ARE FACE MASKS MAKING YOUR GLASSES FOG UP?

Many people who have not had LASIK are finding another inconvenience with using glasses: their face mask for the coronavirus keeps causing their glasses to fog up. This can make for dangerous vision impairment. Removing the glasses repeatedly to clean them can involve touching the face, which increases exposure risk for COVID-19.

WHY WEAR FACE MASKS FOR COVID-19?

The CDC has recommended that people wear cloth face masks to reduce the transmission of SARS CoV2 virus that causes COVID-19. A study in the news today about the German town of Jena, the first German city to make wearing face masks in public mandatory, showed a 23% drop in the rate of COVID-19 infections over the next 20 days after the mandate went into effect. Face masks protect others if you are sick, even if you are asymptomatic. Face masks also protect you as well, although their main benefit seems to be to help prevent sick or asymptomatic people from spreading the virus through coughing or even just talking. Likely we will all be advised to wear face masks in public for a long time.

WHY DO GLASSES FOG UP WHILE I’M WEARING A  MASK?

Glasses fog up when warm, moist breath escapes upward from the face mask and touches the cool surface of your glasses lenses, causing condensation. When prescription glasses fog up, you can’t see, forcing you to quickly take off your glasses and clean them, which can involve touching your face, potentially exposing you to the coronavirus. Fogging affects not only prescription glasses, but also can be a problem for sunglasses and safety glasses as well. In fact the American Academy of Ophthalmology is seeing an increase in eye injuries from construction workers and even people doing work around the house who are not using their safety glasses simply because they are fogging up too much.

TIPS FOR REDUCING FOGGING OF YOUR GLASSES FROM WEARING CORONAVIRUS MASKS

Here are some tips for minimizing the fogging that masks cause for glasses wearers:

1. Make sure the mask is fit properly. Many masks have a flexible nose bridge that can be pushed down to seal the top of the mask against your nose to block the warm breath from going upwards to the glasses. If you are making your own mask at home, you can try sewing in a pipe cleaner or twist tie into the bride to provide this function. The American Academy of Ophthalmology has created a short video to show you how to properly wear a mask.
2. If you do not have a flexible nose bride, you can either let your glasses ride over the top of your mask to push it down or you could put tape over the top of the mask to prevent upward movement of your breath.
3. Adding soapy water to your glasses can act as a quick and inexpensive anti-fog treatment. Simply wash your glasses in soapy water, shake the excess off, and allow them to dry. If you have special coatings on your glasses, be sure to call your eye glass provider or optometrist to make sure this will not harm your lens coatings. The soap residue acts as an anti-fog layer.
4. Other anti-fog options for coating your glasses lenses include toothpaste, shaving cream, and baby shampoo. Again, if you have special coatings on your glasses, check with your glasses provider before applying these.
5. Consider solving the problem by finally having LASIK!