Q: At my last eye exam, I asked my doctor how my eyewear lenses had gotten so scratched since I clean them every day. He asked if I used those common lens tissues? Why?
A: This is likely my “pet peeve” with “big box store” optical stores….they promote and sell lens cleaning wipes made of thin moist tissue paper. Sounds ok, but these are still made of paper…..which is made from wood….and the papers will inevitably scratch your eyeglass lenses! The damage is insidious, in that the scratches are very tiny and generally not visible to the naked eye until they are so deep or numerous that the hazy damaged surface becomes apparent. This is much too late.
Patient commonly ask if we can have those lenses polished or buffed to remove such scratches. The answer is no. No optical laboratories that I know of will attempt this “repair”. The sad analogy is that just like your toaster, no one repairs them anymore, you must buy a new one. Optical labs do not repair or polish lenses anymore, you must buy replacement lenses.
A bit of good news finally……optical labs can fabricate new lenses for almost any eyewear frame. Your optician will need to evaluate your eyewear frame to see if it will withstand the heat and stress of removing and inserting lenses. Many older frames made of plastic will have dried out and become brittle with very tiny cracks and could break in the lens insertion process. If that happens, you now have a pair of brand new lenses, and no frame they actually fit in! Not a happy ending.
In general, you should only clean your eyewear lenses with a microfiber cleaning cloth. Never any paper or tissue or paper towel! If your lenses are very dirty, first rinse them under warm tap water, rub gently with your finger tips using a dish cleaning detergent like Dawn, dry with a cloth towel, then use your microfiber lens cleaning cloth to finish.
This will restore spotless clean lenses to again give your crystal clear vision! Lenses today usually have some sort of glare free, or anti-glare surface treatment to reduce night time headlight glare. Other surface treatments for giving more scratch resistance can be part of the lens too. These treatments can be damaged or ruined with certain solvents like acetone or alcohol, so be sure to only use high quality dish soap when strong cleaning is needed.
With good care, your eyewear should give you two years or more of good service and crisp vision. What else in your life do you wear for about 700 days, every day, that requires such little care? Be careful and protect your investment in seeing better!