How can I wear glasses without resting them on my ears?

August 3, 2022 3:00 PM

I usually wear contact lenses, but sometimes have to wear glasses (i.e. dry eyes, eye pain, eye infection). I also have TMJD (temporomandibular joint dysfunction, AKA TMD, TMJ) which usually manifests as neck and ear pain. Unfortunately my lens prescription is quite strong so my glasses are very heavy and the weight on my ears can trigger my TMJD pain. Are there any accessories or frames out there that would allow me to wear glasses without them resting on my ears?

- I may consider vision correction surgery in the future (e.g. laser/LASIK, PRK) but not anytime soon.
- I've already tried silicone ear grips and with no luck (I think my glasses are too heavy for them to be useful).
- The prescription for my worst eye is -7.00.
- My glasses currently have 1.67 index "featherlight" lenses. It seems higher index lenses exist and they will be thinner but potentially heavier. So not sure if going higher would be helpful. Advice here would be appreciated also.

Thanks in advance!

posted by dokodomo to Health & Fitness (18 answers total)

Have you tried sports goggles? The ones I've linked to wouldn't offer your prescription but that's the only mechanism I can think of that wouldn't actually put weight on your ear, except pince nez. Goggles might not work for aesthetics, but possibly some kind of respite might be helpful.
posted by plonkee at 3:13 PM on August 3, 2022

Can you comfortably wear a headband? Sometimes I rest my glasses inside a headband, the sort that’s a large elastic circle that surrounds the whole head, instead of them resting on my ears. Slipping some bobby pins onto the headband beneath where the temple pieces sit will keep everything in place better. I often do this when I’m reclining in bed and want to angle my glasses ever so slightly, or if my ears hurt from mask loops. I’ve seen headbands that are more like soft buffs that might be better for you if a smaller tighter headband is too much pressure.

Go to the optometrist and make sure the length of the temple pieces are just right. If they are too long or too short they can slide around, distribute the weight unevenly, and can cause pain. If they are just the right length and the bend is the right degree to comfortably curve around the ear and not tug at anything, they will be more comfortable over all. If you are an only occasional glasses wearer this might not be something you’ve prioritized before. A lot of places will be happy to do adjustments for free.
posted by Mizu at 3:29 PM on August 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

You may be able to get lighter lenses by paying for the fancy high-refractive index "glass" which can decrease the weight of the whole thing.
posted by kschang at 3:31 PM on August 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

Not sure how much you're willing to spend.... There are a few companies recommended for those with microtia or other challenges to typical facial bone structure, like Swissflex and Suh Hermsen. The idea isn't too far off the sports goggles - it's basically that you need a strap that goes around your head. But they do also seem to look at weight, and Swissflex appears to have a lot of adjustment options that could redistribute the pressure?
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 3:31 PM on August 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

It might be worth trying out various glasses straps, and seeing if by tightening them on the back of your head you can get the pressure off your ears. There are a lot of different kinds, and I'm not sure which would work best, but there are kids that would just fit tightly around your head like these or these or these, or once with a longer adjustable strap like these or these. My first thought was also to get sport glasses/goggles though -- they bypass the ear.
posted by brainmouse at 3:45 PM on August 3, 2022

At your prescription, much more important than choice of lens material is choosing appropriate frames. You want frames with small, round or oval lenses, spaced so that your eyes are centered well in the lens. This is because your lenses are thinnest right in front of your eye, and then get thicker fast as you go farther away from that point.

A good data point is the first number in the frame measurements. Currently fashionable frames are huge rectangles, with the first number being 52 or 54 or even higher. You should find a frame that is more like 42. You may need to go to more than one shop. These can easily weight HALF as much or less than a larger frame.

Ideally the first number is as small as possible, and the SUM of the two numbers in the frame measurement will match your PD. This means your eyes will be perfectly centered. For instance: If your PD is 65, a very good fit would be frames with measurements 42 23.

Most folks helping at glasses shops don't know anything about fitting glasses for people with strong prescriptions. If you can find a shop that specializes in that, it would be very helpful. They will have a selection of appropriate frames.
posted by fritley at 3:45 PM on August 3, 2022 [11 favorites]

Seconding paying attention to the frames (and making sure they fit you properly--the right size for your nose bridge, right width for your face, as well as temples that are long enough.) I have a few different frames in roughly the same strength prescription, same index lenses, and they all feel pretty different in terms of weight on my face.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:23 PM on August 3, 2022

I have a similar prescription and echo what fritley has just said. If you select the right kind of frames and they are fitted properly, your ears shouldn't bear any weight. In a similar way that a good-fitting bra doesn't put weight on the shoulder straps. I wear a cochlear implant and a hearing aid, so I am very concerned about pressure from my glasses on my ears, because they are already load bearing, so to speak.

