Eyewear, explained
The Designer Glasses Editorial Team 
A browline frame is one where the top rim is thick, usually plastic, and shaped like an eyebrow, while the bottom half of the lens is held by a much thinner rim or bar, often metal. The contrast between heavy top and light bottom is the whole point — it reads as bold from the … Read more
A cat-eye frame is any pair of glasses where the top rim sweeps up and outward at the outer corners, ending in a point or a flick rather than curving back down. That upswept line is the whole definition — everything else, from colour to rim depth, is variation on it. The shape dates to … Read more
A round frame is one where the lens shape is a true or near-true circle, with no flat edges and no dominant horizontal or vertical stretch. It flatters faces with strong angles — square jaws, pronounced cheekbones, a defined brow — by softening them, which is why it tends to sit best on angular rather … Read more
The difference comes down to how much of the lens edge is covered by frame material. A full rim frame encloses the entire lens in plastic or metal. A half rim (or semi-rimless) frame holds the lens along the top only, with the bottom edge exposed or held by a thin wire or nylon cord. … Read more
The numbers stamped inside a temple arm — something like 52□18-140 — describe the frame’s physical dimensions, not the prescription. The first figure is lens width, the second is bridge width, and the last is temple (arm) length, all in millimetres. They tell you how the frame is built, not how well you’ll see through … Read more
About what you read here. Everything on The Designer Glasses is general information and our own editorial opinion. We research carefully and we say when the evidence is unclear, but we can be wrong, things change, and no article can know your particular situation. Please do your own research and make your own judgement rather than treating anything here as the final word. This is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not a substitute for speaking to an optometrist, optician or eye doctor about your own eyes, vision and eyewear. We are writers and researchers, not clinicians. We do not recommend prescription treatments or give doses. If something is painful, getting worse, or worrying you, please talk to a professional — going early is not an overreaction.