Mine have built a decent number of very small scratches and they’re getting annoying so I’d like to get rid if at all possible.
I’ve seen various things suggested including:
- lens scratch repair kit (reviews don’t look great on amazon)
- baking soda paste
- non-abrasive toothpaste
- furniture polish (temporarily fills in the scratch from what I can tell)
I’m reluctant to try any of them without some first hand accounts. No lens coating on these so no worries there.
Thank you in advance!
edit: I just want to say thanks very much to everyone. I ended up getting my prescription emailed to me and buying a new pair for €17 (about $19 USD) delivered on a site that one helpful poster linked. Looks like they will take about 3 weeks to get here so I’ll put up with the scratchy ones until they get here.
When they do arrive I will take some pictures and test the various methods I found online then post up what works and what wrecks the lenses.
You pay more initially, and have to look around more for it, but glass lenses hold up. Drop them. Stick them in your pocket with your car keys and pens. Clean them with whatever. Lose the case on day one. And they stay scratch free. For years.
Granted, this is only tenable if you have a “lighter” prescription.
I remove mine for close up stuff and thus my prescription has remained the same for over 20 years. I get new glasses not because the lenses scratch up, but because the frames break. I average new glasses every 8-10yrs.
Glass lenses.
Quality plastic lenses can last that long. Often being able to keep glasses that long depends most on the stability of your prescription, and not going for bottom of the barrel coatings.
Glass lenses are harder to scratch, but are heavier for the same prescription and if you get hit in the face can shatter into shards that are quite damaging to the eyes.
If getting hit in the face is not a risk for you and you dont mind the extra weight go for it, but it’s worth noting there are some downsides as well.
That’s why I said it depends on how light your prescription is. The husband has coke bottle lenses and cannot do glass. But he has to use the case. He has to use a special cloth to clean the lenses. He has to check against cleaning chemicals. He has to be very careful or they scratch, doesn’t matter what “special coating” is there. Those lenses do scratch up.
I’m less than -2 in both eyes so the weight doesn’t matter so much for me. I drop mine on the (bacterial lava) floor of a patient care area and I can grab whatever industrial, don’t use bare hands, wipe is available to purge the lenses of bacterial and viral load. And then stick them loose in a pocket with keys, pens, loose change, scissors, and they come out after a couple hours of that scratch free.
I get hit in the face. For decades. And decades of dropping them on concrete and everywhere else. No issues, breaks, or scratches thus far.
What are the stats on that? Are they a reality for the curved milled glass lens? Or is it a falsehood used to sell planned obsolescence lenses?
I’ve never even been offered glass lenses. I thought they were phased out so that people would never get broken glass in their eyes.
I’m been smacked in the face and dropped them multiple times on concrete, industrial linoleum tile, and hardwoods. Never even seen a crack. I’m sure there are things that can do so, like an airbag exploding in your face, but I can’t imagine shattered broken milled plastic not being dangerous as well.
You have to ask for glass. They bury it in favor of the garbage that scratches up over time.