lifestyle

Tips To Prevent Specs Steaming Up With Face Masks

New face mask rules mean people in England now have to wear the coverings on public transport and in shops to help stop the spread of the Omicron variant.

For glasses wearers this will bring back the frustrations that come with their lenses becoming fogged up and misty – a problem that is only further exacerbated in the cold weather.

One of the most common complaints is that glasses can get steamed up, making it more difficult to see.

Luckily, Specsavers has lots of useful tips and advice on how to stop steamy specs, allowing for clearer vision while ensuring safety with mask wearing.

Giles Edmonds, Specsavers clinical services director, says:
"There are a few difficulties people face when it comes to wearing a face mask while also wearing glasses. One of the most common complaints is that glasses can get steamed up, making it more difficult to see. Wherever possible our advice is to wear contact lenses, but we appreciate this is not the best option for everyone.

"If that isn’t an option, you need to make sure that the facemask fits tightly around your nose and cheeks. If you can (and it’s comfortable), pull your mask further up your nose and place glasses on top. This will help seal the mask around your nose, stopping the warm air from your breath escaping and steaming up your lenses. You could also try using a piece of surgical tape to hold your mask in place on the bridge of your nose and give your specs additional grip."

What about mask eye?

Mask eye occurs when our breath escapes from the top of our mask. This increased flow of warmer air closer to the eye could cause tears to evaporate more quickly, leaving eyes feeling dry and irritated.

Mr Edmonds adds:

"There are a couple of things you can do to try and avoid eye discomfort while wearing a mask. Try to ensure your mask fits snugly at the top to avoid breath escaping upwards into the eyes and instead disperses out the side. You could also try to increase the amount you blink to redistribute tears on the eyes surface, or also speak to your optometrist about using lubricating eye drops."

How to make things easier for those with hearing loss

It isn’t just steamy specs we need to think about as face masks can also pose communication difficulty for those who have hearing loss.

Gordon Harrison, Specsavers chief audiologist, says:
"It is not uncommon for people with hearing loss to find it difficult to communicate, especially in a loud and busy atmosphere. But facemasks make lip-reading impossible and distort sound, making it can be even more challenging.

"A facemask acts as a barrier, particularly to the higher speech frequencies where the key information in words is contained, and to plosive sounds that are produced on the lips, such as ‘f’, ‘ch’ and ‘p’. These sounds don’t carry the same energy as those produced in the back of the mouth and throat, such as ‘ee’ and ‘oo’, and can impact on the ability to hear.

"But there are some simple things you can do to help. Speak clearly in a slightly raised voice but do not shout as this distorts sound and always try to reduce any background noise where possible. You can also try to attract the person’s attention so that they know you are speaking as this will allow both ears to better pinpoint and focus on the sound. If you wear a hearing aid, ask your audiologist to help you adjust it to compensate when someone is wearing a mask, or use a remote microphone to deliver the best sound to the aid and if all else fails, writing information down can help clarify things."

For more information or to book an appointment visit www.specsavers.co.uk