Tired of one-size-fits-all eyeglasses that extend an inch past your face on either side? Pea heads, it’s time to unite. People with smaller faces can have a difficult time finding eyewear that fits comfortably unless they custom order it. Most eyewear is created to fit a median metric that, for them, isn’t median at all.
On top of the struggle to find regular glasses or sunglasses that don’t give a literal headache, it can be virtually impossible to find comfortable safety glasses when you need them.
As always, your Stoggles team is hard (yet safely) at work, going to bat for narrow faces everywhere. We’ll explain how to tell whether or not you have a narrow face, why you might need protective eyewear, and what to look for before you go shopping for safety frames.
Do You Have a Small Face?
Harry the Hunter, the famous shrunken-headed corpse that sat alongside Beetlejuice in the waiting room, probably had a tough time finding safety eyewear or even a properly fitting helmet. We aren’t sure how he died, but what we do know is how he could’ve protected his eyes.
The first step in finding eyewear that fits perfectly is determining your face size. This helps ensure that your lenses and the attached arms don’t squeeze or slide along your temples or stick out too far on the sides.
How To Measure Your Face
To measure the width of your face, you’ll need your face, a mirror, and a ruler or tape measure. Standing in front of the mirror, extend the ruler across your face from temple to temple. If you’re using a tape measure, don’t wrap it across your face (bending it). Instead, pull it straight across in a line.
Because face shape is measured in millimeters, you’ll have to do some math (or call Alexa to do it for you). If you’re doing the math, one inch is roughly 25.4 millimeters. Your measurement will likely fall somewhere between 129-145 millimeters.
Small, Medium, or Large
The average face width is between 130-139 millimeters. If you fall below these measurements (129 millimeters or smaller), you might have a small or narrow face.
Since most eyewear is created to fit the crowd with faces between 130-139 millimeters, someone with a smaller face can find it frustrating to get a good fit and may completely ignore the need for protective eyewear. Who needs the hassle of finding yet another pair of ill-fitting glasses to add to the collection?
The truth is, safety glasses are incredibly important, and you probably need them more than you think.
Do I Really Need Safety Glasses?
Having a narrow face that is hard to fit with eyewear doesn’t give you a good excuse not to protect your eyes. Your eyes see because of specialized cells inside the retina. These retinal cells are capable of transforming light that is collected by the cornea into electrical signals. The signals are then sent to the brain via the optic nerve and changed into images.
Retinal cells, however, don’t regenerate. Once they are damaged or destroyed, a portion of your vision is lost. It’d be a real shame to lose your eyesight because you didn’t want to bother with finding safety frames to fit your face.
The instances when you’ll need safety glasses are numerous.
Yard Work and Gardening
You know the dangers of using your favorite lawn manicuring tools; a rock from the lawnmower or a stray trimmer wire. Although you’ve never had an accident before, an accident isn’t something you can predict. Before you trim another hedge or edge another curb, make sure your eyes are protected with impact-resistant safety lenses.
Household Cleaning
Anyone who thinks cleaning is a low-risk job has never cleaned a toilet in a house with multiple children. Aside from the pure agony of cleaning other people's filth, the chemicals used to sanitize and deodorize can be dangerous to your eye health.
Bleach, abrasive solvents, and other chemicals can produce fumes that irritate your eyes and can splash and splatter, causing vision damage.
Sports and Leisure
Your mom was right: It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Unfortunately, sports and leisure-related eye injuries are very common. From corneal abrasions and scrapes to full-impact eye trauma, wearing safety frames is a smart idea anytime you’re around flying balls, bats, clubs, competitive teammates, or anything else that could do ocular damage.
Home Improvement
You’ve got your supplies and have watched (at least one) YouTube video. There’s no way you won’t be successful with that major plumbing and rewiring project. Just be sure your eyes are protected in the event of an emergency. In the meantime, our thoughts are with you.
How Common Are Eye Injuries?
No matter the situation that requires safety eyewear, it’s essential you understand the risk. Each day, more than 2,000 eye-related injuries happen on the job, and about one-third of them result in time missed from work and the potential for missed pay.
About half of all eye-related injuries happen at home, through outdoor activities, lawn care, cleaning, or home improvement. Your eyes are vulnerable, and experts estimate that 90% of all eye injuries could be completely avoided simply by wearing protective eyewear.
Your face? It’s small. The risk? It’s huge. Finding properly-fitting safety glasses is a must.
How To Buy Safety Glasses for Small Faces
Feel free to use this handy guide to help you find safety eyewear that checks all the boxes, including fitting your face like a glove (or would that be a ski mask)?
Measurements
First things first, step away from the dollar bin safety goggles at your local hardware store. They won’t fit. And they’re not going to give you the same level of comfort and protection that a smaller frame will.
Once you have your measurement, look for safety eyewear available in a smaller frame size. For instance, some pairs of Stoggles (like the Stoggles Square) are available in a special smaller size for smaller face shapes.
Impact Resistance
It goes without saying that your safety glasses should protect you against blunt force impact, but what you might not know is what kind of impact resistance you need. The gold standard for impact-resistant eyewear is the ANSI Z87.1-2020 certification.
This certification ensures your glasses can withstand impact from weighted objects at various speeds without shattering and causing an even bigger injury. Every pair of Stoggles bears the ANSI Z87.1-2020 certification, so you can be sure your eyes are safe no matter the situation.
Anti-Fog
Foggy lenses are a huge safety hazard. When lenses fog up, you can’t see your task, which could cause a safety issue, but more importantly, you’ll end up removing your glasses to wipe them down.
When safety glasses aren’t on your face, they aren’t protecting your eyes. That’s why anti-fog lenses are so crucial. Anti-fog lenses protect you from having to remove your glasses, which means your eyes stay safe and you don’t get frustrated. It’s a win/win you’ll find with every pair of Stoggles we offer.
Side and Top Shields
Regular glasses leave gaps at the top and sides of your face where debris could enter your line of vision. Wraparound lenses only solve one of those problems, and if you wear prescription lenses, they can warp your vision.
A better solution are top and side shields. These are seamlessly added to the tops and sides of your eyewear to offer protection without weight or vision disruption. The side and top shields on every pair of Stoggles are designed with your comfort in mind and a low-profile aesthetic.
UV Protection
Whether you’re inside or out, UV protection is a great option for safety eyewear. Stoggles are crafted from durable, lightweight polycarbonate material, which is naturally UV-blocking. The future’s so bright you’ll need shades, but our glasses are tint-free, so you don’t have to wear your sunglasses indoors.
Blue Light-Blocking
Take a quick peek at your screen usage this week. We’ll wait. More than you expected? That’s okay. Technology runs the world, but it also runs blue light into our eyeballs. Protect your eyes from intrusive blue light by choosing safety eyewear with blue light-blocking lenses.
Stoggles eyewear is made with blue light-blocking technology sealed into the lenses at the time of manufacture, so you never have to worry about coatings wearing off or breaking down.
The Skinny on Small Safety Eyewear
In today’s marketplace, you’ve got big options for small faces. Stoggles delivers safety for the little guy and the little faces with our uber-comfortable safety eyewear, available in two different sizes and stylish shapes like Aviator Lenses.
Don’t risk your vision because you can’t find a good fit. Trust Stoggles to deliver safety and comfort in one incredibly stylish package.
Sources:
Eye Safety at Home: Preventing Eye Injuries | American Academy of Ophthalmology
mm to Inches Conversion (Millimeters To Inches) | Inch Calculator
