SpecFitHow should the temple arms of your glasses fit?
The temple arms do most of the work of holding your glasses in place, yet they get the least attention. Get the length and the bend right and you stop thinking about your glasses. Get either wrong and you spend the day pushing them back up or rubbing sore ears.
What correct temple fit looks like
A well-fitting arm runs straight back from the hinge to your ear without pressing the sides of your head. It then bends down just past the top of the ear, and the tip curves gently behind it, resting there without digging in. Light, even contact along the side of your head is normal. Pressure is not.
Temple length is the third number on the size stamp inside a frame, measured hinge to tip along the arm: the 140 in 54□17 140. As covered in what the frame numbers mean, the typical range runs 120 to 150 mm, and most adults wear 135 to 145 mm. 140 mm is the most common length sold.
| Length | Fit |
|---|---|
| 120 - 134 mm | Short. Suits a smaller head or a frame worn with the bend high. |
| 135 - 145 mm | Standard. Fits most adult heads. |
| 146 - 150 mm | Long. Suits a larger head or thicker hair over the ears. |
Too short or too long
When the arms are too short, the bend lands on top of the ear or before it. The tip has nothing to hook onto, so it pushes the frame forward and down your nose instead of holding it up. You will usually feel pain on top of the ear, right where the bend digs in.
When the arms are too long, the bend sits behind the ear with nothing there to hold it. The frame slides forward on your nose and the tips stick out past your head, sometimes visible from the front. Length is one thing an optician cannot change by adjustment. If the arm itself is the wrong length, you need a different frame.
Too tight or too loose
Length is not the whole story. Splay, how far the arms angle outward at the hinge, decides whether the same length feels tight or loose. If your head is wider than the frame was built for, the arms splay out to reach your ears. That shows up as red marks or a headache at the temples, and the frame perches instead of sitting flush. If the frame is too loose, it slides the moment you look down, and you can see daylight between the arm and the side of your head.
This is a different problem from overall frame width, which is about the front of the frame matching your face. Temple splay is about the angle of the arms alone, and a good optician can adjust it with heat on acetate or pliers on metal, even when the front width is already right.
What an optician can and cannot fix
A few millimetres of bend position, the tip curve, and the splay of the arms at the hinge are all routine adjustments. Acetate frames are warmed and reshaped by hand. Metal frames are bent with pliers at the hinge and at the tip. Either job takes minutes and should cost nothing at a shop that sold you the glasses.
What adjustment cannot do is change the arm's actual length. An arm that is 10 mm too short or too long needs a different frame, or a temple swap on frames that support it. If you keep needing the same adjustment redone, the length itself is wrong, not the bend.
Temple types
Most adult glasses use skull temples: a straight arm with a single bend behind the ear, the type described above. Cable temples, sometimes called curl temples, wrap fully around the back of the ear instead of just bending. They turn up on sports glasses and children's frames, where extra grip matters more than easy removal. Straight temples, also called library temples, have no bend at all. They hold by pressure against the side of the head and slip on and off easily, which suits reading glasses more than everyday wear if you move around a lot.
Headphones, hats, and taking glasses off
If you wear over-ear headphones for long stretches, thin metal arms and a low-profile tip sit better under the headband than thick acetate. A bulky tip pressed under a headphone cup all day is a common source of ear soreness that has nothing to do with the glasses themselves being wrong.
One habit shortens the life of any temple: taking your glasses off with one hand. Pulling from one arm bends it outward over time, so the splay drifts and the fit loosens on that side first. Use both hands.
Common symptoms and fixes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Pain on top of the ear | Arms too short, bend lands before the ear | Try a longer temple length, or a different frame |
| Frame slides forward, tips stick out | Arms too long, nothing holds behind the ear | Try a shorter temple length |
| Red marks or headache at the temples | Arms splay too wide for your head | Optician narrows the splay at the hinge |
| Frame slides when you look down | Arms splay too loose, or too long | Optician tightens the splay or bend |
| Sore ears under headphones | Thick acetate arm or tip under the headband | Choose thinner metal arms and a slim tip |
SpecFit reads a frame's size stamp, including the temple length, and checks it against your face. SpecFit's face scan uses your iPhone's depth camera to measure your PD, face width, and bridge width in real millimetres, accurate to about ±1 mm. Paste a link to any glasses and the app reads the size stamp, including the temple length, and scores the fit against your face. The fit check is free. Rendering the frame on your own photo costs one credit.
Questions
What temple length should I buy?
Most adults wear 135 to 145 mm, with 140 mm the most common length. Check the third number on your current, well-fitting pair's size stamp and buy close to it.
Why do my glasses arms hurt behind my ears?
Usually the bend sits too far forward, so the tip presses into the top of the ear instead of resting behind it. It can also mean the temples are too short for your head, pulling the whole frame tight.
Can an optician fix arms that are too long or too short?
They can move the bend a few millimetres and reshape the tip, which fixes most minor discomfort. They cannot lengthen or shorten the arm itself, so a temple that is 10 mm off usually means a different frame.
Do all glasses have the same type of temple?
No. Skull temples with a simple bend are standard on adult frames. Cable temples curl fully around the ear and are common on sports and kids' glasses. Straight library temples have no bend and hold by pressure alone.