Glasses for a narrow face

I’ve worn glasses since I was very young, maybe around 10/11.

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I’ve always wanted some really nice glasses and have had a few nice pairs over the years.

Glasses can be very expensive especially when you have a high prescription and require 1.74 thin lenses.

In this article I’m going to share loads of glasses I’ve had and what to look for with tips on how to find your next pair.

I’ll share photos of what glasses look like on narrow faces, if I have the specs I’ll put those below. An then at the end I’ll give tips of finding glasses for narrow faces and if you have a high prescription.

If you want to get any glasses from Firmoo I have a 50% code here: W3V1A0

So to give you an idea of what a narrow face is like. I can sometimes wear kids glasses and teens, but at the same time, some kids glasses are too small, and most adults glasses are too big.

So if you find you are in a similar position then this article will definitely help you out!

Excuse the serious photos and crazy hair in some of them 🫣

Look at these old school beauties! I actually still have them, they are such a narrow Depth though I barely had any of my vision in focus. :/

Narrow glasses you might think are flattering as they can not over whelm your face as much but when they are so narrow things like being able to see the floor becomes hard as so little is in focus.

Oh no I hadn’t learnt that not all adult glasses were going to fit me

You can see that these actually look ridiculous and this is a problem I found with a lot of adult glasses, they can be far too wide for narrow faces.

Beads Glasses – Eye buy direct

You’ll see the width is 121 between screws. Which I’ve learnt the best width for me is around 117 but it depends on the build of glasses.

I now know 120mm between screws is way too wide for me.

I would suggest if you aren’t sure look at your old glasses or go in to a shop, take note of the size of them and take a photo of yourself to see what looks good. You can see while the width between screws is 121mm the lens width is 53mm which is quite a big lens too.

Trying on glasses in stores

Its worth trying on different shapes and colors and seeing what suits you.

Even though that last pair with the clear and rose gold look nice, in person I could tell they seemed too big for me.

Making mistakes along the way

Even 1mm can be a difference on whether glasses look good on you. I didn’t realize this.

Also some online stores may say a frame is your fit, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to look good on you. Here’s some examples which were meant to be close enough for my usual fit. 46-16-130.

You’ll see the one on the left is too big. 120mm between screws. The one of the right isn’t a bad size across but the shape isn’t good for me and the glasses are quite tall. again it’s worth looking at the shape, width and height of lenses.

As you can see with these two, they have the same nose bridge width there is just 1mm difference between lens width yet the ones of the left look much bigger.

firmoo – TR98215

Firmoo – M36098

Finding the right size

Firmoo – K12911

These were my latest glasses before I started to try other styles and slightly different sizes, before I realized how 1mm could look so different.

So this is what any future glasses I worked from for the size. 46-16-130 as I could see I really need to keep to this size.

These are 47-16-130 again. Again they don’t look too big. These are old ones and broken now.

Gizmo – Eye buy direct

Little Panama Glasses – Eye buy direct

These were another old pair, they had a slightly large nose bridge but I still feel these look good. You see how the screw width is 117mm. It’s not 120mm.

The height is 34mm which doesn’t seem to overwhelm my face. When you are looking for glasses you need to work out specifically for yourself what looks good on you.

February 2026

As I’ve found it incredible hard to find glasses that are not just black or tortoise shell. I wanted to change things up. And at present I am wearing children glasses as that’s the only ones I could find that fit me but I’m not totally happy with them, even though they are very comfortable. They are a round black frame.

I’ve decided to try Dresden vision glasses.

Reason being is it would cost me about $450 at least to get a pair of glasses in the shops here and I’ve had my glasses get broken so I want some that are going to be quite tough.

I’ve previously bought from Firmoo and eyebuydirect and they have both been amazing service and awesome glasses. This time I couldn’t find anything I thought would work for me on those 2 sites that wasn’t just black or brown glasses.

Dresden are an eco company as they recycle plastic for their glasses.

They come in a variety of colors and 2 shapes. They are have various sizes. I felt the round frame at a width of 130mm (not screw width overall width) was too big for me, that’s the size of the light colored frames above. The rectangle smallest size is 122.5mm width which hopefully will work for me.

On the left are the Dresden, unfortunately the plastic is too thick between my eyes and obscures my vision which sucks. I also struggled to get the pieces behind my ears to be comfortable but I did buy some sock things that go on the arms but still too much plastic between my eyes meant I was never going to be able to make them work.

