Blog | Choosing Eyeglasses frame based on style or lifestyle?

Round, Avatar, Cateye, Korean, there is a wide variety of eyeglass frame styles to suit our personality, face shape and preference. If the variety of frame styles on physical retail shops is not enough, there are more selections online to choose from. Factories churns out new models every month as the eyewear industry follows the clothing industry fast fashion concept with cheap frames. However, unlike clothing, the fit of a frame is more demanding than clothes if it is to stay on your face without slipping. And while we may have a wardrobe full of clothes and a cabinet full of shoes for different purposes, most of us seldom have more than a pair of glasses and if there is a second pair, that is usually a backup pair. Marketing and advertising on eyewear is often about the latest style, but as a consumer and user, a more important consideration is selecting a pair of glasses based on our lifestyle.

Our life is filled with different activities, work in the office, workout in the gym, weekend fishing and many others. Each of these activities has specific demands on your vision and eyewear. Having the latest glasses frame style may be great for office work and at social gatherings in a pub but the same pair will likely perform badly in a casual football game. Stylish frames are suited for light activities but for most other activities, you will need an alternative pair.

True lifestyle frames go beyond cosmetic appearance. They are designed to perform according to the requirement of the activity or function. Even a general purpose lifestyle frame may be designed to be non-slip so that you can go for a jog, run errands or cook without having the eyeglasses slipping down your nose every few seconds. As a material, metal frames are generally poorly suited for outdoors activities or sports. While metals like titanium and its alloy may be able to withstand corrosion, the thin rims and high strength of metal frames may be a safety risk when there is any impact.

Plastic frames are very suitable for casual use, sports and most activities where you can expect some perspiration. They generally do not corrode and are hypoallergenic. Most people would be familiar with the acetate plastic material which are commonly found in stylish frames due to their high gloss and patterns. There are also many new lightweight plastics that are used for making frames such as polyamides, polyether sulfones and polyetherimide. Where function and performance of the frame is important, these lightweight plastics are the material of choice.

Moving beyond material, the general layout and design of the frame is just as important where function takes center stage. For sports eyewear, it is common to see the library temple design. This design is great for ease of putting on and removing the glasses. However, this temple design generally fares poorly in terms of support. Since most sports glasses have curved lenses and do not have a prescription, this makes better distribution of its weight on the user and the lack of support is not an issue. However, should the lenses come with prescription or the library temple is used in a frame with a smaller base (flatter front), the shift in the weight towards the front would increase the likelihood of the glasses slipping. Therefore, for glasses with prescription lenses, the skull temple and curly temple design works much better. Beta-Simplicity frames in particular, have specially designed temple tips to provide even greater support with comfort which makes them ideal for most activities.

For specific activities and function, the design of the rim may play an important part in activity specific performance. Cyclists would prefer a curved rim so that the lenses would shield the eyes from the wind when traveling at high speed. For sports where you need to look up occasionally, a wide rim with the temples attached down the side of the lens and not the top will ensure that you are still looking through the lens when looking up instead of above the lens. Many sports including badminton, basketball and rock climbing would benefit from such a frame design. An example would be the VASAC eyewear which has a wide rim, temples attached down the side of the lens and a non-slip temple tip. Advancement of multifocal lenses such as progressive lens and myopia control lens would also benefit from proper rim design. Progressive lenses require a rim height of more than 30 mm with the eyes looking through the lens at a distance of one-third from the top of the lens. With myopia control lenses, the rim shape and size may affect the efficacy of myopia control depending on the individual myopia control lens design. Myofit has been designed to complement myopia control lens design to increase the effectiveness of the lenses.

It is common to hear of eyeglasses users complaining that their eyeglasses are slipping down their nose or taking off their eyeglasses for certain activities. While a stylish frame is well suited for work in office or other sedentary activities, an alternative pair for "rough" usage or for specific activity is highly recommended so that you can enjoy your lifestyle wearing glasses. If you are not sure of a suitable frame, you may consult the eye care provider or check out brands that cater for specific needs.

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