I have worked as an optician for many years. I am asked daily about the best way to clean glasses.
I am most concerned about keeping the lenses scratch free, so I suggest all lenses are to be first rinsed with water, then wiped with a soft cloth. At my workplace, we use a soft liquid soap (anything mild) over the lenses, frame AND nosepads, then we spray with a mixture of 2/3 water and 1/3 alcohol. We use old cloth diapers for wiping.
You can make your own spray at a fraction of the cost of the prefilled type. Those lens "papers" are a bane to plastic lenses and will just grind the dust into the lens, creating scratches.
Silicone nosepads are very popular today. They work well ONLY if they are kept clean. Over time the pads will develop a green residue, this is not your fault, this is just the combo of chemicals and metal. Have your nosepads changed regularly. My office does this free of charge for anyone.
Take advantage of the free service an optician offers, such as
Lose a screw in the temple? Quick fix? Tiny gold safety pin, or "sew" the two pieces together at the matching holes. Even a wire twisty tie is a good quick fix.
I have more tricks and ideas. If you have a question, post feedback.
(below 0 today in Alaska)
By Kelly Ross from Anchorage, AK
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I really enjoyed your very interesting tips. Please do more.
Have a question for you Kelly. If your plastic lens already have scratches on them, is there anything you can do to reverse this, without having to purchase new lens? They're not even a year old yet. We took them in to the eye care place and the lady told my husband...too bad, you scratched them, now buy a new pair! Lotta help that was!
Thanks for any help...you can email me directly at..
ucmelaffn @ aol DOT com
To dry my glasses I use a Dust Remover aerosol can that is just air in a can under pressure to dry the glasses instead of using a cloth.The product is available from Wal Mart and Staples by 3M and Clean Safe.
Thank you for the GREAT tips. My question is the same as Michele's. Does mayo work? I have heard of using that for scratches. Thank you in advance.
Great suggestions! Thanks for posting them to the list.
Thanks Kelly for all the helpful advice. I myself clean my glasses with individually packaged lens cloths by Zeiss. I get them at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club. I used to use pieces of torn up undershirts (my husband's old worn out ones) but I find these pre-moistened cloths to be the ultimate in convenience. I clean both my glasses and my son's with one cloth.
They are very handy in my purse or toiletry bag when traveling. I even keep some in the mini-van!
They are non-abrasive and especially good on the anti-reflective coating. They don't leave any streaks or residue.
Also, they can be used on binoculars and scopes, camera lenses, etc.
I suppose they are not frugal but they are worth it to me.
Oh and by the way, I was told by an optician not to use a cloth that was washed or dried with fabric softener. I think it will scratch.
I have the same question, can the scratches be taken out of lens once you have them on there?
Thank you for the tips especially the formula for cleaning. I also am interested in scratches.
ahillman AT earthlink.net
Thank you
To all regarding scratches:
Unfortunately, there is nothing to remove scratches from eyeglass lenses. There are some products on the market that fill in scratches ( similar to the mayo trick and similar to furniture polish) The results are poor.
Hi,
If you have scratched lenses, first of all, before doing anything, go to your optician where you bought your glasses and see if there is WARRANTY on it. Any polycarbonate lenses have 1 year standard warranty on scratches or defects.
If you have an a/r coating and it is peeling off, its most likely an older type of a/r coating, often sold by 'discount' optical stores. Never the less, the older anti glare coatings normally have one year warranty on scratches or defects, premium a/r have two year warrany on it, Crizal Alize or Clearguard even have lifetime warranty on the coating, limited for as long as you use the same prescription in the same frame.
Plastic lenses without a/r coat for just distance, reading or line bifocal don't have any warranty. Plastic scratches pretty easy. Polycarbonate is a harder material and comes standard with a scratchproof coating and one year warranty.
If you have photogray lenses from plastic, they do include a scratch resistant coating and one year warranty.
If you are out of warranty bring the glasses back to your optician anways, they can remove the a/r coating for you if you like, usually at no charge.
Scratches usually get on your lenses if you clean them in the wrong way. Especially if you live in a place where there is alot of sand and dust in the air. The sand and dust sits on your lenses. If you clean your lenses just with a dry cloth or so, you will create scratches in one of the many coatings lenses have (even if you don't have an a/r coating, your lenses normally have at least 4/5 different layers of coatings).
Clean your glasses with water and soap in the morning. Use dishsoap, the cheapest kind, not anti bacterial or with moisturizers or so. The water will rins off the dust and sand of your lenses, also your frame will stay in a better condition this way, because all of your scin acids/salt get rinsed off.
And last, do not use a paper towell, paper contains wood fibers, they can scratch up your lenses eventually.
~Marty
Optician
I have a pair of polarized sunglasses that were accidentally sprayed with a bleach/water solution. The lenses have spots on them now that won't come off with a simple cleaning with mild soap and water. Any suggestions?
Thanks for the tips. I just recently started wearing glasses and I wasn't sure what was safe to use to clean them. Thanks
My glasses have an acryllic type coating that has started spotting is there a chemical I can buy to try and remove? Either way the glasses can't be worn now because it's getting to bad.
Sincerely,
Tracey
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