How to Stop Your Glasses From Fogging While Wearing a Face Mask

Everyone is trying to be safer during this pandemic, and face masks are a really important way to do that. But for those of us who wear glasses every day, the combination of wearing both glasses and a face mask can be super frustrating. Often, wearing a face mask makes your glasses fog up. This happens because your warm breath is redirected up by the mask fabric towards the lenses, leaving a cloud of little water droplets and impairing your vision with all of the extra condensation. But there are solutions out there to reduce the fogginess- here are a few tips and tricks:

First of all, make sure that your mask fits properly over the bridge of your nose and across your cheeks. Having one with a wire or metal nosepiece can help with a proper fit - if yours doesn't have a wire, you can tape or sew wire from a twist tie, floral wire, or a pipe cleaner to the inside. However, you'll want to remove the tape and wire before washing if using a washable mask. Also, make sure that the ties or elastic securing the mask to your head are snug enough. If an elastic loop is too loose, you can tie a knot in it to tighten it, or just twist it once before looping it over your ears to tighten it just slightly.

Try pulling your mask up higher on your face, using the glasses to weigh down the extra fabric a bit. Having less of a gap at the top of your mask can keep your warm breath from creeping up to your lenses quite as much.

Many doctors (who obviously have to wear masks a lot when working) use tape to attach their masks to their face across the bridge of their nose and cheeks. If you try this method, use a medical or athletic tape (NOT duct tape), and make sure you test any tape out first to make sure it doesn't react badly with your skin. 

Adding a light film of soap to the lenses of your glasses can help a little bit- just swirl them with some soapy water and let them dry. The thin film of soap that's left on them after they're dry acts as a surfactant, which minimizes the surface tension of the water from your breath (making the water droplets less likely to stick to the glass). This is only a temporary solution, but definitely one worth trying.

Finally, if you're still having issues with your glasses fogging when you're wearing a face mask, you might invest in some professional anti-fog solution to spray on them. These are surfactants that act in the same way the soap film does, but are usually more effective in keeping the condensation at bay.  They come in a wide range of prices, but just be sure to check the fine print and make sure that they don't interfere with any anti-glare or anti-smudge treatments on your lenses before you use one.