I want cheap Chinese plastic nosepads for my expensive Danish glasses.

July 15, 2011 10:08 AM

I want cheap Chinese plastic nosepads for my expensive Danish glasses.

I have these Lindberg Corona frames, and have since 2001 or so. They were stupidly expensive, but, per-year, they're actually very reasonable -- especially considering how hard I am on my possessions. But they do have a major flaw, which is that the fancy silicone nose pads fall out pretty frequently. If I notice it happen, I can just pop the pad back in. But if I take a minute to notice, I've probably lost the pad. And they cost like $5 to replace, which completely destroys any economic benefits of these frames, not to mention the inconvenience. But in 2004, I went to China, and lost both my pads. So, with great trepidation, I visited an optician in Qingdao. They gave me a glass of water and some cheap plastic nosepads, which were stiff enough that they simply didn't fall out. They lasted until this year, when I stupidly failed to save them when I sent my frames off to have the lenses replaced. Oops. So now I am on a business trip, and I have only one pad, and I'm wish I had my cheap Chinese pads back. But Google gives me no ideas about where I might find these. If anyone know where I could get them in Portland, OR today after work, that would be awesome. Else, in New York City or online would be cool.

TL;DR: Where can I buy plastic nose pads that fit my Lindberg Corona frames?

posted by novalis_dt to clothing, beauty, & fashion (7 answers total)

Lenscrafters put nose pads on my husband's glasses for free. There's one at 1248 Lloyd Center, Portland.
posted by pinky at 10:17 AM on July 15, 2011

I would think any optometrist could help you out, probably for free.

I have some delicate metal frames that tend to get out of alignment, so I end up going into random optometrists and asking them to fix them. My offers to pay are always waved away with a smile.
posted by Georgina at 10:39 AM on July 15, 2011

Sometimes optometrists do help me out, but sometimes I don't have time to get to one before I have to go somewhere. So I really want the indestructible variety if possible.
posted by novalis_dt at 10:54 AM on July 15, 2011

In my experience when you go to a Lindberg vendor they usually give you a zipper bag with like 5 sets of nosepads in it and wave you away, hoping you'll come back and make an appointment with the optimist.

I just checked the Lindberg website to see where dealers were in Portland and NYC but the hateful troll who designed it wants your email address to send you a list. I think I have done it, and gotten a list, and not had my email harvested, but it seems a ludicrous pain in the ass.
posted by toodleydoodley at 11:11 AM on July 15, 2011

Update: the Lenscrafters at Lloyd Center didn't have the right pads, so I went to Hallmark Optical at 19th and Broadway around the corner. The dude there did find some plastic or high-density silicone nosepieces, but was not real confident that they would stay in. I'll report back if they do, but I will also continue to look for better options.
posted by novalis_dt at 5:45 PM on July 15, 2011

Is there any way you could just fix the pads in there with a tiny bit of epoxy? You'd want to be careful not to get any on the lenses of course, and you'd do well to make sure all the nose-grease is well cleaned from all surfaces, but if you did it right I imagine it would more or less solve the problem in a pretty much un-noticable way.
posted by Scientist at 10:36 PM on July 15, 2011

Ok, the actual solution was to go to Studio Optix and pay $15 to have them actually fix my frames by tightening the nosepad holder.
posted by novalis_dt at 6:28 PM on October 20, 2011