foggy four eyes?

[GARTHXS]

I recently found out I need to use glasses when I ride/ drive. Any tips on fogged up spectacles ?

[LoHo]

Just a thought, but you might try a dive shop (scuba) and try their lens cleaner and antifog.

[MaximPhil]

I recently found out I need to use glasses when I ride/ drive. Any tips on fogged up spectacles ?

Hi Garth,
I have worn glasses for decades . While driving the car i have never had glasses fog up. Windshields fog up not the glasses. In extreme temperature changes the glasses will fog up. ie when you get out of a airconditioned car in a hot &humid day they will fog. From below freezing outdoors into a heated space will fog too. I ride with a 3/4 helmet with shield and the shield has fogged not the glasses. Those with full face helmets may have a different experience to report.
Keep them clean the slightest dirt causes reflections which are difficult to see through especially as the sun sets or oncoming headlights at night
Phil

[RJFort]

I wear glasses too, but don't always need to wear them, even though I wear them almost all the time. Riding and driving I don't always wear them, not necessary. Anyways, I had a pair of prescription riding glasses made. you can have them made with the progressive lenses too so that when it gets dark the lenses get clear. They are ballistic lenses too so they will not shatter if something hits you in the eyes. Some have the foam around the frame to keep air out, there are many different kinds. I loved mind until I lost them. That is the only trick remembering where you left them. haha. The most popular brand out there is Wiley-X. Here are a couple examples for ya if these might be an option:

http://www.wileyx.com/MOTORCYCLE/index.aspx

http://www.rx-safety.com/store/index...FQnd4AodUTynLQ

http://www.riderseye.com/

there are many more options for you out there here is just a sample. Good luck to you. I never had a problem with these fogging or anything.

[Wildkat]

Welcome to the land of the foureyes!

I don't really have much trouble with the glasses fogging up but I know there are products out there you can put on your lenses to keep them from doing so... I'll try to find the links and post those.

Rain can be a bit of a problem sometimes. Someone here(?) has a pair of gloves with a rubber strip on the index finger to use as a wiper blade... kinda cool and seemed to work for them.
JAT

[madmax-im]

I wear my prescription sunglasses under my full face helmets...with the face sheild either fully open or just slightly and my glasses never fog...face sheild might but it dissaptes quickly. Oh and BMW has those kind of gloves with the little wiper blade on the left finger...I have a pair and have used that to clear my face shield...it does work but the gloves are not water proof and eventually your hands will get wet.

[natemoen]

Keep the glasses from fogging by wearing contacts.

[soccer4m]

laser

Howdy Garthmaster,,,,,check out Laser surgery for your eyes, best thing for correcting vision. I had it done 13 years ago and no problems, actually it gets better,,,,20/15. Ask my broinlaw Tom how his went, he just had his eyes done three weeks ago. He loves the freedom of not wearing glasses. If you have medical coverage they usually cover half the cost. In the long run, much cheaper than exams and glasses. Us old farts still need reading glasses on occasion, but the mid and long distance is perfect from the laser surgery. It takes a total of 20 minutes, painless, and within a couple of days the vision is great................call up if you and Scott are riding,,,,,,,Mike in N.Sun DIego

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Garth,

I've lived in Sunny San Diego, it can get a little cold there in the winter, and if you're riding it now, it's the hot air from your breath as well as the heat from your skin that's fogging them....CLOSE YOUR MOUTH!!

When I've ridden in cool weather with sunglasses, same thing, I have to pop open my full face visor when coming to stop, try to exhale thru the corner of my mouth or blow downwards briskly instead of just thru my nose. Then when riding/moving again, drop the visor down to keep out most of the cold air. My helmet has a vent feature that helps keep a little bit of air moving thru it to keep the fogging down. I remember wearing a neck warmer or such and having it come up to my mouth/nose and that would also direct the hot air more upwards towards the glasses and contribute to fogging.

When I work in the Operating Room, I have to wear my reading glasses, and I put a piece of folded 1" wide tape across my nose to form a shield with the mask, so it directs the exhaling hot foggy air out the sides away from my glasses.

And I also have some of those windshield/visor wiping gloves, they are not waterproof as stated, surprisingly they came with a vinyl mitten cover for rain, but then I can't use the wiper!? I'm mostly a fair weather rider anyways!

T.C.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Soccer4m,

That's news to me if your medical insurance covered part of your LVC(Laser Vision Correction), it's considered a luxury and most won't cover any of it. You may have had a Flex Spending Account and then it CAN be used to help fund the LVC, but that's money out of your pocket anyways. California may have made some new laws for LVC and medical insurance, don't know, but it's usually NOT covered by medical insurance or even Eye Insurance.

And...just because a person has 20/20 or 20/15 vision does not mean they will not need to see an eye doctor ever again! There a quite a few diseases that can afflict the eyes that do not have any prominent symptoms and can only be detected by an eye exam. Anyone over 40 should be getting an exam at least every 2 years to check for GLAUCOMA if nothing else. The phrase in the "Biz" is first you don't feel anything, then you don't see anything!

The eye has a fluid that is produced by special structures behind the Iris and flows thru the pupil and around the front part to nourish the natural inner lens and the front cornea/lens, and then it drains out thru a special spongy layer. This sponge can slowly get clogged up, fluid keeps being made, can't drain out, increased pressure, pressure seeks equalization, pushes against the thicker jelly fluid in the back(Vitreous Humor), this pushes against the back lining...retina, sclera...the weakest point is the Optic Nerve where the millions of nerve fibers enter the eye from the brain. The increased pressure crushes the nerves as well as reduces circulation of the main blood vessels that also enter and exit thru that opening, and this is what can lead to slow loss of peripheral vision, eventually central vision.

