Wearing mask with glasses

[Tingtong2mut]

Just wondering if any of you guys have worked out a way to wear a mask comfortably, particularly with glasses. My glasses continually fog up. I have tried pulling the mask up or down a bit, glasses out further on my nose. I hate wearing the things period, feel like I am asphyxiating sucking my own Carbon monoxide. I understand the need for them, and I don't want to get into a debate are they effective or not...by law here they are deemed necessary so thats the end of it..... but If the "new normal" is going to be wearing a mask, and I feel like it will be, I'll just have to avoid going out, it just isn't pleasant. I have tried all sorts of masks including N95. A mask obviously is designed to restrict the flow of air leaving your mouth, which means your breath is retained in the mask to be regurgitated, so every breath you are taking must be at least 50% Co1. A face shield would be ok albeit look like a tit but I think you are required to wear a mask with these also. Asians don't seem to mind wearing them too much, in fact many did before Covid.

 

Any help or advice appreciated. 

[ianezy0]

I tend to ensure a snug fit around the nose. That is if you have the masks with the metal strip.

There is some demist wipes you could get in Australia thats stops the misting of your windscreen. I guess  that would work if you can buy that here.

Other than that, yep it’s a pain in the butt.

But the mask with the metal strip does help a lot.

[VocalNeal]

The problem of fogging glasses is that your mask fits too well around your chin/cheeks. 

If you found some loosely fitting masks the air would exit downwards and reduce the fogging. 

Maybe grow a beard?

[DaLa]

Absolute nightmare. Fogging up of glasses, mask 'ties' getting tied up with arms of glasses.  I spent 20 years in the construction industry and almost found it impossible to wear a dust mask without it impeding my vision.

 

As an aside I took a fairly long walk to the skytrain yesterday and the face mask started to restrict my breathing. Obviously I am now awaiting the obvious reply that Covid-19 more than restricts your breathing.

 

I tried contact lenses 30 years ago and they felt like someone was grinding grit into my eyes.  Laser surgery is possibly the answer, however your eyes change over time. At my (advanced) age I am luckily nearly back to perfect vision.

[bkk6060]

Try using soap and water to clean them.  The soap sometimes helps leave some protective film

to prevent fogging.

 

Other then that, there are spray products for glasses to prevent fogging.  Check Lazada of other similar services I have seen them for sale/delivery.

[Rookiescot]

Badly fitting mask mate.

As someone else mentioned try getting proper dust masks from mega home or global house. 

[2 is 1]

Wearing shorts whitout underwear 500 bth!

[Tingtong2mut]

The fogging of glasses while annoying is probably secondary. If there was a mask were you were inhaling 100% fresh air would be a lot better. A two way set up the way a snorkel works. I don't know if its a claustrophobic thing but my brow starts sweating the moment I put one on, giving people the impression I already have a fever of some sort. Comes in handy in queues. All I can think about when I go out is how soon I can get to the car park and get the bloody mask off. Thats no way to live into the future.

[billd766]

46 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Try using soap and water to clean them.  The soap sometimes helps leave some protective film

to prevent fogging.

 

Other then that, there are spray products for glasses to prevent fogging.  Check Lazada of other similar services I have seen them for sale/delivery.

I use an LCD screen cleaning kit. I don't actually have any LCD but it works great on my glasses twice a day and on the phone and the pc monitor screen as well

 

Small computer shops sometimes have it at around 125 thb.

[salsajapan]

2 hours ago, ianezy0 said:

I tend to ensure a snug fit around the nose. That is if you have the masks with the metal strip.

There is some demist wipes you could get in Australia thats stops the misting of your windscreen. I guess  that would work if you can buy that here.

Other than that, yep it’s a pain in the butt.

But the mask with the metal strip does help a lot.

 

this is the only good and easy solution but the guy couldn't figure it out...

 

sometimes we feel like genius thanks to people on this forum ????

 

 

[jmccarty]

You are not breathing in or out CO1, it's a little CO2 you exhale. CO1 is toxic and you would die if you were inhaling it even in small percentages continuously.  In each breath you exhale about 4-5% CO2 concentration which is scrubbed from your blood through the lungs.  The gas you exhale is making it out of the mask, whatever one you are using if normal breathing.   

 

Your not in danger other than like me, you can't see when glasses are fogged up.  Walking or driving is a hazard.

Edited June 2, 2020 by jmccarty
I too can't fix the foggy glasses.

[sezze]

Here are some tricks .

FFP2/3 masks have a metal strip on your nose section . That metal strip is larger then on operation ( medical ) masks so i split them all up . Ok , the strip needs to be very snug to the top of your nose/cheeks , to get airtight seal . You would be able to feel if any air would be going from there . Also FFP2 masks many times have valves which makes you exhale air out easier ( creating more comfort ) .