What appealed me to Dresden are:

1. Plastic hinges that can be easily replaced. No rusting, replaceable.
2. 2 styles if they fit you.
3. Can have a different size front to arm length
4. Multiply different colors.
5. Can mix and match sides
6. Affordable, you can buy one front and 2 sets of arms for about $222NZD delivered from Australia to New Zealand.
7. They are recycled plastic and have a life time warranty.

Firmoo TR81940 review

On the right are another pair from Firmoo (TR81940), for your first order you can get 50% using my code: W3V1A0. These are very comfortable they so have an extra nose piece for children which can be removed but you’ll be left with 2 little plastic bits kind of sticking in your nose. They are soo light weight though it’s crazy.

They would be great for kids who want a light weight glasses that are very comfortable. The arms are quite thin, I’m not sure how much roughness they could take. Personally I though they looked ok but not my favourite.

Firmoo M37599 Review

I love these glasses, they are light weight, flattering. I took a chance on these as I have never had oval glasses before.

They feel well made the lenses I find on firmoo glasses to be high quality and thin for high prescription with the high end lenses version. To be honest I actually feel sometimes they are better quality than some lenses I can get in the shops near me because they are so thin, they resist scratches quite well.

To get 50% off your first pair of firmoo glasses use my code: W3V1A0.

What’s interesting about this you’ll see they are actually quite wide in total, 132mm but because the actually lenses aren’t that wide they don’t appear that wide on me.

Oscar Wylee celeste-s-49

The sizing of this one is 47-17-135, it’s worth noting in Oscar Wylee they sometimes have the same frame but in 2 different sizes so worth checking which suits you best.

When I first got a pair at Oscar Wylee, they tried to make it so I could see out of it ok, but finally got to the issue, that I actually had the same issues I had with the Dresden, when the nose gap is too big the frame will block my view and I will never be able to focus correctly.

I really like these glasses, with arm covers they are comfortable.

Even with these where the nose was right for my vision, it took a long time to get the view correct.

What I noticed is when you have a high prescription there is a higher chance of the edges getting distorted which can make it feel like the world is spinning. What another shop was able to do was give them a very panto adjustment.

This gives an example of what had to change. Note always get an optician to do the change as it can be quite a harsh adjustment on a frame.

I personally found if within a day or 2 my vision was not ok, and I was getting headaches, then the glasses may fit wrong (wrong size for vision like between the eyes) or the frame needs adjusting for how the lens was aligned with my eye.

If you find one opticians can’t help, don’t be afraid to go to another store. I did have some bad experiences like one shop really bent the arms on one pair of glasses so badly I decided to leave before they did any more damage. So it’s worth checking reviews, or if someone comes across like they are lacking experience, it’s not worth permanently damaging glasses because of inexperience.

It’s worth talking to people, you can tell when some store personal really do care and want to get the bottom of why a pair of glasses isn’t working.

It’s also worth checking some places will have a guarantee if you get the lenses put in but they can’t get them to work for you, your vision isn’t correct, they may allow you to replace the frames, but check before what they offer. I found this really important if you are spending $100s on some glasses with a higher prescription and a smaller face which can make it even more strict on the size of frames that can work for you.

Glasses for swimming – Firmoo K34171 Review

I bought these as an emergency pair when one pair broke, they were so cheap. About NZD$115. Which including 1.74 lenses is so crazy cheap here.

These actually are too small between my nose, 16mm, but they served their purpose while I tried to find something else.

I didn’t feel they looked terrible, a bit Harry Potter vibes haha.

Because they are children glasses though I didn’t feel they look very sophisticated for the an adult. They have the rubber hinge, which made them so comfortable, they are super light weight too.

These have been absolutely great for say having children around, as even when they got squashed in to my face they didn’t really hurt my nose because they bend so much. But they are also amazing for going swimming, because they are cheap I’m not worried about them but also because there is no metal on them, they won’t rust.

Because they sit slightly too high the view through them isn’t perfect for my vision. This is where I noticed how even 1mm can make such a difference.

Quick Tips for choosing glasses

1. Check frames sizes that you have at present and stick to that size unless you can have a slightly different bridge size.
2. Even 1mm size difference in lenses can look very different so if possible check in store.
3. If you have a high prescription it’s best to go for the thinnest lenses suggested to keep the weight down. It makes a huge difference to weight on the nose and ears.
4. If you have a high prescription like above -5.00 and with the 1.74, just be aware that glasses with little nose pads, not the plastic ones can put a lot of pressure on your nose and cause pain or headaches due to the weight of the glasses even if they feel ok at first. If you don’t wear your glass all day you might be ok for a few hours.
5. If you have children or are very active you might want arms and hinges that are tougher, say for example some glasses only have thin plastic for the arms which will be more prone to breaking.