Advice sought re 'self-destructing' eyeglass lenses

[digbeth]

alcohol will do that to coatings, since the pandemic and availability of alcohol spray and hand sanitizers everywhere means I see the coatings flaking off earlier than the typical life of the lens too.

 

You can take them all off, use Isopropyl Alcohol (ISA) and soak the lens in it then start scraping, but it's almost not worth it when you could scratch the lens for real when scraping off the coatings

[Toolong]

On 9/9/2022 at 8:58 AM, CygnusX1 said:

My computer glasses definitely do, as I remember ordering some kind of non reflective coating when I bought them a couple of years ago, but maybe that hasn’t been enough time for me to damage the coating? My photochromics are also only a couple of years old, don’t know if they work by some kind of coating. Have other much older polarised and non polarised sunglasses, no idea if they’re coated.

 

I can only guess some coatings are longer lasting than others....????....and the trick is to find the good ones, if you're lucky!

[Toolong]

On 9/10/2022 at 6:01 PM, digbeth said:

alcohol will do that to coatings, since the pandemic and availability of alcohol spray and hand sanitizers everywhere means I see the coatings flaking off earlier than the typical life of the lens too.

 

You can take them all off, use Isopropyl Alcohol (ISA) and soak the lens in it then start scraping, but it's almost not worth it when you could scratch the lens for real when scraping off the coatings

Now you mention it, digbeth, I did use alcohol wipes to clean the lenses sometimes during covid, when we had loads of packets of them. I might try your soak & scrape idea......or look into it anyway. Think I'll do that when I've got another pair as spare, in case it goes badly! ???? Thanks!

[Toolong]

On 9/10/2022 at 8:04 AM, brianthainess said:

I brought some tinted glasses the tint came of in the rain "Oh you got them wet". now i just use the 50baht glasses, buy 3 at a time.

????????

[Toolong]

On 9/9/2022 at 10:25 AM, Tropposurfer said:

I too wear glasses; graduated lenses, which I wear all the time except when swimming, golfing, driving, reading, surfing etc - I am short sighted.
I began wearing glasses in Australia in about 2005 and was advised at a quality chain in Oz called OPSM that they can fit me with cheaper lenses but advise strongly against this as the optical accuracy of the lenses are poor e.g. distortions in the curvatures at the point of manufacture and that they will deteriorate your eyes more quickly than high quality as near optically perfect shaped lenses e.g. Essilor. 

The rate at which rubbish lenses will increase the rate of degradation of sight is quite alarming just as poorly prescribed lenses do e.g. too strong or too weak, not balanced properly for each eye (many of us have eyes that are slightly weaker on one side and require careful testing to define and prescribe for).

 

I checked this stuff about poor quality lenses online, with other optometrists, and my GP back home before pulling the trigger on the Essilor lenses when I began to first wear glasses.

 

Cheap glasses are cheap for simple reasons; i.e. cheap poorly made frames, but most importantly poor quality lenses.

 

Theres also the issue of how you use your glasses e.g looking straight ahead like reading or peripheral vision needs such as driving sports etc - aspherical lenses and all that techo stuff.

 

There are only a few brands of lenses worth their salt; Essilor and Bausch & Lomb being two.

 

My advice is NEVER buy cheap lenses.

 

I have had glasses made here (but I usually get them made in Europe or back in Oz on visits). I did get some few pairs made at Paragon in BKK. I always get my eyes tested each year when I visit back to Oz as I know and trust my optometrist from good experience with her.

 

I can't remember the name of the salon in Paragon but they did a good job.

I did have recent OPSM prescription from Australia with me which they said was helpful.

Seeing as they are classed as a luxury import are a heap more expensive in LOS than I pay in Oz or Europe.

 

Many opticians here while reasonably trained will automatically offer cheaper lenses like Hoya, Canon etc which are not anywhere as good as the two I mention above as excellent optical quality lenses.

 

At the prices you quoted, I am not surprised that you are finding the breakdown of their efficiency happening so soon after being made.

