I am curious if anyone has any tried and true ways to clean your eyeglasses outside of spending extra money for the solutions that the eyewear store carries.
I use a microfiber cloth so as not to tempt any interuption of coatings as my usual way to clean the very visable goop (mascara flakes, oils from skin, etc.) but want a cheap and easy alternative to the solutions.
Is dish soap okay for your basic plastic lenses with UV and scratch resistant coatings? I don’t want to disturb the coating and find that I have very small spots on my glasses that produce a little glare at night I would like to get rid of.
I use soap and dry with a cloth towel. After a few years you get fine scratches, but by then my perscription has changed and I need new glasses anyway.
I travel a good bit for work and always pick up the shoe polish mitt supplied in the hotel room. They are made of a very soft, virtually lint free cloth and make excellent eyeglass cleaners. I keep one in my car (I only use my glasses when driving). I have never used cleaning solution or liquid of any kind and have never had the cloth scratch a lens.
I’ve had no problems using dish soap on coated glasses. It works pretty well. I can’t overstate the importance of not using paper towels, tissues, etc, to clean coated lenses. I ruined my last pair (they had an anti-glare coating) by wiping them too often with tissue paper.
Just FYI, the cloth I am using is really made for camara lenses but I purchased two of them years ago at an eyewear store. I wish I could find the other one, one for the purse the other for the home territory.
Since I just bought these glasses, and they aren’t cheap, I will take very good care of these
Thank you though, I will go clean them now with some regular soap and water – with a delicate touch of course.
I run mine under the water then use a paper towel to dry them off. I have very small scratches on them but they might be from other things. plus I’ve had them for two mabe three years now. going to get new ones on Monday. I’ve always done this, but I don’t think they have a coating to them.
I agree with Doctor Jackson on this one, those little shoe shine cloths are great. Never found a scratch. I should add that I pretty much only wear my glasses at night though, so I usually just give them a quick rub of the cloth once a day.
I use a dab or two of Dawn with very warm water. Sometimes I use a shammy, but usually just a paper towel. I have plastic lenses with UV coating (about three years old). No scratches or problems.
Thanks Lib, that’s exactly what I have. I just need to remember not to put so much of it on.
I have used it a lot on my old glasses but those were ugly, scratched and were intended as a back up only. I ended up wearing them for 4 years though. No scratch coating or anything.
I used to grab whatever happened to be handy to get the goop off. Tissue and paper towels are a bad idea though, there are wood fibers in them and they scratch plastic pretty easily.
From my experience cleaning extremely high grade optics back in the Air Force, I can give you the expert recommendation that an old t-shirt is without question the best cloth you can get. It is easily obtainable, it costs very little, and you can wear it till you need it.
It does need to be the right fabric type, though. A nice thick cotton does great. As far as cleaning solution? Water vapor from breath. If you keep the hairspray off of them, that will do nicely. When you take them to the optician’s for a cleaning, have them tossed in the ultrasonic bath for a minute. That’ll get the oils out of the frame. (worked in an optometrist’s office, also)
I wash mine in the shower with shampoo. That way I have plenty of water to rinse them with before and after using the shampoo. I dry them with clean towel or clean cotton underwear. That seems to work fine; no scratches and no spots. However, my plastic lenses always wear out after 3-4 years anyway (with scratches and spots) but that seems to happen regardless of what I pay for them, what kind of a coating they have, or how I clean them. I think if you want (daily use) glasses that will last longer than 3-4 years you’ve got to buy glass lenses.
I use dish detergent and water to wash mine, and a coffee filter to dry them. The filters are mostly lint-free, cheap, and surprisingly absorbent. I have metal rims, which have an unfortunate tendency to form verdigris, probably because of the way I clean them. I simply remove the lenses and clean out the gunk every couple of months.
I asked this to a few people and everyone seems to agree on one thing: never wipe it dry. Breathing on the lens is fine, since it’s distilled water - as clean as anything gets.
Also, optical coatings can be damaged by heat. I wouldn’t clean glasses in the shower or bath.
Wait a gosh darned moment here… you have to WASH your lenses? My doctor told me anytime they got really dirty that meant they were going bad and I needed to buy a new pair… Damnit.
No wonder those doctors drive them fancy cars
on a more serious note windex seems to work on them too … and I use tissues… paper towels/napkins tend to scratch up the lenses (in fact mine are pretty scratched up and they are only a year old…)
I have found these at Costco and find they work perfectly. They are a combination of the cloth and the solution and they are from Bausch and Lomb so I trust em. No scratches yet.
Avoid using polyester cloth for cleaning your glasses. Polyester is much harder than glass or plastic, and it will leave micro-scratches in the surface.
Try using a “medi-prep” swab.(used in hospitals mainly) These are swabs which have been impregnated with 2% Chlorhexidine. They dry without smearing and stay clean for ages!
BTW…these are Australian I think…don’t know if u can get them!
