Quality sunglasses that fit you right and go with your style are not easy to find, let alone cheap. And when you’ve finely found them, you will want to make them last you for as long as possible. You have your hard case, you keep them far from high heat, you clean them properly, you do everything you can to protect them.
But, as much as it can be frustrating having your sunglasses damaged, scratched or loosened, it’s important to know that not everything calls for buying a new pair. Aside from a complete smashing, almost anything can be fixed, allowing you to enjoy your shades for a long time. Bent frames can be straightened, loose screws, damaged nose pads, and, most importantly, scratched or broken lenses can be replaced.
Why is Fixing Better Than Buying?
If you decide to repair your sunglasses or replace lenses in existing frames, you’re not only saving yourself some money, but you are also taking care of the nature. In today’s word hardly anyone tries to fix anything anymore. People will rather buy new things and toss out an object that’s still perfectly good, then learn how to fix something or find someone that could do it for them.
With inconceivable numbers of sold sunglasses per year, as well as the trend from this last few decades to just keep on buying – this huge industry affects our environment on a massive scale, contributing to the biggest environmental problems of our lifetime – pollution and plastic waste. So, fixing your sunglasses instead of throwing them away and buying a new pair, is, moreover, environmentally-friendlier.
What Does Lens Replacement Fix?
The lenses are the parts of the sunglasses that allow them to serve their primary purpose, since apart from adding to your fashionable style, the most important role of your sunglasses is to protect your eyes and provide you with comfort. So, one way to keep your sunglasses as good as new, to take care of them, is to replace the lenses occasionally, if you don’t want to buy a new pair, you worry about the environment, or you simply want to have the option to still wear them.
The materials used to make sunglass lenses are glass, plastic (acrylic, polycarbonate, polyurethane), or SR-91, a resin-based material that provides high clarity. Apart from their materials, lenses defer in other features, such as colour, polarisation, gradation, mirroring…, and any of these features can be combined. Though some are tougher to scratch or brake than others, none of these materials are indestructible.
Eye comfort
If you have trouble cleaning your lenses, you get headaches or eye strain, it’s very likely that your lenses are scratched, and it’s a good idea to replace them. If at least one of them is missing or broken, though, it’s definitely a good idea to buy replacement sunglass lenses, unless you feel a bit piraty.
All jokes aside, though there is some debate as to whether damaged lenses lose some of their UV protection abilities, with some researchers even saying that over time lenses degrade and should be replaced anyways, one thing is indisputable: scratches on your sunglasses can not only make your sunnies look old and odd, but wearing them is also unpleasant, annoying, distracting, and it can strain your eyes and cause headaches. This is due to the refraction of light caused by the scratches, which gives your eyes a hard time seeing clearly through the sunglass lens.
On top of all that, with replacement sunglass lenses you can get additional features. You can ask for polarisation, or you can combine any features you like – if you are looking for more eye comfort, or, if you prefer, you can simply ask for what your previous lenses had.
Style
Of course, appearance is also a good reason for sunglass lens replacement. Scratches can make your designer sunglasses look unattractive. But this is not a reason to splurge on a new expansive pair, as if finding sunglasses that suit your face and complement your personal style perfectly wasn’t hard and expensive enough in the first place.
Shiny new replacement lenses, will revive your sunnies’, making them look as good as new. If you feel like it, you can order lenses with different colour, or mirrored glass, to refresh them and make them more stylish.
How Can You Find the Right Lenses?
If you decide to replace lenses in existing frames, the first thing before ordering is to make sure you have all the information, that you need to provide to ensure the replacement sunglass lenses will fit perfectly. If you are in a “have frames need lenses” situation, all the information you need, will be on the part you already have – the frame.
If you by any chance don’t know the brand name, that’s the first thing you’ll want to identify. It will be on the outer or inner arm of the frame. Then, take a look at the frame and find the frame name and number, frame size indicators, like M, XL, and lastly the lens size. For online lens replacement, the manufacturer will ask for all the information needed to provide you with the right fit.
Replacing the Lenses
Replacing the lenses can be easily done by simply following the instructions given by the manufacturer, either without any tools, or, in some cases, with a special optical screwdriver.
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