If you wear eyeglasses, your eyesight depends on their proper adjustment. Therefore, it’s important to know which repairs you can make at home and which are best left to an optician.
The easiest home repair is replacing the tiny screws that hold the earpieces to the front of the frame. You can buy an inexpensive repair kit containing four screws and a very small screwdriver from your optician. (If a screw falls out unexpectedly and you don’t have a small enough screwdriver, use the point of a kitchen knife.)
Some repair kits also contain tiny rubber rings meant for tightening loose-fitting glasses. Just slip the ring over the end of the earpiece and slide it down to the hinge. The ring will sit right on the hinge and keep it from bending too far.
Wire frames have tiny screws that hold the top and bottom of the frame together. If a screw becomes loose and a lens falls out, replace the lens, and the screw, and add a small drop of clear nail polish between the two barrels on the frame before tightening. The polish will assure that further vibration will not loosen the screw.
Don’t use strong glues to hold a loose lens in a plastic or metal frame. The glue will bond the lens and frame, and if later you wish to have the frame replaced or the lens position adjusted, your optician will be unable to do so.
The tightening of earpieces should be done by a professional; improper adjustment may impair your vision or cause headaches. Temporarily mend a broken earpiece with epoxy, but visit your optician at your earliest convenience to get a replacement.