The anti-reflective coating on my prescription glasses is so scratched I can hardly see out of them. Occulist won't remove it and wants to charge me for new lenses! Any suggestions as to how I can remove the coating myself?
By Janine from UK
Go to an Automotive Parts store and purchase Plastic Polish/Cleaner/Scratch Remover (several good manufacturers such as Maguiers, 3M,Mother's, Novus). Use a non-abrasive cloth and begin the hand-polishing process. It should remove the coating and minor scratches. Don't be aggressive; use a little TLC :)
Go to Hobby Lobby or any craft store and buy Armor Etch it's a glass etching and rub on and wash off with water. I could hardly see out of my glasses and I tried this product today and it took the coating off and they are like new glasses
I buy inexpensive glasses online and I'm proud of it. The eyeglass industry is a racket with the way they make you get a new prescription every year whether you need it or not. "You may be going blind". No, I'm not! I'd know if I was. You just want my money.
Save yourself the time and money. I used a cheap brand of plain rubbing alcohol, soaked for about 5 minutes. Gently scrape coating off and polish with a soft cloth. Repeated by dipping cloth in RA and worked any residue off. Done in 15 minutes and they are like new
I managed to remove all coating. The recipe:
- square glass bowl (e.g. for lasagna)
- cleaning vinegar
- sink unblocker (sodium hydroxide)
* remove if possible all plastic parts
I just finished trying the tooth paste. Rubbed it on for about a minute, rinsed, they are just like new.
I used a wet dryer sheet and it worked for me
I had the same problem of broken down anti-reflective coating on my plastic lensed glasses. I has tried to remove it with my fingernails and caused scratching that made the view even more unclear. Tried a few things, but the solution was rubbing a small amount of Meguiares "Ultimate Compound" used for cutting faded car duco.
You can only do this if the glasses are NOT glass, and are plastic. Glass WILL etch and you won't be able to see through them. I used to do glass etching so I know what the glass etching does to real glass.
Beware that these instructions may not work for recent models (2015+) as the surface below the coating may be uneven, and removing the coating gives an almost unusable result. (The application of the coating evens up the surface.)
Beware that these instructions may not work for recent models (2015+) as the surface below the coating may be uneven, and removing the coating gives an almost unusable result. (The application of the coating evens up the surface.)
Example of surface below:
I used magic eraser and it worked! I tried everything and nothing seemed to help. Just on a last ditch effort I tried the magic eraser and was amazed.
I just got through with using Armour etch and it worked great, my glasses were so cloudy and foggy I couldn't use them, I was using and old pair I had, I tried the toothpaste, window cleaner, hand soap and Armour cleaned them up. I put a dab on my finger and gently rubbed front and back and got results first time, I had to do a second rub and it got the left over.
I tried to remove the anti-glare coating with rubbing alcohol -- it made more scratches.
I tried to use toothpaste and an electric toothbrush -- It did nothing.
Then I remembered that my sweat had made the coating cloudy. So I made a salt solution (dissolve a teaspoon of table salt, NaCl, in a cup of water) and used the electric toothbrush. It removed the coating, but several applications were necessary to get it all. It might be a good idea to remove the lenses from the frames, if possible, (I didn't) as the salt solution may be corrosive to the frames. At a minimum thoroughly rinse the glasses.
I did it this way and my plastic glasses are like new:
1 - I bought a small bottle of T-Cut from an automotive store.
2 - I popped the lenses out of the frame and placed them on a saucer with a liberal amount of T-Cut on the saucer and then smeared T-Cut on both sides of the lenses
3 - I used my fingernails to scratch the lens surfaces (front and back) and as I did so the coating was removed bit-by-bit
4 - After 15 minutes of scraping on a lens, I used dishwashing liquid to clean the lens and check my progress; if I noticed that the coating remained in a given area, I made note of where it was by looking into the light and then concentrated on that area using the same technique mentioned above until all the lens coating was gone
5 - My lenses are now like new.
6 - I suspect that this technique will work with other moderately abrasive pastes like toothpaste but have not tried with any others.
NOTE: I will never buy coated lenses again!
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I purchased a prescription pair of eye glasses about 8 months back. It is a branded glass with an anti reflective coating. Now the left side lens is not clear, as the coating has developed some scratches. I want remove the total coating on both the lenses so that I can see clearly. How to do it?
By R. Srinivasan
Lenses coatings don't hold up for me either. If I get 2 years out of a pair of lenses I call that a success, as dirty and as scratched mine get working and be active.
It takes about 30 miniutes to remove the coating with a few cents worth of toothpaste. I've taken off the glare coating on one pair andthe scratch resistant coating on another pair using it.
I'm just glad I wasn't born in a poor and undeveloped area of the world where people don't have acces to eye care, because I can see very little without my glasses.
Maybe you should get contacts if your sigmatizm isn't off the map?
I have tried Armour Etch, 91% alcohol, car polish, furniture polish, Magic Eraser, metal polish, acetone, oven cleaner, Goo Gone, picking at the film (kind of smears it), and gasoline, and it still won't come off. I did an older pair of glasses and it came off with one coat of Etch.
This won't budge. It is just sitting on the lens, not really embedded in it. I got a little to come off, but I have been working on it for 2 days. When I get a little to move, it smears it.You can try using Novus or Plastix on your plastic lens. This is normally made for removing scratches on head lights but has worked great for removing the anti-reflective coating on lens.
How do I remove the scratched coating from my eyeglasses?
Are you trying to remove the special coating you had put on when you got your glasses? If so, use isopropyl alcohol. If you're trying to remove a scratch from regular glasses, rub a bit of toothpaste on the scratch then rinse and dry with a soft cloth.
