How many times have you found yourself with new glasses full of stripes on the lenses and wondered, “How could this happen?” Usually when the lenses are close to our eyes we do not notice the little lines, but over time, striped lenses can be really annoying, especially when looking at a screen in the dark. Here are four simple tricks to keep your lenses intact for as long as possible.

Wash them with water before cleaning

Running your eyeglasses under running water helps scrub off dirt. That way, when you wipe them down, you don’t risk small specks of dust scratching your lenses.

Use suitable fabric

Use only microfiber cloths to clean your glasses. Kitchen paper, towels or hard-woven clothing may scratch the lenses.

Put your glasses up

If you take off your glasses and place them on a table, place them with the lenses facing up. If you lay them with the lenses toward the table, the surface may scratch them.

Place them in a case

If you do not use your glasses for an extended period of time put them in a hard case to protect them from impact. It’s cool to put them attached to your collar, but they’re at risk of falling off. Not to mention if you leave them in your purse, where they could get scratched on contact with keys or other sharp objects.

How to see without glasses

If you happen to forget or lose your glasses, this little trick can do the trick in case of an emergency. You have to form a hole with your fingers, as small as possible using your thumb and index finger. Bringing your hand to your eye, if you look through that little hole, you’ll be able to see in focus.

Of course, it is not like you can avoid buying a pair of glasses and just use this method, but it can come in handy when you’re desperate. Try reading this article yourself without glasses, just with your fingers. It works, whether you miss a tenth or nine. The video below from the You Tube channel minutephysics basically explains how to do it.

How does it work?

First of all, we need to explain how vision works. Light starts from a source (the sun, a light bulb, etc.) and bounces off objects in its path to end up in the eyes. Here, in the retina, the image is formed. If the lens of our eyes is damaged and we do not wear glasses, the light hits the retina in different places and the image is blurred. The lenses serve to direct the scattered light to a single point on the retina, resulting in a clear image. Thus, after stimulation of the light-sensitive nerves and interpretation by the brain, we can see.

Lenses can only focus on light coming from a certain distance, which is why when we look at a particular object, what’s in front and behind us is blurry. If an object is too close or too far away, the light it reflects will again be scattered across the retina, causing blurry vision. Fortunately, the muscles in our eyes control our lens and change its focal length. This allows us to see from different distances, unless we suffer from blindness.

Like a lens, a small opening like a small hole can focus light from any distance. Since it’s a small opening, the light passes through a single point, then in a single direction from any source, eliminating any blurring. If you’re experienced in photography, you’ll know that focusing an object requires using a smaller and smaller aperture.

So why don’t we use apertures instead of glasses? Because the holes focus the image by blocking the light, while with lenses the light is directed. Using small holes would make our image darker.