How to keep glasses from fogging while wearing a face mask

So are your glasses getting foggy while wearing a mask? Well, in this article, we are going to share the hack on how to wear a mask without fogging up your glasses. Whether you’re wearing a makeshift mask or you’re wearing a surgical mask, these tips are gonna work. Now, let’s take a look.

Why are the glasses fogging? 

Warm, moist air that hits a cool surface causes fogging. Thus, when your hot breath escapes your PPE face covering and hits the surface of your glasses’ cooler lenses, they fog. Condensation occurs on eyeglass lenses when water vapor—from your sweat, breath, and ambient humidity—lands on a cold surface, cools, and then changes into tiny drops of liquid, forming a film that you see as fog. Your lenses will be relatively cool compared to your breath, especially when the outside air is cold.

Tips for stopping fogging on your glasses:

I’ve tried all of the different tips and tricks and hacks that I’ve read. Most of them do not work and it’s really frustrating. But work the two methods that do work!

Number one:

Get a piece of tissue paper. If you’re in a pinch, I think this works well where you can just fold that up and you can put that underneath the part of the mask that goes on the nose that’ll create a little bit of an air dam. So the hot area of your breath won’t rise up and fog up your glasses.

Number Two:

The method I find works the best for me is using some form of surgical tape you can then press and seal the surgical tape to the top of the mask and the top of your face that’ll create a seal so that when you breathe, the air won’t come out the top, instead it’ll be kind of shunted off to the sides or through the front of the mask. What’s important is that you use some type of surgical tape that is hypoallergenic and easy to remove. Because the adhesive part of the tape can cause irritation to the sensitive skin around your eyes. So again it’s best to find something that’s hypoallergenic and is very safe to use on the skin. You can easily find surgical tape at your local pharmacy or you can buy it from an online store such as Amazon. Another cool thing is that if you are again trying to do the budget route you can just use some band-aids that you have around the house. You may need to use a couple of them because you do want to get across the entire top of the mask.

Is anti-fog coating useful?

Anti-fog coatings were developed by NASA during Project Gemini in 1966. During a spacewalk, a NASA astronaut’s face shield continually fogged. This made it impossible for him to see. The helmet shield was later coated with a specific chemical that fixed the problem, and the anti-fog coating was born. And every glasses-wearer everywhere rejoiced.

There are two types of anti-fog protective coatings: hydrophilic coatings and surfactants.

Hydrophilics work by creating a very water-friendly, water-attractive (adhesive) surface. Hydrophilic compounds act like a sponge, soaking in water and releasing it to the edges of your lenses. Fog occurs, but it’s quickly removed.

Surfactants work by decreasing the surface tension (cohesiveness) of water. They make it harder for water to stick together, causing the water molecules to remain extremely small instead of beading together. Fog occurs, but it’s barely visible.