As fashion trends recycle over the years, there may come a time where you’re looking for your old eyeglasses that fit in again with the current trends. Or maybe you’re at a resale shop and see a beautiful pair of tortoise-shell cat-eye glasses from the mid-1900s that you’re dying to wear with your own prescription. Whatever the case, restoring an old pair of eyeglasses is a great way to add to your eyewear collection.
Instructions
Things You’ll Need:
•Eyeglass repair kit: Magnifying glass, screwdriver and nose pads
1 Inspect your old frames. Make sure there are no major cracks in your frames before you try to wear them again. Make sure the legs of the frames are tightly screwed on. Use the screwdriver included in your eyeglass repair kit to tighten the screws if necessary. If your frames have nose pads, make sure they are clean and tightened in place. Replace them with the pads in your kit if you need to.
2 Put on your eyeglasses. Make sure the glasses fit your face; if they don’t, take them to an optometrist for proper fitting. Check how they sit on your nose and fit around your ears.
3 Replace the lenses. If your eyesight has changed since you last wore your glasses, take the glasses to your eye doctor and get them fitted with the correct prescription lenses.
Tips & Warnings
By restoring old eyewear or taking your own frames to the eye doctor, you are cutting out in a major cost of your visit to the doctor–frames can be expensive.
If you’re trying to fit new lenses to frames that are decades old, warn your doctor so he takes extra care while handling your glasses. Older material may be more brittle than the current material used to make frames..