First, work out what went loose
A frame holds on at three points: the bridge on your nose, the temples along the sides of your head, and the temple tips behind your ears. Loose glasses mean one of those has lost its grip, and each needs a different fix. Put the glasses on in front of a mirror and run these checks from the how glasses should fit guide:
- Push the frame down your nose with one finger. If it slides easily, the bridge is the problem: the nose pads sit too far apart, or a frame without pads is too wide at the bridge for your nose.
- Look at the floor. If the frame drops, the temple tips are not hooking behind your ears, or the temples have splayed wider than your head.
- Look at the frame from above. One lens closer to your face than the other means one temple is bent, and the frame is crooked rather than loose.
- Waggle each temple. Play at the hinge means the screw has backed out. Tightening it comes before any bending.
The glasses keep sliding down guide covers the causes in more detail. The short version: the screw fixes the hinge, the temple bend fixes the ears, the pads fix the nose, and a frame that was the wrong width or bridge from the start is the one thing adjustment cannot fix.
Fix one: the hinge screw
Start here even if the hinge feels fine, because a screw a quarter turn out makes the whole frame feel loose. Use the small screwdriver from an eyeglass repair kit; a pocket knife blade rounds the slot.
Hold the frame by the front, not the temple, so the hinge does not twist while you turn. Tighten until the screw stops, then stop: over tightening strips the thread or makes the temple stiff, and a stiff temple snaps at the hinge later. If a screw keeps backing out, a drop of clear nail varnish on the thread holds it. Loose hinge rivets are a shop repair.
Fix two: the temples, for the ears
Temples run along the sides of your head with light pressure, and the tips bend down behind your ears to hook the frame in place. Glasses that drop when you look down have lost one or both.
Acetate temples. Acetate softens with gentle warmth and keeps its new shape as it cools, which is why opticians use a bead warmer. At home, run the temple tip under warm tap water for thirty seconds, or hold it a hand's width from a hair dryer on low for the same time. It should feel warm, not hot. Bend the last part of the tip downward a few degrees with your thumbs, hold for ten seconds while it cools, try the frame on, repeat in small steps. Never boil acetate, never use a flame, and never bend it cold: cold acetate cracks at the bend.
Metal temples. Metal bends cold. Hold the temple close to the bend point with one hand and apply slow pressure with the other, at the point where the temple starts to curve behind the ear, not at the hinge end. Thin metal takes a set easily, and bends back just as easily if you sit on it, so adjust in two or three small moves.
Splayed temples. If the temples have opened wider than your head, the frame sits forward and slides. Bend each temple inward just behind the hinge: warm acetate first, go slowly on metal.
Fix three: the nose pads, for the bridge
On frames with adjustable pads, the pads sit on small metal arms that bend. Moving the pads closer together raises the frame and tightens its grip on the nose; moving them apart lowers and loosens it. The nose pads guide explains what the pads do; the adjustment is simple:
- Hold the frame by the bridge, not the lens, so you do not twist the front.
- Press one pad gently toward the other with a thumb, a little at a time. The arm bends at its base.
- Try the frame on. The whole pad should sit flat on the side of your nose. A pad that touches on one edge digs in and leaves a mark.
- Check both pads match by looking at the frame from the front.
Pads too tight leave red marks and push the lenses up toward the brow; pads too loose let the frame drop until the lenses rest on your cheeks, which the glasses touching cheeks guide covers. Screw mounted pads can also be swapped for a larger size or a silicone pad with more grip.
Frames without adjustable pads, which means most acetate frames, have the bridge moulded into the front, so the bridge width cannot be changed at home. If an acetate frame slides because its bridge is too wide for your nose, the fix is a frame with a narrower or lower bridge.
A crooked frame
If one lens sits higher or closer to your face than the other, do not bend the front: it is the part that cracks. Lay the frame upside down on a flat table with both temples open; it should rest on both temple tips and the top of the front at once. The temple that lifts is the one to bend, at the hinge end, toward the table.
When to stop and take it to a shop
- Titanium and memory metal. They spring back rather than hold a bend and need a shop tool. Pushing harder bends the hinge, not the temple.
- Rimless and half rim frames. The lens is part of the structure, and twisting a temple can crack it at the mounting hole.
