Blue light glasses are an expensive but good investment that helps protect your eyes from harmful blue light from the sun, the computer screen, and your mobile that can otherwise cause itchy eyes, blurred vision, headaches, and lead to poor sleep. And taking care of that investment is essential.
You can clean blue light glasses in three ways: a drop of dishwashing liquid and clean it with a microfiber cloth, spray eyeglass cleaner over the lenses and wipe it with a lint-free cloth, or let the glasses fog up with steam and wipe it clean. Avoid using harsh chemicals on the lenses.
Let’s take a closer look at the best ways to clean your blue light glasses, how often you should clean them, and what you should avoid when cleaning them. Once you know these things, you’ll be able to take better care of your glasses to ensure they last as long as possible.
What are Blue Light Glasses?
Exposure to too much blue light from mobile devices, computers, and the sun can damage light-sensitive cells in the retina. This is where blue light glasses (or blue light-blocking glasses) come into play.
These glasses filter blue light and prevent them from entering the eye and damaging the retina. Blue light lenses typically have a yellowish tint to counter the blue light, but it’s barely noticeable.
What is the Best Way to Clean Blue Light Glasses?
The best way to clean blue light glasses is to use a dishwashing liquid or eyeglass cleaners. You can also use steam, but it’s not recommended. Let’s take a look at these methods in detail.
Using Dishwashing Liquid
For this method, you’ll need a lotion-free dishwashing liquid, a lint-free cloth or towel, and soap. Once you have these things, here’s what you have to do:
- Wash your hands with soap before you start. You’ll transfer dirt or oil from your skin to the frames if you don’t. Also, make sure you avoid using lotion since it can lead to smudges.
- Dry your hands with a lint-free towel.
- Hold the glasses under a faucet with lukewarm water and rinse. Warm water dislodges gunk and dust, but ensure you don’t use very hot water since it can damage specialized lens coatings.
- Put a drop of dishwashing liquid on the lenses and use your fingers to rub it well to clean the glasses thoroughly. Make sure to rub both sides as well as the frame. In particular, ensure you thoroughly rub the liquid over the parts of the glass that make the most contact with your skin, like the temples and nose pads.
- Once you cover everything, hold the frame under running water to wash off the soap.
- Use a clean, lint-free towel or microfiber cloth to dry your cloth. If you use anything else, you’ll most likely end up with dust or bits of lint on your glasses.
- Finally, hold them to a light source to look for lingering debris or smudges. If they’re still not clean, you can repeat the process.
Using Eyeglass Cleaners
Eyeglass cleaners are a liquid solution made particularly for cleaning eyeglasses. Not only are they cheap, but you can easily find them in online shops, grocery stores, eyewear retailers, and pharmacies. They’re a great cleaning option, especially if you’re always on the go.
And using an eyeglass cleaner is pretty straightforward, too. First, you must spray the cleaner over the eyeglass to wash away the debris and dirt. Then rub a microfiber cloth in a circular motion all over the glasses to remove the cleaning solution and ensure they’re dry.
When using eyeglass cleaner, ensure you cover all the parts of the frame and lens with the cleaner. Also, make sure you choose the right cleaner, especially if you have anti-reflective blue light glass.
Finally, check the label to ensure the cleaner is safe to use on the anti-reflective coating. If you’re not careful, you can end up damaging the lenses.
Using Steam
Another way to clean blue light glasses is to let them steam up and then dry them off with a microfiber cloth. Here’s how you do that:
- Let the tap run with hot water until the steam starts rising.
- Put the frames near the steam. Rotate them such that both sides of the lenses fog up. Make sure you don’t directly put the glasses under hot water.
- Turn the tap off and rub the glass in gentle circular motions until they’re clean.
While this isn’t a recommended method, it’s still better than using steam from your mouth to fog the lens since that can transfer viruses and bacteria onto the lens, eventually coming into contact with your eyes and face.
Tips for Squeaky Clean Glasses
Either of the three methods mentioned above should help you get clean glasses, but if you want to ensure spotless frames and lenses, here are some other tips you should remember:
- If dirt or debris is stuck in the nooks of the frame, like around the hinges or where the frame and lenses meet, you can use a cotton swab and clean out those corners before rinsing the glasses.
- If you wear glasses with nose pads, thoroughly wipe them off since they touch the skin and tend to accumulate more germs than any other frame part.
- You can also use a disposable moist and rubbing alcohol to clean the nose pads further, but make sure you use it on the pads and not on the frame.
- Make sure your microfiber cloths are clean since they tend to trap dust and eventually spread it if they’re not clean.
- Never rub or wipe your glasses unless they’re wet. Cleaning dry glasses can smear dust and debris across the lenses instead of cleaning them and even cause scraping.
- To keep your glasses smudge and dirt-free, give them a light cleaning every day and a thorough cleaning every week.
What Cleaning Products Should You Avoid?
Never use harsh chemicals like acetone, bleach, or ammonia to clean your glasses. Acetone can damage the lens and even the lens tint. The same is true for household cleaners and alcohol. So make sure you only use dishwashing liquid or a cleaning solution made specifically for glasses.
You should also avoid doing the following:
- Never wipe the lenses with your shirt or other clothing since clothing fabric isn’t made for cleaning lenses and can scratch them.
- Never clean your lenses with saliva since it won’t do any cleaning—it’ll just add germs to the glasses.
- If you live in an area with hard water, you should clean your glasses with distilled water.
- Don’t wipe your lenses with napkins, toilet paper, tissue paper, or paper towels. They might feel soft, but they tend to leave behind scratches and even pieces of themselves if used vigorously.
- When washing towels and microfiber cloths that you’ll use on your glasses, avoid using dryer sheets and fabric softener. This is because they might leave a residue on the cloth or towel that can result in smearing.
- If your lens has too many scratches, don’t try to buff them or rub them out since you’ll most likely make things worse. Instead, get an optician to look at the lenses if you think they’re losing their clarity.
How Often Should You Clean Bluelight Glasses?
There’s no one correct answer to this question—it all depends on how often you wear them and how clean you like them to be. If you’re a daily wearer, you could consider cleaning the glasses daily with a spray and lint-free cloth and do a more thorough cleaning with soap and water every 2-3 weeks.