With Chinese New Year around the corner, we all know we’re not just looking at visiting relatives. We can never leave out the CNY goodies! Nian Gao, Ang Ku Kueh, Love Letters and so much more, we simply just can’t keep our hands away from such snacks. However, these goodies would leave our fingers greasy and oily, and that’s a big no-no when handling our spectacle lenses.

Oil and grease reduce the clarity in our spectacles, and over time can permanently damage the lenses. The greasy ‘film’ that builds up on the lenses – if not properly taken care of – leaves thick smudge that can be increasingly harder to clean each day it is unattended to. As most people realise it a few minutes after touching their lenses with oily hands, they end up resorting to wiping them on their shirttails. We do not recommend this method, as even though it may appear convenient, may end up leaving your lenses even worse than it was before, as the microfabric residue left on the lenses may stick to the layer of grease on your spectacle lenses – or even worse – end up scratching the lenses.

So how exactly should we clean the lenses after a frenzy of CNY snacks? Firstly, it is important to always clean your hands thoroughly when handling our spectacles. Yes, it may seem ridiculous to go to the washroom each time you eat a snack and want to handle your glasses, which is why we suggest bringing along your lens solution cleaner and cleaning cloth along with you. You may not realise it but they are truly your best friends when it comes to cleaning your lenses on-the-go. Keeping a spare cloth in your bag is also a healthy spectacle habit we suggest our customers adopt! Nonetheless, it is important to ensure that your cleaning cloth is clean as well, if not it would just end up smearing the greasy marks around.