Me and My Big Head

Like a lot of geeks, I wear eyeglasses. I’ve worn them since about my junior year in High School (good ole Piner High School). Also, like a lot of geeks my head is kind of big. Unfortunately, having a big head makes finding new eyeglasses frames difficult. More difficult than it should, in my opinion. Here’s what I’ve gone through in the last few weeks. Does this sound familiar?

I need bifocals???

This recent activity started when I realized that I can not read any hand-held items while wearing my glasses any more. I knew what that meant: bi-focals. The scourge of eyeglass wearers everywhere. Sure they help you read things without having to remove your eyeglasses. But they are a visible reminder that you are not as young as you once were.

When did I get old enough for bifocals? Heck, when did I become an adult? I don’t feel any different than I did when I was 25. Back then I still felt like a teenager. And yes, sometimes I still feel like a teenager. That’s a good thing. Right?

Anyway, back to my story. So I see my Optometrist and get my prescription updated. My left eye seems to be getting weaker and my right eye hasn’t changed much since I was 30, or so. (I hadn’t really noticed that my left eye had become weaker, but now that I am aware of it, I can see (no pun intended) that, yes, my left eye is definitely weaker).

Step 2 is to pick out a new frame for my glasses. The last glasses have been pretty nondescript: generic looking metal frames with a rectangular shape.

This time, however, I tried to find something a bit more fashionable. So, the optician showed me something similar to what “the kids” are wearing these days. The only glitch is that they were a tiny bit smaller than the frames I wore previously. Still, they looked OK and so I went ahead and purchased them.

Talk to a professional

About a week after I bought them, I went back in to get a small adjustment made. While there, I spoke to the optician who fitted me with my glasses, and I mentioned that the glasses seemed a bit tighter than my old pair. I also mentioned that their frame selection had few frames that fit my big head. She mentioned that she, too, had trouble finding frames that fit her well. If she can’t find frames, that doesn’t bode well for me. I mean, she works there for goodness’ sakes.

(This reminds me of the time when I was in the Navy and an instructor mentioned that the standard issue gas mask then in use did not fit Hispanics well because we tended to have over large heads.)

So, like a good geek, I took to the internet in search of a solution to my problem.

There are many sites that offer eyeglasses online. But here, too, there aren’t that many sites that offer frames that I like and that fit my head. Most are too narrow, and even when you find a lens size that is adequate, there may be other size options that prevent me from buying the frames. So I guess that I may need to re-cycle my old frames in order to get glasses that fit well. Or I may need to get frames that aren’t exactly what I want, but are closer to being fashionable than my previous pair.

But what I really need is to find some fashionable frames that are designed for larger heads.

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, this could be your next opportunity!

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