Scratch Analysis
Most scratches on eyeglass lenses are caused by wiping the lenses. Very few are caused by contact with substances with a high coefficient of friction or hard substances.
Typically, most of the dirt on your lenses is oil from your eyelashes, keratin from your face, fine grit from the air, and dander from your head. Of these, it is the fine grit that poses the greatest threat to your lenses.
The eyeglass cloth that most people use is the one that is given to them when they buy eyeglasses. These cloths are used to wrap the glasses to prevent the lenses from receiving scratches.
Generally speaking, this cloth is not suitable for wiping lenses because the fabric is rough. The cost of cloths suitable for wiping lenses is higher, and usually optical stores will sell them separately.
Some people use clothespins, T-shirts, and face towels as well as paper towels for convenience, but these are not suitable for wiping lenses.
The fibers of these materials are very rough when you zoom in and use them directly to wipe glasses, even if there is no dust on the surface of the lenses, the coating will be rubbed out over time.
The coating on the surface of the lens is very fragile. When people use the wrong kind of cloth to wipe their glasses, in the long run, the coating and lenses inside will be more vulnerable to damage as the outermost layer of the protective coating is damaged. This creates a vicious cycle of broken lenses, resulting in insufficient light intake, blurred vision, poor wearing experience, and more likely to aggravate myopia or bring about vision problems.
How to Properly Wipe Your Glasses
- Use a special eyeglass cloth to gently wipe your glasses.
- When there is a stain, spray on the special glasses cleaning spray and let it stand for 2 minutes before gently wiping it with a glasses cloth. Avoid using paper towels and clothes corners to wipe the lenses.
- You can rinse the lenses with water and then use a special eyeglass cloth to gently wipe off the water droplets on the surface of the lenses.
How to Protect Your Glasses
- Eyeglass lenses are very fragile, we should try to put the glasses into the case after removing them, if there is no case, we should make sure that the lenses are placed face up.
- The plastic eyeglasses case given away by the optical store may not be lined, and the lenses are easily scratched, so be sure to wrap a piece of eyeglasses cloth around your glasses.
- If you don’t have the convenience of taking your glasses case with you when you go out, don’t put it in your pocket when you take off your glasses, it’s better to carry a glasses bag with you.
All of these methods will go a long way to protecting your glasses from scratches and will increase the life of your glasses. We consulted a professional optometrist and the feedback we got was that the life of glasses is usually 3-4 years, so if you’ve been using your glasses for longer than that then you should consider getting a new pair.
