Hygienic Cleaning of Eyeglass Lenses and Frames

Protection against viruses and bacteria is currently more important than ever before – and therefore also the topic of hygiene. Viruses and bacteria can survive for hours on everyday devices such as smartphones and even eyeglass lenses and frames.

For those who emphasize hygiene as prevention and possible protection against diseases, it is therefore essential to pay attention to the hygiene of eyewear. Find out how to reduce germs on eyeglass lenses and frames.

In the same way that regular hand washing is a self-evident practice today, cleaning eyeglasses regularly should also be a given. Use either a special cleaning wipe with disinfectant components, an eyeglass cleaning spray in combination with a soft microfiber cloth, or clear water with a drop of dishwashing soap. As in handwashing, soap is a proven way to disable enveloped viruses.
Important point: be sure to clean the frame and especially the nose pads of the eyeglasses. This is often neglected, but it is precisely where viruses and bacteria can hide.

Disinfectants are available in every household. It might be a good idea to disinfect your eyeglasses with them. But be careful: such agents are usually very aggressive and can damage the coating of the eyeglass lenses and the material of the frame.
The best advice is to talk to your eye care professional and ask for a disinfectant recommended for your eyeglass lenses and frame.

UV-C light with a wavelength of 200 to 270 nanometers is used today, for example, in hospitals and medical practices for disinfection. Consumers can also purchase UV-C irradiation devices which are available, for instance, in the form of small boxes.
The eyeglasses are placed inside and within a few minutes all the germs are eliminated.

Important: UV radiation can damage the eyes. Therefore, you should only use irradiation devices in the box form described above where no light penetrates to the outside.

A completely new feature developed by ZEISS, is an anti-reflective coating with additional antibacterial and antiviral properties. The highlight: while long-lived germs are capable of surviving for many hours – even days – on surfaces,¹  including eyeglass lenses, the ZEISS DuraVision AntiVirus Platinum UV³ coating deactivates viruses and bacteria on the lens surface.²  This is made possible by silver ions that are invisibly integrated into the antireflection coating package.

^{1 Mahl, M. C., and C. Sadler. "Virus survival on inanimate surfaces." Canadian Journal of Microbiology 21.6 (1975): 819-823.} 

^{2 Tested by ISO 21702:2019(E) for enveloped viruses and tested by ISO 22196:2011(E) for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Efficacy proven after 24 hours as defined by ISO.}

^{3 Product is not available in the European Union.}