Here’s How To Keep Your Face Mask From Fogging Up Your Eyeglasses

Fact: We’re going to be wearing face masks for the foreseeable future.

Have you been to the grocery store without one on? Yes, everyone there was giving you the stink eye, secretly hoping that you get COVID-19. Some might even have been thinking that you need a good punch for not having sense to don a mask.

So, we’ll all just have to get used to it.

And that presents a problem for everyone who wears eyeglasses. Seems like every time us four-eyes exhale, the glasses fog up and we run our shopping carts into the canned peas shelf.

As a public service, we’ve been researching how to keep eyeglasses from fogging up.

Thankfully, there’s a quick fix, according to a 2011 study from the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

“Immediately before wearing a face mask, wash the spectacles with soapy water and shake off the excess. Then, let the spectacles air dry or gently dry off the lenses with a soft tissue before putting them back on. Now the spectacle lenses should not mist up when the face mask is worn.”

Why does that work?

“The face mask directs much of the exhaled air upwards where it gets into contact with the spectacle lenses. The misting occurs from the warm water vapour content condensing on the cooler surface of the lens, and forming tiny droplets that scatter the light and reduce the ability of the lens to transmit contrast. The droplets form because of the inherent surface tension between the water molecules. Washing the spectacles with soapy water leaves behind a thin surfactant film that reduces this surface tension and causes the water molecules to spread out evenly into a transparent layer. This ‘surfactant effect’ is widely utilised to prevent misting of surfaces in many everyday situations,” the study said.

There are a few other simple fixes. One is to buy some anti-fogging solution, used by skiers and others who wear goggles, and spritz your glasses.

In another quick fix, put a tissue at the top of your mask, just under the edge on the bridge of your nose. That traps exhaled air in the mask and pushing it out the sides, not straight up to your glasses.

The good news is, putting a tissue under your glasses keeps them from fogging up when you’re wearing a mask.

The bad news is, haircuts aren’t a thing anymore. pic.twitter.com/2xeBbDkPOt

— Louis Peitzman (@LouisPeitzman) April 9, 2020

Another glasses wearer said putting some shaving cream on the lenses (and then wiping it off, of course) can prevent fogging.

#TuesdayTips I am sure some of you have experienced or heard of glasses fogging up with mask wearing. If you wash your lenses with shaving cream, they will not fog. Many have confirmed this and I have done so as well with success.
Melissa Callahan
Corporate Director of Nursing pic.twitter.com/a8xxdYH3nh

— Synergy Health Programs (@SynergyMentalH) April 21, 2020

Then there’s another tip: A potato can help keep your glasses fog-free, at least according to WJBQ.com. Just rub the inside of your lenses with a raw potato and then wipe it off. The starch will assist in reducing fogging, the site said.

And if you’re wearing the kind of masks that connects behind your ears, simply folding down the top inch or so solves the problem, too. That prevents the hot exhaled air from going up.

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