Caring for Your Glasses: Make Them Last Years, Not Months
A good pair of glasses should last years. Most that don't are killed by the same few habits. Here's what our specialist team tells every customer.
Cleaning: do
Rinse first — under lukewarm running water — to wash away the grit that causes scratches, then add a tiny drop of washing-up liquid, rub gently with clean fingertips, rinse, and dry with the microfibre cloth that came in your case. That's the routine our glazing lab uses. Lens sprays are fine too; use them with a microfibre cloth.
Cleaning: don't
Never dry-wipe a dusty lens (that's sandpapering it), never use your shirt, tissues or kitchen roll (wood fibres scratch coatings), and never use household glass cleaners, alcohol wipes or acetone — they attack lens coatings and can craze acetate frames. Hot water warps frames; keep it lukewarm.
Handling and storage
Take your glasses off with both hands — one-handed removal twists the frame a little every time, and a twisted frame changes how the lenses sit in front of your eyes. Store them in the case, hinges folded, lenses up. Never leave them on a car dashboard: summer heat is the fastest way to delaminate coatings and warp acetate. And resist pushing them up onto your head — it stretches the temples wide.
When they go crooked
Frames drift out of alignment with normal wear — it's not a fault, it's physics. Don't bend them back yourself over a sink; metal fatigues and acetate snaps cold. As a real practice, we'd rather you let a professional do a two-minute adjustment with the proper tools — pop in if you're local, or contact our specialist team for advice.
The 30-second weekly check
Once a week: tighten check (do the temples flop?), sit check (do they sit level on your face?), lens check (any new scratches — and if so, where's the grit coming from — pocket? handbag?). Caught early, almost everything is fixable.
Scratched beyond saving? Remember we can reglaze many frames with fresh lenses to your current prescription — ask our specialist team.