Wire glasses that slips off the nose, rest too close to the face, have loose temple arms, or are uneven can all be fixed by bending the wire frame parts. More structural eye glasses repair, such as tightening a loose hinge screw or replacing a missing screw, require an eye glasses repair kit for a proper fix. There are also several techniques to jury-rig a broken hinge or broken temple involving a paper clip, toothpick, cotton swab, twig, wire hanger, and super glue. Before any repairs are made to eye glasses, the warranty should be reviewed to be sure that home repair does not invalidate the warranty.
It is possible to make minor adjustments for comfort to wire glasses without an eye glasses repair kit. When wire glasses slip on the nose, pinch the nose piece together to tighten it. Eye glasses that sit too close to the face and fog easily are fixed by widening the nose piece. If the temples get bent out and the glasses shift around with head movement, bend the temples back together, tightening the glasses on the head. Glasses which are uneven on the face can be fixed by bending one temple up or down to adjust the horizontal alignment.
Eye glasses repair kits typically contain a few screws, screw drivers, and a magnifying glass. One of the most common problems with eye glasses is a broken hinge due to a stripped or lost screw. To fix a broken hinge, remove the old screw using the kit’s screw driver. If the glasses have a spring hinge, select the spring hinge screw with a pointed end, but use the normal screw when the hinge is not spring loaded. Align the hinge with the temple, poke the screw through the holes, and use the screw driver to twist it into place.
When a glasses repair kit is not available, a missing screw hinge can be temporarily fixed by aligning the hinge and the temple and then jamming a toothpick, the center shaft of a cotton swab, or even a stout twig through the holes to act as a screw. Another method uses a length of low-gauge wire threaded through the hinge holes and then wrapped around several times to hold the temple in place. Superglue can be used to reattach the temple to the hinge or to fix a temple that has snapped in the middle. A wire coat hanger can be cut to size, shaped like the temple, and superglued to the top of the hinge to replace a severely broken temple.