As we age, many of us find our eyesight starts to fail. The most common complaint is caused by a process called presbyopia, which results in short-sightedness. Presbyopia typically begins in our mid-forties and often becomes most noticeable when trying to read or watch TV.
Although it’s not possible to reverse the effects of presbyopia, there are numerous solutions to ease the condition — ranging from wearing glasses/contact lenses to full corrective laser eye surgery. Of these, wearing glasses is by far the most popular and most straightforward way to correct near-sight problems. Keep reading to find out more.
Buying Glasses
Buying glasses these days is simpler than ever before. Companies like Just-glasses.co.uk have a massive range of prescription eyewear available online at a fraction of typical high street prices. However, with such a dizzying array of styles, choosing the right glasses for your particular face shape can often be quite a challenge.
Thankfully, eyewear manufacturers have come up with simple, tried and tested advice for choosing the right style of glasses based around your face shape.
The Six Face Profiles
As a rule, faces are divided into six different shapes and structures. Using these shapes as a starting point makes choosing the right style of glasses for your profile much simpler. Use these easy-to-follow guides to find the right individual style for you.
Round Faces
The shape: As the name suggests, round faces are typically circular and relatively short with fuller cheeks and a soft, rounded chin. Other characteristics include a smooth jawline and wide forehead.
The style: Unsurprisingly, rounder faces tend to suit rounder styles, so go with soft flowing frame shapes and avoid angular, sharper frames.
Oval Faces
The shape: An oval face tends to have balanced characteristics and proportions, typically with a softly rounded forehead and chin.
The style: This profile suits the same soft characteristics — rounded/slightly rounded lenses — and a frame style that is marginally wider than the broadest part of the face.
Heart-Shaped Faces
A heart-shaped face is similar to the shape of a cartoon heart. It’s wide at the forehead and gently narrowing as it lowers towards the chin. The most striking feature of a heart-shaped face is the broad forehead.
The style: Because the face is widest at the top, choose a frame that is a little broader than the widest point of the forehead. This helps offset the breadth of the top half of the face. Alternatively, go for a cat-eye style to achieve the same effect.
Square Faces
The shape: A square face is, as the name would suggest, one where the width and length are in proportion to one another. Typical characteristics include a broad forehead and a wide powerful jaw.
The style: With strong features, glasses can give a little extra length to your face and offset the squareness of your profile. Narrow, angular frame shapes work best.
Rectangular Faces
The shape: Rectangular faces tend to have slightly stretched features. This includes a longer forehead, elongated nose, and strong jawline.
The style: To make the most of this face shape, opt for glasses with a powerful brow detail. Square frames normally work best to complement strong, angular features. In general, avoid rounder frames.
Triangular Faces
The shape: Triangular faces are the opposite of the heart-shaped face. They’re wider at the jaw than at the forehead.
The style: In order to bring out your eyes and add a little extra width to the center part of your face, go for glasses with strong brow detail or cat-eye shapes, both of which can help accentuate your eyes.
Your Style, Your Choice
Of course, once you’ve found the shape of your glasses, you’ll also have to decide on frame and lens colors; however, both are relatively easy to choose and come down more to personal preference than anything else. By far the most important factor in deciding whether glasses suit you is the overall lens and frame shape.
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