Reading glasses that don't slide down my nose

July 28, 2020 1:17 PM

I need reading glasses, ideally small portable ones. I'm not going to go try them on in a store right now. And my nose is freakishly narrow.

Most glasses slide down my nose and I have to try on many pairs to get ones that stay on. I would like to get some reading glasses, ideally very portable/foldable ones. What would you recommend?

posted by medusa to Shopping (8 answers total)

Get a frame with adjustable nose pieces. Not foldable but order a cheap pair of frames in your prescription from Zenni, you can filter by frame type and bridge width.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 1:39 PM on July 28, 2020

Glasses may slide down your nose if the arms/earpieces are too long. Every time I get new frames, this happens to me — they fall right down my nose. I always have to get a new bend put into the earpieces much farther forward than the “default” bend, so that they practically wrap around my ears — I guess my head is just short front-to-back? You can get little add-on silicone earpieces like this to put on whatever reading glasses you like — see if that solves the problem?
posted by snowmentality at 1:57 PM on July 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

Have you got a pair of glasses that fits you well and stays where you want it to stay? Great, look at the arms. On one you should be able to find the frame measurements. It’ll be three numbers separated by dashes. A lot of online opticians allow you to use arm length to filter frames and you can narrow down options that way. In the description you should be able to find all three measurements. In addition, look for adjustable nose pieces.
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:40 PM on July 28, 2020

Silicone nose pads with stick on adhesives work amazingly well with helping my glasses without adjustable nose pads stay on my nose/face. You can pick up a set from Amazon for less than 10 bucks.
posted by QueenHawkeye at 2:50 PM on July 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I don't have any glasses that fit currently. I've tried the silicon stick on nose pieces and they're not enough, but I haven't tried the add-on ear pieces. Maybe that's the thing to try next. I'll also look at Zenni, but was hoping to avoid an overwhelming online search.
posted by medusa at 7:26 PM on July 28, 2020

You want the chunkier glasses with the non-bendy frame and solid tight earpieces. What is at the nose is a red herring and almost anything will do if you have this.
- tiny nosed person who started wearing glasses a few years ago
P.S. they will leave creases above your ears eventually, sry
posted by meepmeow at 10:59 PM on July 28, 2020

I’ll add that the slide-on ear pieces work so well that I need both hands to remove my glasses and they get tangled with the elastic when putting on/taking off masks. 2020 problems.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:52 AM on July 29, 2020

I have this problem. My best solution so far has been extremely light glasses (frameless w/ metal posts) w/ adjustable nose pieces. They stay up pretty darn well. Edit: if I MUST wear plastic frames for some reason, the ear pieces do help some, but I find them irritating.
posted by nosila at 5:50 AM on July 29, 2020