How to prevent your glasses from fogging up if you wear a mask

The coronavirus will make the use of a mask mandatory in many places and that will cause many spectacle users to encounter an unexpected problem: your glasses are going to fog up due to the mist generated by the use of the masks and that condenses on the surface of the lenses, making it impossible to see correctly through them.

That in most cases your lenses are going to fog up when you wear a mask is a certainty, and that is due to the warm breath that we exhale when we breathe escapes through the top of the mask and comes into contact with the lenses of your glasses, which are colder. When this contact occurs, breath condensation is automatically created on the lenses due to the difference in temperature between them.

Now, you will not be the first person to suffer from this problem (ask surgeons and doctors) which is good news for you, since you will be able to benefit from those tricks or solutions that others have already tried to solve. this annoying problem.

More information: Tears do not transmit the coronavirus

Tricks to prevent glasses from fogging up when using a mask

Improve the fit of your mask

Many medical masks have a flexible metal strip that allows the user to mold its shape to fit the nose and cheeks. If in your case you do not have a surgical mask that already has this metal strip and you are using a homemade mask, the trick is to sew a fine metal thread or wire on the upper part of your mask in order to adjust it to your face. more effectively.

By the way, do not forget to also adjust the tapes of your mask. When the mask fits correctly, most of your breath will evacuate through it, and not through the top or sides.

Secure your mask with duct tape

Most doctors use duct tape to keep their glasses from fogging up while they work. So if you are going to use the mask for something specific, such as

Do-it-yourself or a task that can cause a lot of exhalation, a good option is to fix the mask to the bridge of the nose and the cheeks. My recommendation is that you use medical or sports tape or adhesive tape and avoid other types of adhesive tapes that can cause skin irritations.

Take off your mask

An easy way to reduce the amount of mist is to remove your mask when you really don’t need it. It seems silly, but many people do not think about it and continue to wear the mask even when it is not necessary.

Use a commercial anti-fog wipe or spray

The good thing is that they can be very effective, the bad thing is that they can be very expensive. In addition, it is important to read the fine print of the product since some lenses have anti-reflective treatments that limit or cancel the benefits of these products. My advice is to buy these wipes or spray from people who know about it, ideally from an optical store.

Will putting soap or shaving cream prevent them from fogging up?

As more people find themselves with the annoyance of seeing their glasses fog up, various home remedies have begun to see the light, including tips for cleaning the glasses with soapy water, shaving cream, baby shampoo, or toothpaste.

I honestly don’t believe much in these solutions, with one caveat. In an article published in 2011 a British surgeon talks about his “trick” to prevent the lenses from fogging up and that consists of washing the lenses of the glasses with soapy water and letting them dry in the open air. This home remedy would work because the soap acts as a surfactant, and the soapy water leaves a thin film that prevents the water molecules from forming the droplets that end up becoming the mist that clouds the lenses.

The surgeon is called Dr Sheraz Malik, Senior Clinical Investigator at the University of Manchester Hospitals NHS Foundation, and this is what he says in that study: ‘I haven’t timed it, but the technique works reliably for more than half an hour when operating. Obviously, if the mask fits snugly on the nose, there is less mist escaping into the goggles and my technique works longer.

I hope it is useful and if you have other remedies to prevent the glasses from fogging up when using a mask, I invite you to leave a comment to share them with us.

More information: A simple method to prevent spectacle lenses misting up on wearing a face mask