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What are the Best Tips for Glasses Repair?

Rebecca Harkin
Rebecca Harkin

Wire glasses that slips off the nose, rest too close to the face, have loose temple arms, or are uneven can all be fixed by bending the wire frame parts. More structural eye glasses repair, such as tightening a loose hinge screw or replacing a missing screw, require an eye glasses repair kit for a proper fix. There are also several techniques to jury-rig a broken hinge or broken temple involving a paper clip, toothpick, cotton swab, twig, wire hanger, and super glue. Before any repairs are made to eye glasses, the warranty should be reviewed to be sure that home repair does not invalidate the warranty.

It is possible to make minor adjustments for comfort to wire glasses without an eye glasses repair kit. When wire glasses slip on the nose, pinch the nose piece together to tighten it. Eye glasses that sit too close to the face and fog easily are fixed by widening the nose piece. If the temples get bent out and the glasses shift around with head movement, bend the temples back together, tightening the glasses on the head. Glasses which are uneven on the face can be fixed by bending one temple up or down to adjust the horizontal alignment.

Superglue can often be used to fix glasses frames.
Superglue can often be used to fix glasses frames.

Eye glasses repair kits typically contain a few screws, screw drivers, and a magnifying glass. One of the most common problems with eye glasses is a broken hinge due to a stripped or lost screw. To fix a broken hinge, remove the old screw using the kit’s screw driver. If the glasses have a spring hinge, select the spring hinge screw with a pointed end, but use the normal screw when the hinge is not spring loaded. Align the hinge with the temple, poke the screw through the holes, and use the screw driver to twist it into place.

Often a pair of glasses can be fixed or fitted at home with some common tools such as glue, paper clips or a small screw driver.
Often a pair of glasses can be fixed or fitted at home with some common tools such as glue, paper clips or a small screw driver.

When a glasses repair kit is not available, a missing screw hinge can be temporarily fixed by aligning the hinge and the temple and then jamming a toothpick, the center shaft of a cotton swab, or even a stout twig through the holes to act as a screw. Another method uses a length of low-gauge wire threaded through the hinge holes and then wrapped around several times to hold the temple in place. Superglue can be used to reattach the temple to the hinge or to fix a temple that has snapped in the middle. A wire coat hanger can be cut to size, shaped like the temple, and superglued to the top of the hinge to replace a severely broken temple.

Discussion Comments

anon250314

You can purchase an eyeglass repair kit called SnapIt which contains screws that have a non-threaded feeder tab attached to a threaded portion where you drop the screw in the hinge, grab the feeder tab and tighten the screw and then snap off the portion of the screw that extends below the hinge.

KoiwiGal

I once went for almost a week with one arm snapped off my glasses. They will sit all right with only one arm, but you might get some strange looks from people on the street. I've also jury rigged a binding for the arms using tape, although I wouldn't recommend that long term.

Eventually, though, glasses (particularly cheaper ones) will become too covered in tiny scratches to bother keeping. You might not even realize how blurred they had become until you get some new ones.

Keep your old blurry ones though. If something happens to the new ones, it's always good to have a backup.

irontoenail

Just another quick tip for glasses repair -- if you need to adjust your glasses because they are lopsided or the screws in the hinges have become loose, try to do it when there is someone else around. You need another person to make sure you have them on straight. It can be very difficult to make the proper adjustments in a mirror, while you are wearing the glasses.

If you are in a pinch, you can use a butter knife to screw in the hinge screws. But if they have come loose once, they probably will continue to do so, so it might be worth buying a tiny screwdriver, and a few extras.

Those screws are almost impossible to find if you drop them.

lluviaporos

Before starting to fiddle with your glasses, you should make sure the place you got them from won't fix them for you. Glasses are delicate and one wrong move could snap the frame, or weaken it so it will snap in the future.

Often eyeglass retailers offer lifetime service guarantees for minor repairs. I even managed to get my glasses straightened for free once at a place where I did not purchase them.

It only takes them a couple of minutes and it can make a huge difference to your glasses, particularly if you are like me and often put them down and then end up sitting on them by accident.

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    • Superglue can often be used to fix glasses frames.
      By: SimpleVision
      Superglue can often be used to fix glasses frames.
    • Often a pair of glasses can be fixed or fitted at home with some common tools such as glue, paper clips or a small screw driver.
      By: Innovated Captures
      Often a pair of glasses can be fixed or fitted at home with some common tools such as glue, paper clips or a small screw driver.
    • Cotton swabs, as well as toothpicks or even a twig, may be used to temporarily mend a pair of glasses.
      By: Yanik Chauvin
      Cotton swabs, as well as toothpicks or even a twig, may be used to temporarily mend a pair of glasses.
    • It is possible to make minor adjustments to wire glasses without an eye glasses repair kit.
      By: Syda Productions
      It is possible to make minor adjustments to wire glasses without an eye glasses repair kit.
    • Depending on the type of materials the glasses are made of will determine the best repair method.
      By: Kurhan
      Depending on the type of materials the glasses are made of will determine the best repair method.