I have a great optometrist who takes appropriate frame shape and fitting really seriously. He won't let me buy frames that aren't going to perform well with my prescription and hearing equipment. Smaller and rounder is better than bigger lenses. Likewise, there are some great lightweight plastics and metals for frames that really minimise the weight problem. With a good fit, the frames should gently hug the side of your head, and your nose should be bearing most of the weight. Your ears are only keeping the frames straight.

Shop around for a good optomotrist who is interested in proper fitting. The glasses need to be a good fit (width and how they sit on your nose) off the shelf, and then there should be a fitting session where the optometrist molds and shapes the arms for your head (most people's ears are slightly uneven and at different distances from the face). I find that avoiding "designer" frames is helpful. They are usually lesser quality materials with a higher price tag. I usually look for European- or Japanese-made frames, as they are the best quality. Look at the imprint inside the arm of the glasses to see where they are made. My current pair are a combination of titanium and plastic, made in Japan, and they are virtually weightless. I can shake my head and they do not move around at all.
posted by amusebuche at 4:32 PM on August 3, 2022 [4 favorites]

I saw a photo just in the last day or two, but I can't link to it as I have no idea where online it was. The person had some sort of surgery so wasn't allowed to wear his glasses because they put pressure on his nose. So he was wearing a hat with a bill, and had somehow rigged the glasses up with a cord tied between the two earpieces so that they hung over the brim of the hat, directly into the correct place. He was quite pleased with himself for his solution that allowed him to follow the rules but still use his glasses.
posted by stormyteal at 4:53 PM on August 3, 2022

You can definitely spend a lot more on frames to get less weight. When I go buy glasses I always specify that my frames have to weigh basically nothing. There are a few brands I stick to. Right now I'm wearing some Silhouette brand frames that are spendy but really weigh about as much as a paper clip.
posted by potrzebie at 4:58 PM on August 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Sometimes my sunglasses irritate the tops of my ears when I wear them all day. It doesn’t happen when I wear a glasses strap. So, try a glasses strap.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:40 PM on August 3, 2022

You can definitely spend a lot more on frames to get less weight.

And if you go with rimless there are plenty of inexpensive lightweight options.
posted by trig at 12:02 AM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Higher index lenses are both thinner and lighter.

That's the good news--the bad news is that, unless you have a very high prescription (like, +-9 or above) there isn't thaaat much difference between a 1.67 and a 1.74, and the 1.74 lenses will probably be more expensive..
posted by box at 6:37 AM on August 4, 2022

I have eyesight at least as bad as yours (my *better* eye is at -7.00), and although I don’t have TMJ, I wore contacts exclusively for many years because glasses gave me headaches from the weight/pinching if I wore them for more than a few hours. Then an ophthalmologist told me I had to stop wearing contacts most of the time because it was messing up other things about my eyes. So I feel your pain.

My best suggestion for you is to find extremely lightweight glasses with flexible wire arm bands in addition to high index lenses like your 1.67 or bumping up to 1.74. They are pricey but literally the only glasses I have ever found that I can wear all day at this prescription level are Modo’s titanium “paper thin” series. They are the lightest most comfortable frames I have found, by a lot.

Also, make sure you have a good optometrist who will readjust your glasses frames — a place like Lens Crafters will just make sure they don’t fall off your face when you shake your head, but that means they are often too tight or rest too heavily on either your ears or your nose bridge. A good doctor will be able to make adjustments if you tell them your frames are hurting you.
posted by alligatorpear at 8:49 AM on August 4, 2022

Oh also I assume that you can’t get wireless rims, because I can’t. Even with the highest index lens material, my prescription requires lenses that are too thick for wireless rims. But if that’s an option, it may open up other very light options.
posted by alligatorpear at 8:51 AM on August 4, 2022

Titanium frames can be much much lighter. I like Lindberg, but they're spendy and not everywhere has them. there are also some German brands that are supposed to be good. My last frames the temple was just a super thin piece of round wire and they were so light. My current ones have a more traditional temple but are still super light. Because they're metal, the optometrist's office can also melt the part that goes over your ear a bit to change how it lies there. It's usually a small change but can have a dramatic effect on how they feel
posted by matildatakesovertheworld at 7:36 PM on August 4, 2022

Response by poster: I also found a modern version of "pince nez" eyeglasses that clip to your nose:
https://mc-specs.com/
posted by dokodomo at 7:12 AM on August 31, 2022

The "safety goggles" type that are often wore by athletes don't rest on ears as they rely on an elastic all around the head.

I've seen sunglasses that clips th hat brims, but I don't see any way to convert regular glasses to be worn that way.
posted by kschang at 10:22 AM on August 31, 2022