 

I can't say for you, but there are varying periods of decline in our focal length i.e. some years its faster and others it slows or stops altogether and we need to hold objects further away to focus.

Long range isn't effected quite as starkly as trying to focus on a small object like threading a needle for example.

If you're finding blurriness at different distances short medium and long with your lenses it may be that your eyesight is deteriorating at a faster rate than you are renewing your lenses.

This is not necessarily something to be alarmed about. I was told as we go through periods of increases in focal length at different times in our lives as wearers.

But, to wear poor lenses that aren't 'set' for us is very bad for our eyes.

I for example don't have much increase in 'strength' of my new glasses for the last few years where in years before that I had increases of .25 in lens strength added for a few years in a row when I went to the optometrist. 

Good luck, and may you see clearly into your future.

 

 

Thanks for the advice, Tropposurfer. To be honest, yes, I don't think I have been as careful with my own eyecare over the years. But I now accept my situation and have learned to live with dodgy eyesight. As best I can, anyway. ????

 

But my issue now is more about stopping the coating on the lenses flaking off. ????

 

 

[Toolong]

On 9/9/2022 at 8:03 PM, unblocktheplanet said:

Had terrific luck with Essilor Crizal Prevencia. Presumably the blue-blocking is a coating but mine have anti-glare, anti-scratch, too. At least eight years for mine. (often clean them with my shirttail!)

The brand Essilor keeps coming up as highly recommended! Thanks, unblock! ????????

[Toolong]

On 9/9/2022 at 2:19 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

YouTube is a wonderful invention... ???? 

 

 

 

It certainly is,  OneMoreFarang! I will have a watch of this right now, thanks! ????

 

The reason I posted my original query though was because I thought whatever advice I got from Aseannow would be more specific to Thailand & what's available. 

 

But...yes, you're right. A lot of useful info is there....bingo!.....on good ol' youtube!????????

[Toolong]

On 9/9/2022 at 10:44 AM, Photoguy21 said:

Let me know how you get on

It's still 'work in progress'! ????

[Toolong]

On 9/9/2022 at 9:29 AM, DezLez said:

Use a thin paste of baking soda (NOT baking powder) and water and use a microfiber cloth to gently rub away at it.  It takes a few days of 5 mins each but it does work.  

Very, very interesting, DezLez. So it worked for you? Good to know. 

Btw...I thought baking powder/soda was the same thing? 

[DezLez]

37 minutes ago, Toolong said:

I thought baking powder/soda was the same thing? 

No!

Baking powder is baking soda with added acids!

 

Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder: What’s the Difference? (healthline.com)

[AsianAtHeart]

I buy the 100-baht glasses at a place like Lotus.  They're probably just plastic, not glass, and I clean them by fogging them with my exhaled breath and then wiping them with my cotton T-shirt.  Had them for about a year and not a scratch yet.  I only need them for reading/using my computer--but I'm doing that virtually all the time!

 

My thought is that it's best to give the eyes some exercise and change their focal length from time to time by looking at things at various distances.  It may be harder to read things up close, but it's good to try once in awhile just to keep the eyes more flexible.

 

I think I would be able to handle the problem almost completely via the exercise method, and eliminate the need of glasses, if it were not for having had a bad keratitis that affected one eye.  Now I have one eye that can read without glasses, and one that must have glasses--and the weaker eye wins, or else everything is blurry.

 

In any case, I can see just fine with the cheap glasses--and can't bring myself to spend hundreds for something "quality" when the cheap ones work well.  If I happen to sit or step on a pair, it's not such a big loss.

[brianthainess]

3 minutes ago, AsianAtHeart said:

I buy the 100-baht glasses at a place like Lotus.  They're probably just plastic, not glass, and I clean them by fogging them with my exhaled breath and then wiping them with my cotton T-shirt.  Had them for about a year and not a scratch yet.  I only need them for reading/using my computer--but I'm doing that virtually all the time!

 

My thought is that it's best to give the eyes some exercise and change their focal length from time to time by looking at things at various distances.  It may be harder to read things up close, but it's good to try once in awhile just to keep the eyes more flexible.

