perfect. Problem is, they are not made of metal.

How would I go about bending the bridge without destroying or damaging the sunglasses? Is it even possible?

posted by edmz to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (9 answers total)

A lot of times an optomitrist can do this for you. And many of them are glad to do it if they are not busy for free(at least in the southeast where I am from). They have a machine that heats the plastic and makes it temporarily bendable.
posted by srbrunson at 1:33 PM on March 21, 2010

Sure, it's possible. If you do it yourself, put the glasses back onto a flat surface to see how they fit. Unless you have a wonky face, you the glasses should still sit level.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:50 PM on March 21, 2010

I've had this done on plastic frames at Lenscrafters.
posted by pised at 2:12 PM on March 21, 2010

Go to any optician's office and they will do this for free. It's a nice but easy thing they do to attract future business.
posted by gabrielsamoza at 2:17 PM on March 21, 2010

When I was a kid and wore plastic frames, the optician would put the plastic in what appeared to be a bath of hot sand in order to bend it. Not sure if that's still common practice.
posted by gabrielsamoza at 2:19 PM on March 21, 2010

I've seen them do this with and without heating them first. I think for plastic they tend to heat them up a little to make the plastic more pliable. You can take them to a glasses store or maybe even somewhere like Sunglass Hut and offer to pay for the adjustment, but I bet they'll just do it for free.
posted by ishotjr at 2:29 PM on March 21, 2010

I did it while blasting them with a hairdryer and then ran the bridge under cold water. It worked after a few tries. My lenses were glass, so I don't know if the hairdryer would warp plastic lenses.
posted by bonobothegreat at 2:49 PM on March 21, 2010

Take it to an eyeglasses store, they will probably do it for free and they have better tools and more experience than you so they are less likely to screw it up.
posted by Jacqueline at 5:07 PM on March 21, 2010

Sunglass Hut will do this too. They have the heat gun gizmo.
posted by mullacc at 5:22 PM on March 21, 2010