If you wear glasses, you’ll be familiar with the problem of your lenses fogging up – often at the most inconvenient time – that has you fumbling to wipe your glasses clean. If you think that this annoying fogging is just part and parcel of wearing spectacles, you’ll be happily surprised to learn that there’s an easy way to solve this issue!
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Below, we’ve got everything you need to know about anti-fog cloths for glasses that could make that infuriating fogging a thing of the past!
Why Do Glasses Fog Up?
There are many reasons that glasses fog up, and understanding why it happens is important in terms of preventing it.
Change in Temperature
You’ll no doubt have noticed that your glasses fog up when you come indoors if the weather outside is cold. Wondering why this happens? It’s because the change in temperature causes condensation. When you come into a warm space, the condensation caused by the cold weather turns into tiny water droplets that appear as fog or mist on the lenses of your glasses. High humidity conditions will usually have the same fogging effect.
Wearing Your Glasses too Close to Your Face
If your lenses sit too close to your face, this decreases airflow, meaning the condensation caused by your breath can cause the lenses to fog up. Wearing a facemask can lessen airflow and is a common reason for glasses fog.
Dirt on the Lenses
Dirty lenses tend to be much more liable to fogging up than those kept clean. This is largely because condensation can adhere more easily to any tiny particles of debris present on the lenses.
What is an Anti-Fog Cloth for Glasses?
An anti-fog cloth is an effective way to prevent fog from occurring on glasses lenses – using such a cloth can typically keep your glasses from fogging up for up to 48 hours with a single application. You can purchase anti-fogging clothes for spectacles from your ophthalmologist or an online glasses retailer such as Glasses USA.
Most anti-fog cloths contain a solution that acts as a barrier coating for the lens, offsetting the particles of moisture that could otherwise adhere to them, causing the dreaded fogging. As a handy bonus, using an anti-fog cloth can help prevent smearing and the accumulation of dirt on the lenses, too.
How to Use an Anti-Fog Cloth
It’s easy to use an anti-fog cloth. Start by washing and drying your hands, and then thoroughly cleaning and dry your glasses with a soft cloth, ideally of the microfiber variety. Next, lightly breathe on the lenses so they mist up. Before this mist disappears, gently wipe the front of the lenses with the anti-fog cloth, and then do the same on the other side of the lenses. And you’re done! You’ll now be able to enjoy fog-free lenses for the next couple of days. Most anti-fog clothes are small enough to store in your spectacles case for added convenience.
Children shouldn’t use anti-fog clothes, which aren’t suitable for contact lenses. These clothes shouldn’t be washed or rinsed between uses; once a cloth is ineffective, they should be safely disposed of.
Other Ways to Prevent Your Glasses from Fogging Up
As well as regularly using an anti-fog cloth, you can take several other steps to help prevent your glasses from fogging up.
Ensure a Proper Fit
As we mentioned above, glasses that sit too close to your face will be particularly liable to fogging, so simply ensuring that your spectacles fit correctly is one of the easiest ways to minimize fogging.
Keep Your Glasses Cleaned
We also discussed how simply keeping your specs clean can significantly reduce their fogging propensity. Get into the habit of thoroughly cleaning your glasses several times a week. This can be done with warm water, a gentle detergent, and a microfiber cloth. Get into all the nooks and crannies while cleaning, and dry thoroughly afterward for the best results.
Don’t Put Your Specs on Top of Your Head
It’s so easy to do – we all occasionally push our glasses onto the top of our heads. However, this practice can also contribute to fogging, aside from causing wear and tear to the frames. This is because we lose as much as 10% of our body heat from our heads, so when they’re perched up there, your glasses will pick up much more condensation, which equals fogging.
Anti-Fogging Cloths for Glasses: The Takeaway
Fogging up is the bane of the glasses-wearers life. Stepping into the office from outside, wearing a face mask, or simply pushing our specs too far up our noses can all cause annoying fogging that can have us struggling to see clearly and frantically wiping our lenses as a result.
Using an anti-fog cloth is a quick, easy, cheap, and convenient way to prevent fogging for up to 48 hours, so you can get on with your day, whatever the weather is like outside.
