...continued from How to Choose Eyeglasses That Suit Your Personality and Lifestyle

Student

Without constraints such as a conservative office environment, you have a lot more leeway in terms of styling, including color and shape.

Take advantage of your freedom, and don't be afraid to experiment. Unusual shapes, bright colors, larger sizes and interesting details such as color laminations are all readily available in a variety of prices and brand names. You can go retro or mod, academic or artsy. And these days, with so many choices at different price points, you don't have to spend a lot to get a cool look. See examples.

Busy Mom or Dad

For the mother-on-the-go (or father-on-the-go) with little time to worry about clothing and eyeglasses styling, a basic yet stylish pair of eyeglasses will work best.

For moms, ovals, upswept rectangles and soft cat-eye shapes provide easy function and still look great. Depending on your own personal style, you could choose to amplify the fashion effect of a basic shape with details such as jewelry-like metal accents or even rhinestones.

Interesting colors such as plum, deep red, soft green and black can also add a fashion edge to a basic frame.

Dads like frames that go with everything. Unornamented frames with gunmetal, black, silver, gold and tortoise are good choices. The double-bar bridge is back in style, which can add subtle detailing to an otherwise boring frame.

For both moms and dads, durability is key. Picture your glasses falling off while playing catch with the kids. Or your baby tugging at the frame. Look for tough plastic materials or metals designed to snap back into shape when bent. Also, spring hinges withstand tugging better than traditional plain-Jane screw types. See examples.

Active and Athletic Person

While you may fall into any of the above categories, you also find the time to be active and participate in sports, so eyewear choice becomes even more critical for you.

You require one pair of eyeglasses for your daytime functions as well as something that is conducive to the activities and sports you perform after work. There are many types of sports eyewear on the market that provide comfort, technical functions and enhance your performance.

Styling can range from wraparounds to shields to styles that look more like regular eyeglasses and sunglasses. An important factor in sports eyewear is the lens: polarized lenses can help reduce glare off water, polycarbonate lenses are shatter-resistant for impact sports and different tints work to enhance different lighting conditions. See examples.

This is an area in which a knowledgeable optician can help you best. [Read more about sports eyewear.]

Can't Be Pigeonholed?

Many people will fall into more than one of these categories. If this is true of you, you may want more than one pair of eyeglasses to round out your wardrobe and life.

As the fashion-savvy Marc says, "Our customers really wardrobe their eyewear — for the beach and work as well as for sport and fashion (even evening). New eyeglasses are a great way to update your look without buying a whole new wardrobe."

Of course, the aforementioned categories are also very flexible, as everyone has his or her own distinctive style, personal coloring, face shape and age group.

So the best route to finding the appropriate eyeglasses for yourself includes first knowing your lifestyle and activities, seeing what is available on today's eyewear market in terms of style, color and price options and then working with a good optician to find what's best for you.

[Page updated August 2006]