Printable versions of these files - How to pick a frame that fits | How to pick a frame that suits your face

How to choose a frame to suit your face shape

Whilst there are no hard and fast rules we have compiled a simple guide that will help you choose the right style for your face:

People generally fall into the following categories:

	Square Face: Your face is as long as it is wide with a deep forehead and a square jaw line. Celebrities with this type of face include: Elton John, Demi Moore and Sandra Bullock Choose frame styles that are more rounded or oval and avoid slim square or angular shaped frames.
	Oval Face: Your face length is roughly equal to one and a half times the width. Your face is well balanced with high cheekbones and a gently curving jaw. Your forehead is slightly wider than your jaw. Celebrities with this type of face include: Julia Roberts You're in luck, most frame shapes suit your face shape. Just make sure the size is in proportion to your face.
	Round Face: Your face is as wide as it is long and is fairly short in height with a wide forehead. You have full cheeks and a rounded jaw line. Celebrities with this type of face include: Cameron Diaz, Choose frames with lenses that are wider than they are deep and squarer in shape. Frames that have decoration where the arm meets the frame and with arms that meet the frame at the top would suit. Avoid big round frames that make your face look rounder.
	Heart-Shaped Face: Your face is narrow at the jaw line with a small neat chin and mouth and wide at the cheek bones and forehead. Celebrities with this type of face include: Jennifer Aniston Choose a frame style that is slender, rounded or square but avoid a style that has a greater width at the top. This will tend to reflect the shape of your face rather than enhance your look.
	Long Oblong Face: Your face is longer than it is wide with high cheek bones and a deep forehead. Celebrities with this type of face include: Choose wider frames and styles with a heavier top. Strong looking large square frames can often balance a narrow looking face. Avoid small subtle shapes.

If you are already wearing glasses and are happy with your style then simply choose a similar frame.

Understanding your prescription.

SPH (sphere).

This is your correction for long or short sight. It can be a ‘-‘ value or a ‘+’ value and goes up in 0.25 steps. 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00 etc.

CYL (cylinder).

The correction for any Astigmatism if you have one. It can be a ‘-‘ value or a ‘+’ value and goes up in 0.25 steps. 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00 etc.

AXIS.

The axis for which the correction for the Astigmatism needs to be set at. It will only be present if you have a value in CYL. And can be a value from 0 - 180

ADD (addition)

Only required if you need to use glasses for reading and is always a ‘+’ value.
NEAR Means the same as ‘ADD’ above.

‘-‘ or ‘+’ This is VERY important as it indicates short or long sightedness. The ‘-‘ value is sometimes written above the value.

PLANO

These all mean the same thing! No correction required/nothing/0
0 }
0.00 }
INFINITY }

DS(dioptre sphere). Usually appears under the CYL box and would indicate no CYL value.
OD When user refers to the right eye
OS When used refers to the left eye

If you require reading glasses please include the NEAR or ADD. If you require Distance /Driving glasses then you may omit this

You may also have an Intermediate value. This is for computer use. Please call us if you need glasses for VDU work and have this value on your prescription.

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PD (Pupillary Distance)

Unfortunately, many prescriptions do not include a PD measurement or Pupillary distance measurement. Your Optician does not yet HAVE to give you this as part of your eye test and so often chooses not to so as to encourage you to pay over the odds for your glasses rather than using our fantastic service at glasses2you. So therefore we encourage you to ask your Optician to supply you with this measurement. However, don't panic if you haven't got this or don't want to ask your optician.

We can still make your glasses up using an average pupillary distance measurement based on your gender, the size of the frames you have ordered and the experience of our dispensing optician. In the majority of cases this method works extremely well but there will be certain customers who through having very strong prescriptions or who significantly differ from the average may encounter some problems. In these cases the specs won't damage your eyes but may well cause some discomfort. If you know that you have a particularly strong prescription or you suspect that you may not fall close enough to what is seen as average sizes we would recommend that you try one of the following methods of obtaining your PD measurement.

Obtaining your own Pupillary Distance

Method 1: Ask your partner or friend to help you.

Make sure your friend is sat at roughly the same height as you are and ask them to place a ruler across the bridge of your nose upside down so that the millimeter measurements are on the edge of the ruler closest to your eyes. The measurer holds the ruler in their left hand across the bridge of your nose and closes their LEFT eye to avoid any parallax error. With their RIGHT eye open, they then first line up the ruler with the center of your left pupil. Then without moving the ruler they close their RIGHT eye and with their LEFT eye open, read off the measurement to the center of the RIGHT pupil. (See diagram below). Best results are achieved if you fix your gaze on the bridge of the nose of the person taking the measurement. This point should ideally be around 16 inches or 40 cm's away.

Method 2: Taking a measurement yourself

This is easily measured looking in a mirror and using a ruler! Please follow these steps

• Stand in front of a mirror at a distance of about 20cm (8 inches)
• Close your right eye
• Place your ruler flat against the mirror and align it horizontally with the millimeter scale pointing upwards
• Looking over the top of the ruler with your left eye, align the zero mark of the ruler in the center of your left pupil
• Now open your right eye and close your left but keep your head still and the ruler in the same position
• Read the millimeter measurement corresponding to the center of your right pupil
• To be sure, you can repeat this process a few times for consistency

Method 3: (With a helper)

Please follow these steps:

• Put your glasses on
• Ask your helper to stand in front of you and mark a dot on your glasses directly above your pupils left and right (Please be sure to use a NON PERMANENT MARKER PEN)
• With a ruler, measure the distance between the 2 dots

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