- Any crack, white stress line or cloudiness in acetate. The material has started to fail there and will not survive a second bend.
- Anything that needs more than a few degrees. A frame that far off was the wrong size, and bending it into shape stresses it until it breaks.
- Loose rivets or a stripped screw. Both need parts.
Most US optical shops adjust glasses free or for a few dollars, whether or not you bought the frame there, in minutes. For MUJOSH frames, the services page covers fit help, the 30 day return window and the one year warranty, so a frame that cannot be made to fit can go back rather than be forced.
Adjusting, or the wrong frame
Adjustment fixes a frame that fitted once and has drifted. It does not fix a frame that never fitted. The sign is how far you have to go: if the pads must be pushed almost together or the tips hooked hard behind the ears to keep the frame up, the frame is too wide at the bridge for your nose. The glasses measurements guide shows where the width and bridge numbers are on your current frame so you can compare them with the next one.
The same applies to a lower nose bridge. If the frame slides because the bridge sits above the nose rather than on it, no pad adjustment holds it; the frame needs a bridge cut lower from the start, which is what a low bridge fit frame is. The low bridge fit eyeglasses collection is where to look if that is your pattern.
MUJOSH frames that stay easy to adjust
Many of our frames come with adjustable nose pads, so the bridge can be tuned at home with a thumb rather than a trip to a shop; the adjustable nose pad collection lists them. The Retro Trendy is a classic metal aviator with adjustable pads and a low bridge fit at $99. The Halo is a lightweight acetate oval with adjustable pads at $119, which gives acetate a bridge you can tune. The Pearl-Accented is a titanium square with adjustable pads and polarized lenses at $99, where the pads do the tuning so the titanium temples never need bending. The full range is in the eyeglasses collection.
The bottom line
Tighten the hinge screws first, then bend the temple tips down for the ears, then move the nose pads for the bridge, in small steps, warming acetate and bending metal cold, and never bending the front. Stop at titanium, rimless, cracks and anything that needs more than a few degrees; a shop does those in minutes, usually free. If the frame needs a big correction to stay up, it was the wrong width or bridge, and the fix is a frame that fits.
For the temples alone, material by material, see how to adjust glasses arms.
How to fix stretched out glasses
Stretched out glasses are a frame whose temples have been pushed wider than the head, usually by pulling the glasses off with one hand, pushing them up onto the hair, or sitting on them. The fix depends on the material. On a metal frame, hold the front steady and bend each temple inward a little at the hinge end, one at a time, checking the grip in the mirror between bends; small moves, because metal takes a set. On an acetate frame the temples are bent at the hinge end only after warming in hot water for a minute, and a frame that has stretched more than a little is a job for a shop, where the heat is even and the risk of a crack is theirs. On any frame, tighten the hinge screws first, because a loose hinge reads as a stretched temple. If the temples hold the head but the frame still slides, the stretch is not the problem; the bridge is, and the fixes above apply.
A spring hinge is the frame feature that stops most of this stretching in the first place; the spring hinge glasses guide explains what it does and which frames have one.
A frame that is too tight behind the ears is a different problem from a loose one; the glasses hurt behind ears guide covers it.
A loose screw on one side makes a frame sit crooked; the crooked glasses guide covers that and the five other causes.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tighten glasses that are too loose?
Tighten the hinge screws with an eyeglass screwdriver, bend the temple tips down slightly so they hook behind your ears, and on frames with nose pads push the pads a little closer together. Do each in small steps and try the frame on between them.
Can I adjust my glasses at home?
Yes, for the hinge screws, the temple tips and adjustable nose pads. Warm acetate under warm tap water first; bend metal cold and slowly. Never bend the front, and leave titanium, rimless frames and cracked acetate to a shop.
How do I adjust glasses that are too tight?
Bend the temple tips a few degrees outward so they press less behind the ears, and on pad frames push the pads slightly apart. If the temples press on the sides of your head, bend them outward just behind the hinge, warming acetate first. A frame that is too tight all round is too small, and bending will not fix it.
Will heat damage my glasses?
Boiling water, a flame or a hair dryer on high will. Warm tap water or a hair dryer on low for thirty seconds softens acetate enough to bend without harm. Do not heat metal frames with coated finishes, and never heat the lenses.
