OT - Removing coating from prescription lenses

[Veloo]

The anti-reflective coating on my prescription glasses is scratched and flaking. There are a number of web pages talking about how to remove it and still come out with a perfectly good, clear lens but I question how legit some are.

Has anyone done this? What did you use?

[Black Dog]

Lenses are cheap and frames are expensive. Go to the optometrist and get some new lenses. You will have brand new lenses for less than $100. If you are due for a checkup them you may need a slightly different prescription anyway. Win win. Once you take off the coating you will get a lot of glare.

[Veloo]

Here's the long story.
Chipped my current and relatively new pair of glasses. Also decided I'm not so crazy about the frames anymore.
The new pair are en route but lenses still need to be ordered after the frame arrives from somewhere across the pond.
Thought I'd cheap out and see if I can get the flakes off the lens coating of the old, old pair in the meantime and also turn them into the spare, in-car pair of glasses.

If it's a $5 or $10 bottle of something and a bit of scraping then I'm up for it.

[martl]

Lenses are cheap and frames are expensive.
Depends on your prescription and glasses used. A set of lenses for me is ~1000€. (but i wouldn't remove the coating)

[benb]

Yah my lenses are $250-300.

This is an intriguing idea. I have some Maui Jim lenses prescription sunglasses that are doing this.

My future solution is probably not to buy any more junk Luxoticca sunglass lenses from the Eye doctor's office/lab at ridiculous prices.

I have a 2 year old set of polarized lenses from Sports Optical you'd think they are made out of some extraterrestrial material that that is harder to scratch than diamond compared to everything from the eye doctor and they were cheaper. Not a single scratch, no way to tell they aren't brand new, and they get used in all weather for cycling so they get mud and grit and dirt and salt on them a lot compared to the Maui Jim glasses which mostly get used for casual wear and driving the car.

I had prescription Oakley sunglasses before the Maui Jim ones and those also had lenses made by a Luxottica lab and their coatings were junk too. Falling apart in 18 months.

[Black Dog]

Here's the long story.
Chipped my current and relatively new pair of glasses. Also decided I'm not so crazy about the frames anymore.
The new pair are en route but lenses still need to be ordered after the frame arrives from somewhere across the pond.
Thought I'd cheap out and see if I can get the flakes off the lens coating of the old, old pair in the meantime and also turn them into the spare, in-car pair of glasses.

If it's a $5 or $10 bottle of something and a bit of scraping then I'm up for it.

I see. Well go for it then. You have little to lose.

Start with this:

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi.ebayimg.com%2F00%2Fs%2FNTY2WDg0O Q%3D%3D%2Fz%2FST0AAOSwd0BV1el2%2F%24_32.JPG%3Fset_ id%3D880000500F&f=1

[Veloo]

Yeah, it's funny how the coating is flaking off the lens that is about 5 or 6 years old but the pair that is over 10 years old is fine.

[martl]

I've never had any coating come off my glasses, my oldest pair is now 20 years old, they are on my nose every second of the day that i'm awake because i would run into tables, doors and other obstacles (people) otherwise.
I regret to say i never treat them with the TLC they deserve given their price tag, i may clean them by dry-rubbing them with a shirttail or similar, and when riding a bike and switching to my optical bike glasses, i even often put them in my jersey pocket without any protection case (all of it highly not reommended), and that pocket may even contain other stuff like arm warmers or a cell phone. Heck, sometimes i even find i picked the same pocket i stored my keys in (though i try to avoid the latter usually). Still the coating is ok - really! :)

But maybe there's another correlation btw price/quality/durability of the coating?! ;)

[Bicyclepair]

If your glasses are relatively new, have them replaced. Whenever I get new glasses they are scratch resistant or have a warranty against damage/defect. New lenses should not be flaking.

[type2sam]

Yeah, it's funny how the coating is flaking off the lens that is about 5 or 6 years old but the pair that is over 10 years old is fine.

Interestingly I have a pair (maybe 8 years old?) where the coating on the left lens is crazed and the right is largely fine. Investigated some of the solutions you are referring to but never tried them. I have contacts as a backup and for riding but can't stand wearing them for more than 6 hours or so as they get dry.

[benb]

I've never had any coating come off my glasses, my oldest pair is now 20 years old, they are on my nose every second of the day that i'm awake because i would run into tables, doors and other obstacles (people) otherwise.
I regret to say i never treat them with the TLC they deserve given their price tag, i may clean them by dry-rubbing them with a shirttail or similar, and when riding a bike and switching to my optical bike glasses, i even often put them in my jersey pocket without any protection case (all of it highly not reommended), and that pocket may even contain other stuff like arm warmers or a cell phone. Heck, sometimes i even find i picked the same pocket i stored my keys in (though i try to avoid the latter usually). Still the coating is ok - really! :)

But maybe there's another correlation btw price/quality/durability of the coating?! ;)

This is mostly a newer glasses issue AFAICT.. maybe older coatings were more durable for some reason?

I could easily see there being some hidden reason we don't know about. Like the coatings were reformulated to get rid of some horrible industrial waste that was generated with the old durable coatings...

I don't think I ever had any issues till the pair of Oakleys I got 5-6 years ago. All the glasses I got for 20+ years before that never had any issues with the coatings.

[deechee]

100$ lenses...? Man, that was like when I was in high school and I'm never going back to anything lower than 1.7 index now. As annoying as those coatings are, I *do* feel like my current blue filter lenses reduce eye strain after working all day in front of my monitors. BUT, I also have an amazing skylight above me now :P

[martl]

100$ lenses...? Man, that was like when I was in high school and I'm never going back to anything lower than 1.7 index now. As annoying as those coatings are, I *do* feel like my current blue filter lenses reduce eye strain after working all day in front of my monitors. BUT, I also have an amazing skylight above me now :P

Photo equipment enthusiasts know about the difference between the "old" Zeiss lenses and those which had the famous "T*" coating, which was a quantum leap.
So my conclusion is, one shouldn't underestimate its effect... And since i use a photo lens maybe 5hrs per year and my glasses 14 hrs a day, i know where not to be cheap :)
I haven't really seen any noticeable difference in the coating of glasses i bought 20 years ago and ones i bought 6 years ago, tbh. Well a new set is in the pipeline this year, i'll keep an eye (pun alarm!) on it.

[cadence90]

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[parris]

Maui Jim is still independent and hadn't been swallowed by Luxotica from what I'm hearing. They have a couple of sgh exclusives but they haven't been bought up. Depending on the age of the glasses contact your supplier for warranty work.