Glasses always seem to come out bigger

June 11, 2017 2:39 PM

Is it a known issue that the try-on glasses at the store always come out looking a bigger when they're made?
posted by bleep to Grab Bag (8 answers total)

Bigger in which direction?
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 2:45 PM on June 11, 2017

Right, bigger in terms of the depth of the lenses, or in terms of the size of the frames? The size of the frames should be the same, but the lenses are manufactured to your specific vision needs, which may result in thicker lenses...
posted by eschatfische at 2:47 PM on June 11, 2017

Could it be that you can't clearly see your features when you try on glasses without your lenses or you're seeing different angles? Try taking photos including side angles. I have a tiny head so things often look larger on me slightly from the side where the glasses hang over my face. Otherwise yes the lenses may be thicker.
posted by Crystalinne at 3:03 PM on June 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

I just bought a pair of glasses and prescription sun glasses and when the frames arrived they were slightly bigger - enough that they slipped down my nose easily. The woman helping me tightened them with heat and said that with my prescription (I have pretty bad eyes) the lenses are thick and push the glasses frame apart. She thought a more experienced person than the one who originally helped me would have mentioned it as it is common.
posted by PussKillian at 3:13 PM on June 11, 2017

I am pretty severely nearsighted, which (in simple terms) means that my lenses come out pretty thick, particularly on the edges, which can make the glasses appear to be bigger, since try-on glasses have thin sample lenses in them. My solution is to pay extra to get high index lenses. I also to try to pick out frames that are not too big overall, because bigger frames also mean thicker lenses (this is a balancing act, because if the frames are too small then I don't have much area to see out of).
posted by gudrun at 3:20 PM on June 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Sample sizes are often a touch small for me (across the front and/or deep along the stems), so my actual glasses are ordered larger. Nobody mentioned that they were doing that for me until I was probably 25, and until then I thought the discrepancy was some combination of buyer's remorse and my inability to see without actual lenses.
posted by teremala at 3:48 PM on June 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

FWIW, I've been wearing glasses for somewhere around 40 years and have never noticed this. Maybe as teremala said they've been adjusting my glasses all these years.
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 4:28 PM on June 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

How strong is your prescription? Thicker lenses can bow out the frames, making them feel larger.
posted by radioamy at 5:19 PM on June 11, 2017