Common questions about glasses

It’s a good idea to give your glasses a daily quick, light clean and a more thorough cleaning weekly. This should keep them dirt and smudge-free.

Use lukewarm running water and add a drop of dish soap to your fingers, gently rub the lenses with the soap and then run the glasses under running water to remove the soap suds. Give them a gentle shake and leave to air dry.

Always wet your glasses before any vigorous wiping or rubbing. Cleaning glasses when they’re dry will often result in spreading debris across the lenses and frame rather than removing it.

If there’s debris trapped in the small nooks of your frame (such as where the frame meets the lenses or around the hinges), try using a damp cotton swab to gently clean out these areas before the first rinse.

If your glasses have nose pads, it’s a good idea to wipe them too – because they’re in contact with your skin they often accumulate more dirt and oil than other parts of the frame.

Your glasses are supplied with a cloth, washing your cleaning cloth often is a good idea. The cloth traps dust and will eventually spread it over your glasses if it isn’t clean.

Avoid these cleaning practices as they can harm your eyewear.

• Don’t wipe your lenses with part of your shirt, or clothing. Clothing fabric isn’t created to clean glasses lenses and can scratch them.
• Don’t use any cleaning products other than dishwashing liquid or glasses cleaning solution. Products such as acetone, alcohol, and household glass cleaners can damage lens coatings.
• Don’t use your own saliva.
• If you live in a hard water area, consider cleaning your glasses with distilled water.
• Don’t use paper towels, tissue paper, toilet paper, or serviettes to wipe your lenses. They may feel soft, but they can scratch lenses and often leave small bits of paper behind.

If you notice scratches on your lenses, do not try to rub or buff them out, you’ll probably only make them worse. Take your glasses to your optometrist and ask them to check the lenses.

In the first 6 months of receiving your new glasses, See Optometry invite you to come back to have your glasses re-adjusted and polished so they look and feel like new.

We use specialised tools to perfect the frame fit, and an ultrasonic cleaner to get into all the nooks and crannies of the glasses, including under the nose pads, and between the lens and the frame.

There are no limits to how often you can use this service. You can book online to get your glasses cleaned and adjusted – book your appointment now.

If you need to clean your glasses while you’re out and about, you could try an alcohol-free spray cleaner. This can be used on glasses, sunglasses, safety eyewear and sports eyewear.

See Optometry give all our patients who have glasses a free bottle of specially-made glasses cleaner that they should use to clean their glasses. We refill their glasses cleaner for free, no limits, no questions asked. If you have glasses, it’s a good idea to use this free service – and you don’t have to make an appointment, just pop in when you need more cleaning solutions.

To clean with the solution, first gently blow on each lens, then spray the solution onto your microfibre cloth and wipe the lens dry.

Leftover soap residue can cause streaks and smudges on your glasses lenses when they dry.

Streaks on your lenses could obscure your vision, so it’s best to make sure you rinse the soap from your lenses properly for a streak-free finish.

If you notice streaks when you put on your glasses, run them under lukewarm water again, shake the water drops off them and leave to air dry.

We wouldn’t recommend that.

Hand sanitisers are usually alcohol-based. The alcohol could damage the coatings on your lenses that help you see clearer.

The best way to disinfect your glasses is to use warm soapy water.

We wouldn’t recommend using alcohol wipes or rubbing alcohol to clean your glasses.

Alcohol can be quite harsh, so using it on your glasses could damage the specialist materials and lens coatings that help to correct your vision.

Your lenses may be in need of a good clean, especially if they have smudges from greasy fingertips.

Your lenses will fog-up when you’re moving between hot and cold environments (or using a face mask), cleaning them with an anti-fog lens wipe or spray can prevent them fogging up in the future.

If you’ve cleaned your lenses a few times, and they still appear foggy, they could be damaged, so take them into your optometrist for a closer look at what could be the cause. Try to do this asap as foggy lenses can obstruct and obscure your vision

Your glasses fog up when warm air comes in contact with the cooler surface of the lenses of your glasses. The most effective ways to keep your glasses fog free include:

Soap and Water
Gently wash your glasses with mild soap and warm water. Ensure that there aren’t any soap suds left on the lens, shake off the excess water and let them air dry. The soap leaves behind a thin film that acts as a fog barrier to prevent your glasses from getting foggy.

Anti-fog Products
Anti-fog spray or wipes work well by dispersing the fog droplets from your lenses. Spray on both sides of the lens after cleaning. You may need to repeat the spray a few times.
See Optometry also have anti-fog cloths which are great for reducing foggy lenses, the cloths were used throughout COVID masking and we can attest that the cloths worked really well.

Anti-fog Lenses
These are lenses made with an anti-fog coating. The coating can be useful if you find yourself with foggy lenses from playing sport, cooking, or wearing a face mask.

You can clean sunglasses in the exact same way that you’d clean glasses: rinsing with warm water and gently rubbing with dishwashing liquid.

Blue light glasses can be cleaned just like “regular” glasses: with a good rinse and a small amount of soap that won’t damage lens coatings.

The best way to keep your glasses clean when not wearing them is to store them in a hard glasses case with the lenses facing up.