TEMPLE TALK

The arms do the holding; the bridge does the balancing.

Temple arms are the unsung half of the fit. The bridge keeps the front from sliding down; the temples keep the whole thing from sliding forward. They run from the hinge, along the side of your head, and bend down behind the ear. That bend — the drop — is where the grip happens. Too short and the glasses perch on your nose and slide. Too long and the arms poke past your ears and the frame feels loose and sloppy.

The stamped number (the 140 in 52-18-140) measures the full arm length, but the part that matters is where the bend lands relative to your ear. On a well-fitted frame, the bend starts right at the top of your ear and the tip follows the curve of your skull without digging in. If the bend starts before your ear, the arms are too short. If it starts an inch behind, too long.

Skull grip is the other half. The arms should touch the sides of your head lightly and evenly — enough contact to stabilize, never enough to press. Pinching at the temples is the classic sign of arms that are too short or a front that's too narrow; headaches that start an hour into wear almost always trace back to here.

Good news: temple fit is the most adjustable part of the frame. A decent optician can heat and rebend acetate arms or adjust metal ones in minutes, often free. If everything else about a frame is right but the temples are off, that's a fix, not a dealbreaker.

"Headaches that start an hour in? That's the temples talking. Listen to them."