Everything About Eyeglasses Guide

We’re here to help you become an expert on what you need to know and consider when choosing eyeglasses, so you can feel comfortable and confident with your purchase.

We’ll cover the measurements we take, frame sizing, reading your prescription, face shapes and flattering styles, our lens types, and more! If you have any questions or need assistance, you can always ask our friendly opticians.

The Integrum Difference

Here are some guidelines to consider before purchasing and getting your new glasses fitted: Several measurements and considerations go into making a pair of glasses to ensure that your vision is optimized through your corrective eyewear.

When glasses are purchased in person, your professional eyecare provider will measure and take into consideration the following:

Segment or OC height: Where the centre of the lens will be positioned in the frame depending on how the frame sits on your face.
Vertex distance: The distance between the frame and the front of your eye.
Pupillary distance (PD): The distance between each eye individually to the middle of the frame – combined measurements are sometimes less accurate.
Pantoscopic tilt: This refers to the tilt on the front of the frame.
Wrap angle: The amount of curve the frame has.
Base curve: The curvature on the front surface of the lens.

In order to ensure clear and comfortable vision through your glasses, these specific glasses measurements and parameters must be taken into consideration. Your optician will also take into consideration the frame size, width, bridge contour, temple length, lens thickness and lens type when deciding what is best for your vision and comfort.

Once you start wearing your new glasses, don’t forget to get them periodically re-adjusted to ensure best fit. We offer free unlimited lifetime adjustments at all three 360 Eyecare locations.

Choosing a Frame

When it comes to choosing your frame, there are so many different options available. Do you prefer acetate? How about metal? Would you like a round shape? Rectangle? Below is some information to assist you in making these decisions. Our opticians are always there to help too! They can offer further insight and guidance on all of the topics covered in this article.

Sizing Your Frame

Frame size consists of three key measurements: Lens Width, Bridge Width, and Arm Length.

These measurements can typically be found on the inside of your frame’s arm or bridge.

Lens Width determines which size category your frame falls into.

Small: 40-48mm
Medium: 49-54mm
Large: 55-58mm
Extra-Large: 58mm and up

Face Shapes
& Frame Styles

Face shape plays an important role in finding flattering and appealing styles.

We’ll be running through the 7 types of face shapes and what styles compliment their features.

Round faces are identified by their equal proportions. The widest point on a round face is the cheekbones, and your jaw and hairline are rounded without hard angles.

Square faces have a broad forehead and strong jawline, with a straight line from forehead to jaw. Frames with the opposite shape, like oval or round, can create a balanced look smoothing natural angles and elongating the face.

Heart faces are wider in the top third and narrow towards the chin. Semi-Rimless frames give an airy feel and accentuate natural features while frames with a wide bottom are a good choice for narrow chins.

Oblong faces are long and thin with more length to them than width. The forehead and jawline are roughly the same width. Bold and wide frames can help break up the length of your face.

Oval faces share similarities with oblong by being longer than they are wide. But Oval faces have a softer more curved jawline with the forehead being just slightly wider than the chin.

Triangular faces have a wider bottom-third and narrow towards the forehead. Triangular faces benefit from frames with a bolder top-half in the upper brow portion to balance the face’s wider bottom-third.

Diamond faces are broadest at the cheekbones and narrow towards both the forehead and chin. Semi-rimless and frames with bold brow lines can soften cheekbones and highlight your eyes.

Face shapes can be helpful to reference when you want some inspiration for styles or are a tad uncertain about choosing. But don’t feel limited in choosing a frame by face shape.

Any face can rock any frame with the right personality, outfit, and style. Choose any shape that makes you feel great!

Your Prescription

Remember to Check Yearly, See Clearly. A routine yearly eye exam is the best thing you can do for your vision.
An up-to-date prescription is crucial when purchasing a new pair of eyeglasses. You’ll want to be able to see your best when you’re looking your best in new frames. We’ll be running through how to read your glasses prescription and what each number means.

Your prescription will contain separate measurements for your right and left eye. Your right eye is denoted by “OD” or “Oculus Dexter” and your left eye is denoted by “OS” or “Oculus Sinister”.

Each eye has parameters for Sphere, Cylinder, and Axis which provide info for your visual correction needed.

Sphere (SPH)

Sphere is for your lens power. It will be either a positive (+) or negative (-) number, positive used for farsightedness and negative used for nearsightedness.

Currently, we can only accommodate Sphere Powers between +6.00 and -8.00 online. If your power falls outside of this range, please contact our opticians or visit us in store.

Cylinder (CYL) & Axis

Cylinder and Axis are two parameters used together to correct Astigmatism. These numbers may be zero or blank on your prescription if you don’t need Astigmatism correction.

Cylinder can range from 0.00 to -2.50 in increments of -0.25. Axis will be a whole number anywhere between 0 and 180.

Pupillary Distance (PD)

Pupillary Distance is the measurement between the centre of one pupil to the centre of the other. You may have a single PD measurement or you may have one for each eye.

PD is an essential measurement as it determines the optical centre of your lenses giving you the best possible vision correction.

If you have any questions about your prescription or would like to book an appointment for an eye exam or to try on some eyeglasses, please contact a 360 Eyecare location of your choosing. There are three locations all conveniently located in Toronto. The optometrists and opticians will be more than happy to help with any of your concerns.