I have anti-reflective lenses and need to figure out an effective way to clean them.
I got the cleaning part down, but I can’t seem to dry them. When I use the cloth that came with the glasses it seems to make things worst. Hand washing the cloth doesn’t work, but using a washing machine gives me good results only for a couple of days. Maybe I just don’t know how to hand wash a lens cloth?
The method I use to clean them is soap and water, as that was the cheap consensus from my internet research.
Get some cotton hankerchieves (hankerchiefs?). I’m totally with you on those anti-static cloth-lets that come with glasses. Hap’s sleeve idea isn’t a good one because snot can migrate higher up than you might realize with a good solid nose-smear.
I wash them by rubbing a drop of dish washing detergent on them under a running tap. Then I fold them up grab them by the nose piece and vigorously shake them once or twice. That gets them dry enough to use and they just air dry the remainder of the water while on me.
I usually just wash then with soap when I’m washing my face, and wipe them off with either a tissue or paper towel, depending on whether the paper towel is too soggy to effectively dry anything.
I highly recommend microfiber towels. They are cheap, they do not scratch, and they work better than anything I have found. You get them in the housewares section of your grocery or hardware store.
A couple of squirts from a bottle of eyeglass cleaner bought at the optician. I bought some cheap men’s handkerchiefs (another one for the list of Rapidly Disappearing Products, but they can still be found) and keep one next to the bottle for wiping the lenses clean.
Either soap and water or Walgreens brand eyeglass cleaner. Spray each side of each lens, and dry with toilet paper (not from the bathroom, from my own roll reserved for this purpose).
My glasses are anti-reflective coated too, and I’ve never needed anything more than a microfiber cloth to swipe the lenses clean. No water, no spray, no mess.
I do the same, and was beginning to wonder before this post as to whether I’d be thought of as “gross” for it. Any dirt I get on them wipes right off with my cloth, even dried-on tears and dog drool.
Several sources say that paper is much more abrasive on optical surfaces than cotton cloth, so I use cotton cloth. I used to buy special eyeglass cleaning spray (a product made by Flents) but it is hard enough to find that I tried using isopropanol (rubbing alcohol instead), and found that it works very well.
I wear white cotton underwear, so there is a steady stream of clean cotton available for this process. I squirt isopropanol onto two 1" spots a few inches apart, put my finger and thumb under the two spots, and use them both at the same time to clean first one lens and then the other. I move as quickly as possible to dry spots and use those to dry the lenses. Then I leave the underwear to dry in my closet. They are then the underwear I wear the next day.
I think this represents some kind of pinnacle of personal efficiency. It is pretty nearly the only aspect of my life that is efficient, and I ain’t lettin it go.
Hmm, not sure this will help, but my husband does it for me. This is because I am absolutely atrocious at cleaning glass. So every so often he’ll just whip 'em off my face and rub them on his t-shirt. A t-shirt is actually really very effective.
Not really, hubby pulls up his t-shirt, you get all aflutter at his sculptured abs and can’t see straight for a while and think your glasses are cleaner. Or not. It’s your call.
I use Kimwipes, which are a little expensive but worth it IMO. And they can be re-used so they’re less expensive than you’d think. Using clothing and such leads to scratched lenses, for me at least.
I rinse them with water and dry them with an older cotton dishtowel that is still absorbent. I have heard that it is unwise to use paper towels because apparently some of them can have metallic fibers in them. Don’t remember where I heard that from.
Slight hijack re reflective coating - I am having a hard time driving at night, now that it’s completely dark by 5. All the street lights and head lights freak me out, especially if it’s raining. Would anti-reflective coating help that? I don’t remember considering it as an option when I bought these $500 bad boys.
Yup, it’ll help. And there’s absolutely no reason anyone should have to spend hundreds of dollars on glasses. Check out Glassyeyes Blog. I’ve ordered half a dozen pair of glasses from the sites listed there and I’ve been very happy. I think the most I spent on a single pair was around $40, and some I got as cheap as $12 a pair.
I remember reading this in a post a couple of months or so ago, and I will definitely consider it. However, it isn’t my frames that were pricey. I have an obscenely strong correction. I think the frames were $125 and the lenses $375. Thanks for the link; I haven’t looked at it yet but will later.
The place I order mine from, the most expensive lenses are an additional $60, and that’s for progressive lenses + photochromic. Anti-reflective coating is $5 extra. Brick and mortar eyeglass stores completely rip you off on the cost of both lenses and frames.