The inspiration is someone else has reported on a brief trial of three different products for a very particular purpose. Something that perhaps has a broad appeal and low upfront cost for Choice to add value. Some of the products are relatively expensive buys if they are not effective.
The same types of products have a much broader use than just prescription glasses worn with a face mask of some type. Masks or Googles or protective eyewear used for diving, swimming, riding, in the workshop, spraying, dusting etc.
Much of my around the house and yard work is done in a very humid environment. I’m familiar with the issue with prescription glasses and or safety glasses when wearing a face mask. I now only use a fitted P2 or P3 face mask with expired air vents to prevent leakage around my nose. However most of the low graded medical and cloth masks fail to seal around the nose casing the problem. IE the ones most medical, aged care and hospitals provide to visitors or are sold economically for Covid risk reduction.
Haven’t ski-ed for a very long time, but you used to be able to buy anti-fog square sticks to apply to ski goggles. This sort of thing was available cheaply from all stores that sold snow sport related gear. It worked well, and it was cheap.
As a scuba diver, we stop our dive masks from fogging up under water by spraying with dilute baby shampoo (or more often spitting in them) and rubbing in the shampoo/spit then rinsing in sea water; some divers with more delicate sensibilities use an anti-fog spray (I’m not among them, so can’t vouch for how well the expensive sprays work).
As a spectacle wearer, I’ve never tried any of these methods. Spitting in spectacles might not be the most appropriate Covid-safe behaviour, either…
However I’ve worn surgical masks at work for years, and find a strip of Micropore tape (easy to buy in most pharmacies) sealing the mask to the face across the bridge of the nose and under the eyes works really well.
I’ve ordered the winning anti-fog product in the survey above and will post on efficacy when it arrives.
Many years ago we used to put saliva on diving masks and this had some beneficial effect. I wonder if anyone has tried this old diving method. I suspect doing it in public while wearing a mask may not be an appropriate course of action.
Please be careful about using isopropyl alcohol on any lenses with multicoats. It can destroy the adhesion of the multicoat and lead to crazing of the coating. Plain hardcoats are less susceptible, but it does depend on the supplier and most of the coatings are proprietary.
Following up on the anti-fog treatment I purchased according to the recommendation in the article at the top of the thread.
It’s a tiny tube, and only the most minute drop is needed and polished onto the lens with the cloth supplied. It worked really well and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get my glasses to fog up, even by huffing directly on them.
However, it’s only temporary. As soon as you clean your glasses, you start wiping it off. The instructions say you can easily rinse it off. I can’t stand smeary lens and clean mine several times a day, so would need to reapply during the day for it to remain effective.
Bottom line: it works well, but I doubt I’ll use it because I can’t be bothered reapplying.
