Removing friction polish from eyeglasses......

Others would need to have the same type of plastic lens that you have. There are several different kinds.

Get glass glasses next time? You must have plastic if you are worried about scraping and solvents, neither of which affect glass lenses unless the scraping is done in a gonzo fashion, or the "solvent" is hydrofluoric acid.

You can take your glasses to your optician. Bet you a nickle that he will use acetone to clean them.

I got superglue on mine (plastic) and called the place I got them. She said use acetone, which I did and got it off. I would never have used that without asking the person who knew. I would suggest alcohol, which should not harm any plastic. But then I am not an expert.

It would be helpful to know from what material your lenses are made, but there are a couple of general rules that you can follow:

1. Most plastics-- uncoated CR39 hard resin (the basic "plastic" spectacle lens material), polycarbonate, and the bulk of the high-index plastics, such as Seiko, are impervious to acetone (used sparingly) and isopropanol (propyl alcohol). But this is only if they are uncoated. IF they have AR (anti-reflective; you can detect this by a greenish-blue reflection from the back surface of the lens), anti-scratch, or other types of coatings, the coatings can be damaged by acetone, and some by alcohol. Be careful using acetone around plastic frames--most will dissolve/melt with acetone exposure. Remove the lenses from the frame if you have doubts.

If the above procedures fail, you could try taking them to an optical shop that has an ultrasonic cleaner. Occasionally we've gotten foreign material to release from lenses by this method.

HTH,

Max

Hi,

I've done the same thing with a visor, and found that if you soaked it in warm water with a little soap for a while, it softened it up sufficiently to be able to scrape it off with your fingernail.

I'd start by figuring out what I had on them. Lacquer-based polish or shellac-based will make a difference. That way when you find your optician s/he'll be able to interpret your needs better. Acetone should do for lacquer if the coatings will tolerate it, and for shellac, an alkali soak would be enough. Length of soak compensating for strength of solution. LDD ought to work....

Hey Jim... how ya been??

Note: those who need to try acetone and plan to use the wife's nail polish remover should make sure that it's not "acetone free" as that's very popular these days..DAMHIKT

Mac

Ahhh. At least I'm not alone- I have polycarbinate lenses that get a good shellac-ing every now and then, regular denatured alcohol has never hurt them, but you might want to test a small spot near the frames with a Q-tip first. It'd be annoying to have a spot, but at least they'd still be usable.

If the "friction polish" is a shellac product, alcohol ought to clean it off your lenses without harming them. It works on mine.

Barry

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who did such a foolish thing. Thanks to all who commented.