Nobody wants to replace their eyeglasses more often than necessary, especially if you have expensive prescriptive lenses. Like other delicate accessories, properly cleaning your eyeglasses isn’t intuitive and requires more thoughtful care. Most eyeglasses are made from synthetic materials instead of actual glass, making them incompatible with standard glassware care techniques.
Gentle Liquids
All eyeglasses become periodically dirty. Wash your hands thoroughly to remove any surface grit or irritants and run both sides of each lenses under warm water. If soiling remains, gently massage each lens with a pea-sized amount of non-concentrated, lotion-free hand soap and rinse thoroughly. Soaps with lotion can leave oily residues and concentrated varieties are too strong for the sensitive coating of your eyeglasses.
Designated Cleaning Fabrics
Clean your eyeglasses with gentle, lint-free cloths, microfiber towels or specially designed cleaning fabrics available at your optometrist’s office. Protecting your eyeglasses means protecting the cloth that cleans them. Store your lens cleaning cloth in a small pouch or carrying case so it remains free of small particles. Wash your lens cleaning cloth by hand as necessary with a mild, lotion-free hand soap. The fabric softening residue in your laundry can leave annoying streaks on your lenses.
Don’t Improvise Cleaning Tools
You’ve probably seen people whip out tissues and vigorously massage their eyeglasses. Don’t do this. Facial tissues can have lotion or oil and like all paper, are made from tiny wooden fibers. Over time these fibers can scrape your lenses, causing small scratches over the surface area. You’ve probably also seen someone, in a moment of desperation, clean his lenses with the hem of his shirt. Clothing material fibers store small pieces of grit which can easily scratch your lenses.
Do Not Improvize Cleaners
Modern eyeglass lenses are made from synthetic materials such as plastic, not glass, making glass cleaner an ineffective and harmful cleaning solution. Commercial glass cleaners are harsh and can corrode the anti-glare coating on your lenses. For a more portable cleaning option, purchase a box of single-wrapped eyeglass cleaning solution wipes. You can also purchase a lens cleaning spray from your optometrist specifically for deep cleaning.