Find the right one pair of glasses is essential for your visual health. Additionally, glasses can help you highlight your personality and unique style. But even with the best care, they will inevitably face some wear and tear, requiring occasional adjustments. You may notice it’s time to make these changes when your glasses no longer matches your face and you feel too tight, too loose or appear crooked.

Luckily, you can make DIY adjustments to your glasses at home. The best part? No special tools are required.

4 ways to adjust your glasses at home

Let’s look at some ways to repair your glasses, depending on the type of problem you’re having and the material of your frames. These tips come directly from eyewear manufacturers and sellers like Parker Warby, Zenni And ExecutivesDirect.

If your glasses always slide down your nose

When your glasses slide down, it can interfere with your ability to see well and make you feel uncomfortable. Your specifications may even tend to decrease over time. Fortunately, tightening them is a fairly simple fix. For metal-framed glasses, you can use your thumbs to gently bring the nose pads together for a tighter fit. This can be a trial and error process that takes several times before you get a fit that is both functional and comfortable for you.

Plastic frames require a little more work. Start by taking a bowl of warm water and soaking your glasses for 30 seconds to a minute, taking care to avoid soaking the lenses themselves. This will help soften the ends of the temples (where they bend to fit your ear), allowing you to apply inward and downward pressure so that when you place them behind your ears, they are less likely to slide down your nose.

If your glasses are too tight

Another common problem is when glasses are too tight, creating a feeling of compression that is uncomfortable to bear. When this happens, use your thumbs to stretch the nose pads of the metal-framed glasses. This can create enough wiggle room for them to sit comfortably on your face without pinching.

Another tip for plastic frames is to soak your glasses in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 30 to 60 seconds. After soaking, apply upward and outward pressure to the ends of the temples so that they rest more comfortably on your ears without compressing your face.

If your glasses are crooked

Sometimes oopsies occur when you drop your glasses, an animal mistakes them for a chew toy, or someone sits on them, making them appear crooked. This is a relatively simple solution which will depend on the orientation of said curvature.

When you put your glasses on, if the left side is higher than the right, you can secure it by carefully bending the right temple down at the hinge or wherever it bends and is adjustable. If the right side is crooked, you can fix it by doing the same with the left arm. You may need to do this several times to get the look and comfort you need.

If your glasses pinch your nose

It’s never fun having your glasses on like someone honking at you. And if you wear a mask, having glasses that are too tight can cause foggy lenses. If this happens to you, you can simply expand the nose pads until they fit comfortably. With plastic glasses, the process is the same as loosening them in general: After soaking the frames, adjust the ends of the temples up and out.

Fixing common eyeglass issues should only take a few minutes. However, if you have an older prescription or the glasses still don’t seem comfortable after your own adjustments, you’ll want to see your optometrist, who can make changes to their end for a more comfortable fit.