Prescription eyeglasses can cost a pretty penny and most have plastic lenses which scratch more easily than glass. It’s abundantly clear that you need to protect this important investment from breakage and other damage you may not even be aware is happening.
Follow these tips to protect your eyeglasses from being damaged.
Things to Avoid
Damage to your eyeglasses can happen by doing the following:
- Wiping your lenses when they’re dry. Debris on the lens surface or dust in the cleaning cloth can cause scratches and there’s no cure for scratches.
- Wiping lenses with paper products like tissues, paper towels or paper napkins can also cause scratches.
- Using ammonia, bleach, vinegar or window cleaner on your lenses. These products can harm lenses and their coatings.
- Spitting on your lenses to clean them. Saliva may contain oil or other things that are damaging to lenses.
- Putting unprotected glasses in a purse, pocket or bag.
- Regularly leaving glasses on a sink or vanity top. Spatter, sprays and cosmetics can soil them. Hair spray and perfume can damage anti-reflective coatings.
- Leave your glasses in a hot car, especially on the top of the dashboard. Windshields act like magnifying lenses.
Protecting Lenses from Scratches
It’s very important to protect your lenses from scratches because, in addition to reflecting light and interfering with your vision, scratches can also affect the impact resistance or a lens.
Eyeglass lenses are scratch-resistant, not scratch-proof. All lenses will get a few scratches over time from normal use, exposure to the environment and being dropped on occasion.
If you notice substantial scratches on your lenses, it’s best to buy new ones. It’s the only way to ensure the best possible vision and safety.
Purchasing Pointers
If you need to buy new lenses, choose ones that have a durable scratch-resistant coating and ask if your purchase includes an anti-scratch warranty. This is especially important for a child’s eyeglasses or if you wear your glasses in dusty environments and scratched lenses have been an issue in the past.
Use a Protective Storage Case
Always store your eyeglasses in a clean eyeglass case whenever you take them off. Lenses can be easily scratched if you don’t keep them somewhere safe. When you take them off at bedtime, use the storage case provided at the time of purchase or, if you don’t have a case, put them upside down with the sidebars open, somewhere safe where they won’t be accidentally knocked off of a table or countertop.
Never place your eyeglasses on a table with the lenses facing down.
Your eyeglasses won’t last forever, but you can help them to last at least until your prescription calls for a new pair.
