gary wrote in
:

Thanks all for your suggestions.

I was able to loosen the screws just enough to get the lenses
out of the old frames and put the lenses in to the new frames
without removing the screws and having them disappear into the
carpet never to be found again.

I had a couple of problems with plastic frame recent glasses. First, the hinges were stuck. Moving them would have damaged the frame or temple bars. I tried loosening the screws and adding a drop of oil, but could not get them to budge. Eventually I got another frame from the mfr. Instructions were to run the old glasses under hot water and when flexible, pop out the lenses. While doing this I squirted some dish detergent on the glasses and instantly the hinges loosened up completely. So I ended using the original frames.

The hinges were not bend or binding -- just evidently they used the wrong lube, or glue got into them. Both hinges were like this.