How to Clean And Remove Scratches From Your Eyeglasses

“There are few things in life more frustrating than picking up my recently acquired eye wear only to find the lens smudged with an oily fingerprint or, worse still, scratched! What’s the solution?” asked a friend. I promised I’d help him set his life straight.

Well friend, firstly, let’s put things in to perspective – there are PLENTY of things in life worse than this… much of which I probably can’t help you with! But, for slightly scratched or dirty lenses you came to the right place!

We’re assuming you don’t have every optician’s secret weapon – an ultrasonic optical cleaning bath – so, instead we’ve created a formula. Follow these steps and, in most cases, you’ll be well sorted in moments!

How to remove a smudge or other grime?

1 – Wash your hands!

This may sound a little pompous, but don’t overlook the fact that your eye wear – sunglasses and particularly optical – are finely crafted medical instruments. Use a lotion-free soap to remove dirt and natural oils from your fingers. Then dry thoroughly.

2 – Rinse your eye wear:

Turn on a gentle flow of cold water and rinse eye wear under the tap. Why? It’ll remove dust and larger pieces of detritus – any of which could end up scratching the surface of your lens. Also – why not hot water? This good damage the coating on your lenses.

3 – Add a drop of lotion-free soap to each lens:

Remember to only use a tiny amount! Most detergents are made for cleaning far larger (and dirtier) objects than your lenses! Why lotion-free? Because lotion is oil. You’ll end up adding smears to your lenses rather than removing them!

4 – Rub the soap on the lenses:

There’s no better way of doing this than by simply using your own freshly cleaned (and now oil-free) finger tips! A gentle rub, ensuring the detergent gets in to area around the edge of the lens – where it meets the frame.

Your hands and your glasses will now be one soapy mess. But that’s a good sign!

5 – Rinse:

Again, under cold water, rinse the lenses and frame – being careful not to touch the lenses with your fingers at any point from now onwards!

6 – Shake:

The glasses to remove excess water. And yourself… if you must.

7 – Dry:

Use a lint-free cloth. One that hasn’t been washed using a fabric softener (this will simply reapply oil to your lenses). Do not use a paper towel or tissue – they feel soft to our touch, but at microscopic level the paper fibers are fine and coarse enough to damage delicate optical coatings!

8 – A final look:

Hold them up to the light. Looking good? Job done. A few rogue streaks? Give them a little rub with a microfiber cloth.