OPINION
By Daniela Gurrola, Staff Reporter
With more Americans venturing outside, the use of masks has become an absolute necessity to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus; however, among those that leave the house, there are those who use corrective lenses. Many glasses wearers have experienced the nuisance that comes with the wearing masks: lenses fogging up.
According to the Vision Council of America, about 75 percent of adults wear a form of corrective lenses. A whopping 64 percent of these adults use eyeglasses, including myself. Glasses are expensive. You’re not only paying for the corrective lenses, but you’re also paying for the frame itself. On average, frames cost about $196. You already can’t see without them and pay a tremendous amount of money just to be able to see. Add in the combination of the masks and your hot breath, it can be OK to admit that it can be irritating.
All my life, I have had to deal with the issue of my glasses fogging up due to several environmental factors. For example, you have decided to indulge in your cheapest yet most exquisite meal, dollar ramen. You sit down, ready to devour those savory noodles only for your glasses to fog and block your beautiful presentation. Another great example of betrayal is during the wintertime. You leave the comfort of your warm home only to be faced with the sudden shift in temperature and clouded lenses.
On top of that, various websites, especially Pinterest, will tell you rubbing shaving cream or a bar of a pure-white soap on your expensive glasses will prevent such a nuisance from happening. You will be told to wear contacts or use rain-repellent spray, but the thing is that these hacks are not enough are often ineffective. At times, some of the suggestions may be out of a person’s price range.
The solution to this problem would be to purchase a mask with an adjustable metal piece that you can mend to press against your nose. Unfortunately, this isn’t an option for many people at the moment, especially with so many masks of every kind being sold out. People have been resorting to DIY masks as a result of the pandemic. Again, especially during a time like this where a vast majority of people are no longer working, shopping for expensive masks just isn’t in their budgets.
The reality of it is that masks are necessary and you should always wear one if you absolutely need to leave the house. That being said, the combination of eyeglasses and face masks will always provide a minor, annoying inconvenience to those that wear them.
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