The scary thing is that when the peripheral/side vision is going, you don't see a big obvious dark band in your vision. Your brain fills in the missing data from the eye with a matching GRAY kind of sensation...so you don't really notice what's missing until you actually test that area.

In the Misc Forum Tech tip on our Invisibility as bikers, there's an example of how to find your natural blind spot. It's between 10-20 degrees off of your center vision, opposite sides for each eye, but even with one eye closed you don't see a BLACK BLANK SPOT in your vision...because of the way the brain fills in that missing data....and this is just 10 degrees off of your center vision. Glaucoma damage starts at 50 or more degrees away and slowly encroaches...and usually only when it hits the center 5 degrees or so is when people finally notice that they aren't seeing like they should!!!

Sorry for the lecture...it's my field of work! Yes, LVC is very nice, but it's not necessarily for everyone.

T.C.

[RJFort]

I looked into getting Lasik surgery and they said that I am not a candidate for the surgery as my eyes do not fall within the parameters necessary to be qualified. Your eyes can be too bad, too good, or have multiple issues that won't all be corrected by the surgery. My case I have a lazy eye, which is not that bad anymore as it has been strengthened over the years (wore a patch as a kid), an astigmatism, not helped by the weak muscle, and i need them to read. Also my eyes have gotten good enough to where I don't need them all the time so my eyes are not bad enough to get the surgery and it would only fix 2 or the 3 issues I have. It is not for everyone as I can attest to. I was disappointed, but what can you do.

[GARTHXS]

I do wear a full face helmet and its not an issue when moving . I just crack the visor . I just don't like taking off from a stop light when I can't see

[GARTHXS]

I don't know about the lazily either my wife and mother in law both had it done ten years ago and now they both have.to wear glasses again

[TopCatGr58]

Since we're on the "Off TOPIC"

A "brief" anatomy and physiology lesson is in order here, I'll try my best to keep from this turning into a thesis!

The "NO GLASSES" eye state is called Emmetropia...when the eyes focusing muscles are relaxed, light rays from 20 feet and beyond are brought to focus directly on the Retina...IN FOCUS. To focus on objects closer than 20 feet our internal eye muscle contracts changing the shape of the internal lens, making it get fatter to converge the light rays to keep them in focus. As we age, this lens continues to grow cells within it, but it's a sealed space, and like stuffing a bean bag chair, too many beans, and it gets stiff and will NOT bend...hence the aging change that causes folks to need some other focusing power to see close objects after the age of 40.

When an eye is too long front to back,(Myopia) the front lens(cornea) is too steeply curved, and the 20+ feet away light rays are bent too much/soon so that the image is in focus in front of the Retina. Eye glasses(also contacts) which are thicker on the edge,thinner in the middle bend the light rays apart BEFORE they go thru the cornea which then bends them...but now they will bend the right amount and be in focus ON the retina.

But with AGE, the internal lens looses it's ability to change shape, and can't bend the closer light rays, so an additional power of lens in the glasses(bifocal) is needed to provide the proper amount of bending to bring them into focus.

SO...folks who are <40 years old and have LVC/Lasik/PRK can still change their internal lens shape, so they can see far and near, but once they get over 40, they can't and so need to get reading glasses to see things up close even though they can still see things far away.

Folks that are already 40+ and looking to have LVC will usually be shown an option where "we" can set the focus of one of their eyes for reading, and the other Dominant eye for distance, and 60% of folks can use this setup easily without problems(called Monovision...remember Hogan's Heroes and Colonel Klink's MONOCLE?) . But ~40% can't, and so they have to be satisfied with getting good clear Distance vision after LVC, but will still need to wear reading glasses for up close. But reading glasses (OTC) are quite cheap compared to Prescription glasses/bifocals....so they still get a good level of all around functionality and can use "throw away" readers...have several pairs around...home, office, shop, car, etc..

Astigmatism is just a fancy word that means the cornea is not basketball shaped, but football or egg, so it distorts light rays in 2 different focusing planes instead of just 1 like regular Myopia or Hyperopia(far sidedness)

A lazy eye(amblyopia) is where 1 eye was not in focus with the other, and the brain doesn't like confusion, and once it wasn't able to merge the 2 images together in the brain, it selected the clearest, and then would start turning off or not develop the nerve pathways between that eye and the brain...from birth thru age ~7 where they are finally locked in! So....if lazy eye is found early enough, corrective glasses to bring the eye into focus, and then patching to cover the GOOD EYE and make the brain use/develop the bad eye's nerve pathways to try to get as much vision out of the bad eye. Many times it gets decent, but not back to 20/20, and these folks often will not have good TRUE depth perception...a higher brain process requiring good vision in both eyes at an early age for the brain to learn how to "process" and interpret the images into real 3-D vision. They can't see or appreciate 3-D movies, glasses and such! Their depth perception comes from their familiarity with objects and how big/small they should be at specific distances, but they don't have REAL 3-D perception.

IF a person's Lazy Eye vision is less than the minimum 20/40 to pass a driver's license, then it's Ethically not recommended to peform LVC on their good eye because of rare possibilities of complications and loss of vision in their good eye, and without a GOOD enough spare...it's just not done!

Hope this answers your questions (better) RJ as to why you were not a good candidate, and why (Garth) your wife and M-I-L had to go back to glasses?

T.C.

[GARTHXS]

I see fine up close but things get aittle.fuzzy about 10 yards out