Operation masks , same principle but here a trick is to cross the elastics before to go around your ear , making a X on your jaw . You can try this on all masks with elastics as it can be much more comfy in some cases , depending on your faceshape/comfort zone . 

Normal masks , no tricks unless the ones i gave already and for all masks it stands that you have to prevent air going on top of your face . This means you have to find a position on your face were the chin area is looser then the nose area .

As for exhaling CO , you arent doing that . A few ppm's with every breath will cause death very fast , since CO bonds with your bloodcells and won't come off easy again . CO2 on the other hand is also poisonous , and will kill you but in much larger portions , and is reversable , you get fresh air , CO2 in blood goes down . CO2 is also what you exhale is around 3.8% in that breath . You will breath in a little part of it again but besides making 1-2 breaths more it won't do anything at all .

I work in chemical industry and am very familiar with masks ( allthough the FFP2 were the simplest we were wearing before C19 happened ) , and glasses ( got to wear them at all time ) .

[Tingtong2mut]

28 minutes ago, sezze said:

Here are some tricks .

FFP2/3 masks have a metal strip on your nose section . That metal strip is larger then on operation ( medical ) masks so i split them all up . Ok , the strip needs to be very snug to the top of your nose/cheeks , to get airtight seal . You would be able to feel if any air would be going from there . Also FFP2 masks many times have valves which makes you exhale air out easier ( creating more comfort ) .

Operation masks , same principle but here a trick is to cross the elastics before to go around your ear , making a X on your jaw . You can try this on all masks with elastics as it can be much more comfy in some cases , depending on your faceshape/comfort zone . 

Normal masks , no tricks unless the ones i gave already and for all masks it stands that you have to prevent air going on top of your face . This means you have to find a position on your face were the chin area is looser then the nose area .

As for exhaling CO , you arent doing that . A few ppm's with every breath will cause death very fast , since CO bonds with your bloodcells and won't come off easy again . CO2 on the other hand is also poisonous , and will kill you but in much larger portions , and is reversable , you get fresh air , CO2 in blood goes down . CO2 is also what you exhale is around 3.8% in that breath . You will breath in a little part of it again but besides making 1-2 breaths more it won't do anything at all .

I work in chemical industry and am very familiar with masks ( allthough the FFP2 were the simplest we were wearing before C19 happened ) , and glasses ( got to wear them at all time ) .

I got an N95 mask out in the car I just tried a few things and yes the metal strip formed tightly does help as far as glasses fogging. The fogging definitely gets worse in air conditioning though.

 

One thing I was surprised about is the little one way valve is set to expel air. I may have this all wrong but I thought the mask was to suppress your germs / breath going onto someone else. If the valve is to expel air from your breath without going through the filter it kind of negates that, unless I have things backwards. Also pulling it down or up to make air expulsion faster / easier would also negate this. I tried putting the mask on reversed thinking might be easier to pull in fresh air through the valve but didn't seem to make much difference.

 

I did find if I pulled the masked down towards the tip of my nose, and my glasses bridge on the end of the mask seemed to be a lot better, better air circulation and less fogging, but thats only because I am creating a bypass making the mask totally ineffective.

 

It would seem this mask is designed to protect me from inhaling germs as breaths in are filtered and breaths out are unfiltered and going straight out the valve?

 

Probably seems like a lot about nothing but I have a feeling wearing a mask is going to be socially obligatory for some time and like to be able to be comfortable in one

Edited June 2, 2020 by Tingtong2mut

[Tingtong2mut]

After a little more research it appears I did have this wrong. Masks are designed to protect the wearer.

I wish I could simply opt out and take my chances. Then there would be the argument if everybody thought like that and didn't wear masks the infection rate would increase.

[Malawi]

A mask with glasses is impossible.

Glasses just fog up.

I now stay home and don't go anywhere until these stupid rules stop.

Not holding my breath with this junta.

[mr mr]

6 minutes ago, Tingtong2mut said:

After a little more research it appears I did have this wrong. Masks are designed to protect the wearer.

I wish I could simply opt out and take my chances. Then there would be the argument if everybody thought like that and didn't wear masks the infection rate would increase.

have you tried the ever growing popular chin wearing method ? 

[Tingtong2mut]

55 minutes ago, mr mr said:

have you tried the ever growing popular chin wearing method ? 

NO lol. Can you elaborate? But it isn't hard to take the valve out of the KN95 mask 5555

 

[topt]

9 minutes ago, Tingtong2mut said:

Can you elaborate?

If your serious about not knowing it's that many wearers seem to just have a mask on around their chin and not over their mouth at all let alone their nose.....

[Tingtong2mut]

32 minutes ago, topt said:

If your serious about not knowing it's that many wearers seem to just have a mask on around their chin and not over their mouth at all let alone their nose.....

