How to clean Glasses Correctly

Daily cleaning of your eyeglasses is the best method to keep your vision looking great and prevent scratches or other eyewear damage.

Let’s go over some of the right and wrong ways when it comes to cleaning your glasses.

How to properly clean your glasses

Following these helpful tips to clean your eyeglass lenses and frames will prevent the risk of scratching the lenses or accidental damage. Our goal is to keep your eyewear, sunglasses, sports eyewear and safety glasses in great shape.

1. Clean and dry your hands

-Before cleaning your glasses it is important to make sure your hands are dirt, grime, and lotion free to insure that nothing is transferred to your lenses. Wash your hands with lotion-free soap or dishwashing liquid soap, dry your hands using a lint-free towel.

2. Give your glasses a good rinse

-Rinse lenses and frame under room temp or lukewarm water. Rinsing removes dust, and debris, which helps to avoid scratching the lenses of your glasses while cleaning. Try to not use Hot water, which can damage lens coatings or distort frame shape.

3. Suds up your lenses!

-Apply a drop of lotion-free dishwashing liquid to each lens, small enough to sit in the center of the lens without touching the frame. Use only brands that do not include lotions.

4. Get to scrubbing!

-Wet your finger tips with water and gently rub both sides of the lenses and every part of the frame. Don’t forget to clean the nose pads and the temples where they rest on your ears. Also clean where the lens edge meets the frame-dirt grime and dust commonly accumulate here.

5. Rinse again.

-You must remove all traces of soap, or else the lenses will smear when attempting to dry them.

6. Dry your lenses.

-Using lint-free towel that has not been laundered with fabric softener or dryer sheets. Make sure it is perfectly clean. A cotton towel is a good choice or micro fiber cloth. Dirt or debris on a used towel can scratch your lenses, cooking oil, skin oil or lotion in the towel will smear them. Please don’t use your shirt. J

7. Observe your clean eyewear.

-Admire your handy work. If streaks of smudges persist remove them with a clean dry microfiber cloth, you can also use individually packaged pre-moistened disposable lens wipes.

Avoid – Using a used cloth or shirt to clean your glasses.

Avoid- Saliva to wet lenses for cleaning.

Avoid- using household glasses or surface cleaning sprays on your eyeglasses. Many products can damage eyeglass coatings, like your Anti-Glare coating.

Avoid- Paper products, paper towels, napkins, tissues or toilet paper to clean your lenses. These products are made of wood fibers and can scratch your lenses, or leave behind lint.

Avoid-Attempting to buff or sand away scratches, this will not work and may damage the lens further.

Side Tips: cleaners and cleaning cloths

If your lenses have anti-reflective (AR) coating, make sure the eyeglass cleaner you choose is approved for use on anti-reflective lenses check the label.

If using individually packaged, pre-moistened disposable lens cleaning wipes, first inspect the lenses for dust or debris. To avoid scratches, blow any debris off the lenses before cleaning them.

Microfiber cleaning cloths are an approved choice for cleaning glasses. These cloths dry the lenses very effectively and trap oils to avoid smearing.

But because they trap debris so effectively, make sure you clean the cloths frequently. Hand-wash the cloth using lotion-free dishwashing liquid and clean water; allow the cloth to air dry. Never through theses cloths in the drying machine.

Scratched lenses?

There is no magic cure for scratched lenses. Once a lens is scratched, its permanent damage and replacement lenses are necessary to correct the issue. Scratches can affect the impact resistance of your lenses too. For the best safety and vision if your lenses have significant scratches have your lenses professionally replaced.  

Glasses don't last forever

All eyeglass lenses will get a few scratches over time from normal use and exposure to the environment — and from occasionally getting dropped or misplaced. Eyeglasses lenses are scratch resistant, not scratch-proof.

When purchasing glasses, ask your eyewear salesperson about anti-scratch warranties for your lenses. This is especially important for children's eyeglasses or if you wear glasses in dusty conditions.

Following the above tips is the best way to keep your glasses clean and scratch-free for as long as possible.

If your lenses are badly scratched and your eyeglass prescription has expired — or you simply want new glasses — schedule an eye exam today! 

Author

Domenico Rinaldi, OD Dr. Rinaldi received a BA in Biology from Whittier College and went on to receive a doctorate in Optometry from the Southern California College of Optometry. Dr. Rinaldi completed his rotations at Ocular disease intense sites, including several Local Veteran Hospitals (LA ambulatory and Long beach VAs), and has worked with Ophthalmology co-managements helping to diagnose Retinal detachments, Diabetic Retinopathy and Age-Related Macular Degeneration, his studies and interest are in ocular health and vision preservation. Dr. Rinaldi strives to make every patient's experience fantastic. "Patient satisfaction and education is the most important aspect of my office visits, I believe it is important that my patients understand how their eyes function and walk away feeling empowered to protect the health/clarity of their vision."