Fixing Broken Sunglasses: A Repair Guide

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Apart from protecting your eyes from harmful UV light, sunglasses are a way to show off your personality. It’s a cool accessory suggesting prestige, fashion, and charisma. You can repair your sunnies if you split the bridge, lost a screw, or scratched the lens. Knowing how to fix sunglasses is crucial if you own a pair.

Using soft pliers, apply pressure on the nosepiece of your shades to straighten out its metal frame. You can fix a broken plastic frame using bonding glue. Replace the lost screw on your sunglasses’ broken arm with a new screw from the kit. It’s recommended to replace them every two years.

You cannot save your sunglasses if your lenses are shattered or cracked. Cracked sunglasses affect your vision and are dangerous since broken glass pieces may get into your eyes. You can fix scratches, bent frames, and broken arms, but you’ll have to replace cracked or shattered lenses. Read on to learn all the methods on how to repair broken sunglasses.

What is the Best Way to Repair Broken Sunglasses?

Handyman repairing sunglasses with screwdriver at table

Here are our tips on how to repair broken sunglasses:

Bent Frames

If the metal frame of your sunglasses is bent, here’s how to repair it:

  1. First, get soft pliers that have nylon jaw chains.
  1. Then, using the pliers, gently apply pressure on the nosepiece to straighten the frame.

If the plastic frame around your lens breaks, here’s how to repair it:

  1. Clean off dust or particles from the damaged areas
  1. Use wax paper to cover your lenses to avoid spilling glue on them.
  1. Apply bonding glue on the pieces that are to be glued together
  1. Hold the pieces together for 1-2 minutes.
  1. Put down the sunglasses and allow them to sit for 20-25 minutes.

Be careful when using bonding glue (on Amazon) to fix broken sunglasses. It can be challenging to remove this glue if it accidentally lands on your lenses.

A Broken Arm

The arm of your sunglasses may fall off or break due to excess wear. Generally, this is caused by the hinge screw falling out. There are two ways you can repair broken plastic sunglasses’ arms:

  • Eyeglass Repair Kit: You can buy eyeglass repair kits at your local optometrist or supermarket. These kits have magnifiers, nose pads, screwdrivers, or spare crews. Replace the lost screw with a new screw from the kit.
  • Toothpick: In case of an emergency, you can use a toothpick to hold the arm of your sunglasses in place. Use a toothpick as your last option.

Broken Nose Pads

Repairing broken nose pads is a straightforward process. For most sunglasses, nose pads are held together by tiny screws. Sometimes, these pads might become loose or break.

To replace a loose nose pad, use a screwdriver from the repair kit to loosen the screw. Then, remove the broken nose pad, and replace it with a new nose pad. Repair kits (on Amazon) come with spare nose pads. You can also buy nose pads from an optical store.

Sunglasses Scratches

  1. Use a microfiber cloth to clean the first layer of dust off the lenses.
  1. Apply eyeglasses cleaner or toothpaste and keep wiping the lenses to clear the smudge.
  1. Mix two tablespoons of baking soda (on Amazon) with water and stir until it forms a paste.
  1. Using a microfiber cloth, apply this paste to the lenses.

What Supplies Will You Need?

Repairing a pair of broken sunglasses

For an effective temporary fix, you’ll need the following supplies:

When to Replace Your Sunglasses

No matter how much you love your current shades, you still might need a new of sunglasses. This is because the UV protection offered by sunglasses may decline over time, and the existing industry tests aren’t sufficient for establishing how long it’s safe to keep them.

When to replace your sunglasses will depend on how frequently you use your sunglasses, how often you’re exposed to UV light and the severity of that exposure.

Generally, replacing your sunglasses after two years of at least two hours of daily use is recommended. This is the safe limit for replacing your sunglasses if you want to continue enjoying protection from harmful UV light.

However, if you’re involved in intense activities such as snowshoeing or waterskiing every day, it’s advisable to replace your sunglasses more regularly.

Apart from the recommended time limit of two years, other considerations include the following:

Replace Your Current Sunglasses When They Start Showing Their Age

You can get new replacement sunglasses even if a year is still ongoing because the frame of the current sunglasses is bent or the lenses are scratched.

If your sunglasses are scratched or dented, they can only partially protect your eyes against glare and UV light. The same applies if the lenses are cracked.

Get a Replacement for Fashion

If your sunglasses are old, there may be emerging technologies that can make the experience of wearing sunglasses even better.

You can also replace your sunglasses to align with a new lifestyle or trending fashion.

How to Prevent Your Sunglasses from Breaking?

Breaking your sunglasses is never a fun experience. Here are some tricks to prevent your sunglasses from breaking:

Use Your Case

It seems like obvious advice, but always keeping your sunglasses in a case whenever not in use is one of the surest ways to keep your sunglasses safe.

If you constantly misplace your sunglasses case (on Amazon), buy several and strategically keep them in locations where you’re likely to put your sunglasses down (your bathroom sink, your nightstand). Also, avoid keeping your sunglasses on your head because it stretches the frame and causes them to break easier.

Take off Your Sunglasses Correctly

Avoid grabbing one side of your sunglasses to pull them off because it loosens the screws and eventually leads to broken frames. Instead, when taking off your sunglasses, grab both of its sides to distribute weight equally.

Avoid Extreme Temperatures

Don’t leave your sunglasses in your beach bag (on Amazon) under the scorching sun or in your car during cold winter nights, for extreme temperatures can damage the lenses and frames made from glass, causing the frames to stretch or the glass to break.

Perform Regular Maintenance

Own a repair kit to tighten screws as the need arises. Your equipment will help you handle wear and tear.

What are the Most Durable Brands of Sunglasses?

Sunglasses that feature polycarbonate frames and lenses are durable because they offer high-impact resistance and excellent optical clarity.

Put your trust in these ten sunglasses brands:

  • Ray-Ban
  • Persol
  • Oakley
  • Carrera
  • Oliver Peoples
  • Moscot
  • Warby Parker
  • Randolph Engineering
  • Jacques Marie Mage
  • Lexxola

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