02 Feb How to Take Care of Your Eyeglass Lenses

Prescription glasses have become quite expensive lately due to the current inflation worldwide. A good pair of glasses can cost you as much as $1000, and most have plastic eyeglass lenses as it is safe for the human eye in case of an accident. The downside to using plastic in making eyeglass lenses is that any mishandling may lead to a scratch on this intricate apparatus which will, in turn, cause trouble for the wearer (Best 2020). 

So what should we do to properly clean them in case they get wet or dirty? Some tips and tricks will let you take care of your eyeglass lenses so that no harm will come to them (Wallace and OD 2010).

DO’s

• Do clean lenses regularly with warm water and a drop of dish detergent, then dry with a clean, soft cotton cloth, like a handkerchief, or a microfiber cloth. Launder any cloth routinely according to the manufacturer’s instructions. A small bottle of lens cleaner is convenient when you’re out and about, but is it better? “Most work very well, but there’s no great advantage over liquid soap,” says Lee Duffner, an ophthalmologist in Hollywood, Fla., and a spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
• Do not use hard case shells to keep your eyeglass lenses in them. Use a soft pouch, preferably a leather one. This looks classy and protects your spectacles from scratches, too, as the eyeglass lenses do not have to come into contact with any hard surfaces inside the case.
• When putting the glasses on a table when not in use, make sure the lenses face upwards and are not scratched against the surface of the table.
• Do use both hands to put glasses on and take them off, and keep glasses on your nose, not on your head. Otherwise, frames can become misaligned. Even clean lenses are less than effective if they aren’t positioned properly in front of the eyes.

DONT’s

• Do not wipe the eyeglass lenses when they are dry as any debris can scratch the surface of the lens and leave scratch marks. Always use a lens cleaner or soap and gently wipe with a soft cloth, preferably a microfiber cloth which retails as low as $1.
• Don’t use ammonia, bleach, or window cleaner to clean the lenses as they have a protective layer on them which can be damaged by the use of harsh cleaning materials not intended to be used on an eyeglass lens.
• Don’t spit on your lens. While spit is a handy cleaning solution, “saliva may contain oil or something else that’s damaging,” says American Optometric Association spokeswoman Susan Thomas (Editor 2012). Exhaling on lenses before cleaning doesn’t get them very wet, and the association doesn’t recommend it.
• Always use a soft pouch when putting the glasses in a pocket. Make sure you do not put your glasses in the same pocket in which you have your keys.
• Don’t regularly put your glasses on a sink or a vanity as spatter, sprays, and cosmetics can soil lenses. Hair spray or perfume can damage the anti-reflective coating of the lenses.
• Don’t leave glasses in a hot car. The windshield may act as a magnifier lens and will be able to damage the eyeglass lenses in the spectacles with the sunrays.