Tired of your mask fogging up your glasses? Consider LASIK

Face mask related eyeglass fog: an annoying Covid-19 consequence

Recently we’ve had a large uptick in eyeglass wearers inquiring about LASIK for one reason… they could not stand their eyeglasses fogging up from wearing a facemask.

They tell us that in addition to sometimes feeling like they are gasping for air, face mask use has seriously impacted their ability to perform effectively and safely at work and in sports. And of course, we understand how annoying that can be.

Eyeglass fogging has been a growing problem since California and over 20 other states began requiring anyone going outside their home, workers in customer-facing industries, and employees in group settings like offices and factories to wear face masks.

While at AGEI, we care for a large number of people with sight-threatening issues and thus never closed during the Pandemic, we did also immediately adopt strict safety precautions, including face masks.

Though we are relieved that the virus proved to be far less dangerous than initially believed, it appears that wearing masks in public may remain with us in the near term. But for the eyeglass wearer, Coronavirus has added an additional inconvenient wrinkle to their daily life, engendering an even greater longing for freedom. Luckily there are solutions to the problem of eyeglass fog.

Covid-19 also presents health challenges for contact lens wearers

In light of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s recently published recommendations to stop wearing contacts and use eyeglasses instead during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have another thought we’d like to share. Glasses are often safer than wearing contacts even during “normal times”, but for those whose eyes are evaluated to be good candidates, LASIK can serve as an even better choice than eyeglasses and contact lens. LASIK can even be more economical compared to both other choices over the long term.

While a number of recent posts online have recommended a handful of tricks to help alleviate eyeglass fog, the fact remains that these are just temporary solutions. The problem with eyeglass fogging is more than just the inconvenience it poses when you are temporarily unable to see clearly and must stop to either raise your glasses to let them de-mist or perhaps even take your eyewear off altogether to wipe it down. 

What causes eyeglasses to fog up?

The quick answer to this question is moist warm air (same as when your car windshield fogs up). When you exhale, your breath is warm and filled with tiny droplets of water vapor. This moist warm air makes its way upward toward the bridge of your nose and escapes from the top of the mask, landing onto your cooler eyeglass lenses. The surface tension between the droplets allows them to accumulate and spread as a thin film across your lenses, fogging them up until the water eventually evaporates. Whether you use paper or cloth masks doesn’t seem to make a difference.

Eyeglass fogging can have serious consequences

Imagine you’re a first responder and have to jump out of your air-conditioned vehicle to address an urgent call. When you emerge from your cool rig, you get hit with the warm summer air and bang – your glasses fog up, hampering your ability to leap into action.

Or say you work on an assembly line doing precision work and your prescription glasses fog up, temporarily blocking your near vision. The same can apply to the barista preparing your coffee order, the line cook making your lunch, or the technician repairing your laptop. Anyone who does near work has had their productivity, not to mention their patience, affected by eyeglass fog.

Certainly, not all precision work is a high stakes pursuit, but eyeglass fogging can have important consequences in jobs where you can get injured from machinery, get burned while preparing food, or injure others while performing personal health or beauty services.

Eye injuries are increasing in association with Face masks and Coronavirus

The American Academy of Ophthalmology is reporting an increase in eye injuries from construction workers and even people doing work around the house who are foregoing using their safety glasses simply because they are fogging up too much.

And then there’s the increased risk of contamination with Covid-19 that comes from transferring coronavirus droplets onto your face when putting on glasses, adjusting the top of your mask, or continuously removing your glasses to clean them.  While we don’t believe that such activity poses a real increased risk, it does seem to add to people’s anxiety during these strange times.

How much does face mask related eyeglass fogging affect you?

At the end of the day, every eyeglass wearer has to decide how much of an impediment eyeglass fogging poses to their day to day functioning. If you don’t do near vision tasks or participate in activities that require immediate precise vision and are willing to put up with continuous fogging, then you can rely on compensatory measures. 

Fog fighting efforts like wiping your glasses, taping the top of your mask to your face to get a better seal, applying a film of soapy water or shaving cream to your glasses, or repeatedly applying anti-fog sprays to the lenses can be time-consuming and provide short-lived results. Not to mention the hassle and risk involved in repeatedly touching your face.

If eyeglass fogging is more than just a mild inconvenience and the resulting vision problems seriously affect your productivity or safety, or if you’re unwilling to live with the increased risk of COVID contamination that repeated face touching poses, then you might want to consider a more permanent solution to decrease your dependency on eyeglasses.

Eliminate face mask eyeglass fog forever with LASIK 

LASIK and other laser vision correction procedures offered by the experienced ophthalmologists at Assil Gaur Eye Institute are a great option for those who want to decrease their need for glasses and contact lenses. At AGEI, we offer an exclusive approach to LASIK eye surgery developed by our founder, Dr. Kerry Assil, that uses state-of-the-art vision measurement technology which allows our patients to attain precise crisp vision that frequently exceeds what they experienced while wearing glasses or contacts.

What’s more, our team of eye surgeons, optometrists, and physician assistants have extensive experience in a wide range of eye health conditions that have earned AGEI its reputation as one of Los Angeles’ premier ophthalmology practices.

The founder of AGEI, Kerry K. Assil, MD, is regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts in refractive surgery, having made significant advances in the LASIK field including numerous inventions, dozens of articles and textbook chapters on the LASIK procedure, and lectures to eye doctors at international medical symposia. He has trained thousands of eye surgeons on LASIK techniques, including his partner, Avneet K. Sodhi Gaur, who is an exceptional surgeon in her own right.

Please call 866-945-2745 or visit us here to make an appointment online for a complimentary LASIK consultation, to learn more about what LASIK surgery can do to provide you with better vision and to determine whether you are an appropriate candidate for LASIK.