I honestly haven't seen that, but I live up country. Most Thais seem to take it pretty seriously and I noticed many Thais wearing masks before covid here, but pollution pretty bad sometimes. I do notice in the wet markets here many don't wear masks at all

[sezze]

12 hours ago, Tingtong2mut said:

I got an N95 mask out in the car I just tried a few things and yes the metal strip formed tightly does help as far as glasses fogging. The fogging definitely gets worse in air conditioning though.

 

One thing I was surprised about is the little one way valve is set to expel air. I may have this all wrong but I thought the mask was to suppress your germs / breath going onto someone else. If the valve is to expel air from your breath without going through the filter it kind of negates that, unless I have things backwards. Also pulling it down or up to make air expulsion faster / easier would also negate this. I tried putting the mask on reversed thinking might be easier to pull in fresh air through the valve but didn't seem to make much difference.

 

I did find if I pulled the masked down towards the tip of my nose, and my glasses bridge on the end of the mask seemed to be a lot better, better air circulation and less fogging, but thats only because I am creating a bypass making the mask totally ineffective.

 

It would seem this mask is designed to protect me from inhaling germs as breaths in are filtered and breaths out are unfiltered and going straight out the valve?

 

Probably seems like a lot about nothing but I have a feeling wearing a mask is going to be socially obligatory for some time and like to be able to be comfortable in one

Well , yes you are right . Expelled air isnt filtered if it goes out of the valve . But think about this way :

- you dont want to get sick yourselve , so 1st priority , filter the ingoing air , and FFP2 do that better then any other ( unless ffp3 - real gasmasks )

-the outgoing air wont be filtered but is slowed down by the valve a lot , since you see in front of the valve a piece of plastic which together with the valve itself makes the outgoing air stay near you . It might not stop all , but neither do all other masks . This makes FFP2/3 THE best choice of all masks for normal people , including the people in hospitals ( yes there you go , they wear it also ... there's a reason for it ) .

A : inhaled air is filtered better then any other , so you won't get sick

B: exhaled air is not going very far which is what other masks do also .

[KC 71]

Went into tesco the other week,lasted all of 5 minutes in there then bailed.

my nose is broken so my breathing is already restricted to a degree.

[ChakaKhan]

I use a black foam washable one..no fogging

 

can put a coffee filter in there if need to double up

[NancyL]

I've had the same problem with masks and my glasses fogging.  I got a  cloth hat with a flexible plastic face-shield that totally covers my face from Lazada and that seems to be OK when I run errands in Chiang Mai.  So far, no one has turned me away from their shop.  While my glasses don't fog, it's still very hot.  I'm not going out very often.

[Emdog]

On 6/2/2020 at 10:01 PM, topt said:

If your serious about not knowing it's that many wearers seem to just have a mask on around their chin and not over their mouth at all let alone their nose.....

What I find insane about that is that the virus could collect on your chin if you happen to wear mask as it should be, then they pull down over chin, maybe for phone call or whatever, which would then round up those nasty bugs which you then put right up against your mouth and nose.

And then there is the crowd that pulls down so covers mouth but leaves nose exposed. Not "half protected" but unprotected if use nose for breathing. I was in 7/11 other day and some home office suit type was there with mask below nose. It was a bit of fun to indicate to him to follow the rules and pull the damn thing up, which he did.

[fittobethaied]

Try rubbing shaving cream on the lens of your glasses and rinsing them with tap water, then wipe them dry with a tissue or whatever you normally use after cleaning your glasses. This should keep them from fogging up for a day or more. Use as needed!

[beavenlen]

there was a post somewhere about washing glasses with soapy water and patting dry after to advoid scratching,but i tend to be out short periods of time therefore have not bothered,and yes its a real pain moreso if you need to cross a busy road.

[n00dle]

On 6/2/2020 at 8:53 PM, Malawi said:

A mask with glasses is impossible.

Glasses just fog up.

I now stay home and don't go anywhere until these stupid rules stop.

Not holding my breath with this junta.

I was riding my bike daily with a proper fitting mask with glasses.

 

It is by no means impossible.

[Pedrogaz]

I feel exactly the same way.....I am sick of my glasses fogging up and the evil, vile smell of my breath (just joking). 

 

I pull the mask up over my nose while I enter the store for the temperature check, then I pull in down below my nose so I don't get the fogging letting it rest on my lip. I see many others doing the same. 

[Brunolem]

I have the same problem with my glasses, even worse because I have a rather long nose and it is pushing the mask up, right below my eyes.

 

So, I just wear the mask below my nose, covering only my mouth.

 

I have seen many Thais doing it, so I jumped on the opportunity...

[Krataiboy]

On 6/3/2020 at 4:07 PM, NancyL said:

I've had the same problem with masks and my glasses fogging.  I got a  cloth hat with a flexible plastic face-shield that totally covers my face from Lazada and that seems to be OK when I run errands in Chiang Mai.  So far, no one has turned me away from their shop.  While my glasses don't fog, it's still very hot.  I'm not going out very often.

Ineffective.