 

I think I would be able to handle the problem almost completely via the exercise method, and eliminate the need of glasses, if it were not for having had a bad keratitis that affected one eye.  Now I have one eye that can read without glasses, and one that must have glasses--and the weaker eye wins, or else everything is blurry.

 

In any case, I can see just fine with the cheap glasses--and can't bring myself to spend hundreds for something "quality" when the cheap ones work well.  If I happen to sit or step on a pair, it's not such a big loss.

Agree, and for a real good clean of the cheapies, washing up liquid rubbed in, rinse and dry, with shirt tail of course.      ????   ????

[Toolong]

34 minutes ago, DezLez said:

No!

Baking powder is baking soda with added acids!

 

Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder: What’s the Difference? (healthline.com)

Well, I did not know that! ????

 

(I'm learning a lot from this thread! ????) Thanks!

[connda]

On 9/8/2022 at 5:57 PM, Toolong said:

Has anyone reading this experienced this same thing? 

Yep.

[connda]

On 9/8/2022 at 6:54 PM, Toolong said:

Thanks Photoguy21,

I will look into the scratch cream angle. Interesting. I have 'kind of' tried to see if it's a removable scrtaches thing  but maybe I didn't go about it properly. If I can just sort it out this way, that would be really, really cool. Fingers crossed! ????????

It doesn't work.

[Photoguy21]

1 hour ago, Toolong said:

It's still 'work in progress'! ????

I hope it takes care of your problem.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, Toolong said:

Thailand & what's available

That is not so easy to answer.

Some years ago I had an unusual frame. I asked in maybe 10 shops about new lenses. In 9 shops they told me they can't do it. In the 10th shop they told me they will do it. And then after two failed attempts they gave up.

Then, sometime later, I found a new optician. He had no problem with that frame and i.e. curved prescription lenses which other opticians pretend don't exist.

It's complicated... 

[Toolong]

47 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

That is not so easy to answer.

Some years ago I had an unusual frame. I asked in maybe 10 shops about new lenses. In 9 shops they told me they can't do it. In the 10th shop they told me they will do it. And then after two failed attempts they gave up.

Then, sometime later, I found a new optician. He had no problem with that frame and i.e. curved prescription lenses which other opticians pretend don't exist.

It's complicated... 

Sure, I know it can get complicated. 

 

But then, seeking advice on Aseannow (I still wanna type Thaivisa!), is still worth it I reckon.....ie, if you say you had to go to 10 different opticians before finding what you wanted, then anyone reading that might adjust their expectations, which is useful to them, right?! ???? ????

[martin81]

On 9/8/2022 at 4:08 PM, Toolong said:

Lotus? ???? 

 

I am NOT ridiculing you or your comment, Martin, honestly.

I think I know what you mean. One of the eye places within the Lotus complex, right? 

Just had visions of eye charts & so on halfway down the canned food aisle that kind of tickled me! ????

 

But anyway......you really could be right, seriously. Might be best to try 'cheap & cheerful'! ????Thanks, man. ????

Yes I mean a shop within Lotos complex. I earlier bought ok cheap spectacles at Lotus's complex Pattaya on Sukhumwit road going towards Sattaheep. Lasted long. Simple uncoated glass or plastic lens. Do not remember the name of the shop. But not one of the expensive chains.

[BritManToo]

On 9/8/2022 at 5:57 PM, Toolong said:

When I say cracks, I don't mean the lens body cracking, just what seems like the surface film. It's as if the lens was sprayed on as a film and then dried out!

 

Has anyone reading this experienced this same thing? 

Every pair of glasses I've ever had in Asia.

Your sweat + UV light degrades the 'scratch proof' layer on the plastic lens.

The more you sweat and more time you spend outdoors, the quicker it happens.

Normally 12-18 months for me.

 

Buy your glasses from ZenniOptical.com ($50 a pair) then you can afford to chuck them every year or so.

 

PS. Your 1979 glasses are made from glass so no scratch proof coating.