How to prevent your lenses from fogging up when you wear a mask

Many people faithfully wear masks to prevent others from becoming infected with COVID-19. But while wearing masks is important to public health, it’s also a great fit for many Americans who are adjusting to a new garment and sweaty faces. Those of us with glasses have another problem to face: foggy lenses. When you wear a mask and your warm breath hits the relatively cold surface of your glasses, the result will be fog.

This can be very irritating, especially if you walk from a hot street to an air-conditioned store, suddenly you can’t see and you don’t want to manipulate your glasses without washing your hands first.

Various strategies have been suggested to keep your glasses and vision clear when wearing a mask.

Wear a mask with a nasal bridge

If your mask fits loosely over your nose, your breath is sure to escape into your glasses. Many masks for sale have stitched nose bridges, flexible straps that allow you to fold and shape them to fit your nose. These serve several purposes: They make the masks more effective (because less moisture can escape), make them more comfortable, and help prevent your breath from hitting your glasses.

If your mask does not have its own jumper, you can make yours using twist ties or pipe cleaners, or you can tape the mask.

Put your glasses on your mask

A simple trick: just lift your mask so that the top sits higher on your nose and wear your glasses on top of the material. Any air leak should lose your glasses.

Use soap and water

If you don’t have a special coating on your glasses, you can try washing them in soapy water and then air-drying or very lightly drying. The idea is that the soap leaves a film that prevents the glasses from fogging. It is best to avoid soaps that are made with lotion.

Put a scarf inside the mask.

By sticking a folded scarf under the mask to the bridge of your nose, you can absorb the escaping moisture.

Buy a commercial anti-fog product

There are a number of fog sprays and wipes available on the market that are worth trying, but we cannot guarantee their effectiveness.