Sorry, I’m way behind the curve…I don’t wear glasses except at robot competitions. We have one coming up in a couple weeks. I need to be prepared.
What mask can I get that will work with safety glasses, prevent them fogging, and also not make the glasses slip off my ears?
I have both prescription safety glasses, and non-prescription wrap around type. Neither one seems to be compatible with the masks I’ve tried, which are cloth and the surgical paper type.
Helpful suggestions much appreciated.
Get an actual N95. Real ones won’t fog up your glasses.
Thanks, where do I find them? How can I tell if it’s a real one? and that it’s in stock?
Yes, I’m a terrible shopper.
I’ve been dealing with this for 2 years now.
A good fitting N95 is less likely to fog your glasses than a standard surgical paper type, but a trick that works even for the paper ones is a piece of medical tape or a bandaid on the bridge of your nose.
I was just getting the link…
https://shop.projectn95.org/respirators
Lowes/Home Depot/equivalent stores usually have N95s around here at least. You don’t necessarily need “genuine N95” as the KN95s work pretty well also
We have found that anti fog spray works well even with lower quality masks.
For official 177 use we have these for every member of our team:
I highly recommend these masks. They are very comfortable to breath through, come with a foam pad at the bridge, and seal incredibly well.
I wear these at every team meeting and am always wearing glasses.
They are currently well stocked at my local Home Depot.
Many grocery stores and pharmacies are handing out 3 free N95 masks, courtesy of the US government. I got mine at my local Kroger.
Anti-fog spray works well. Here is what I purchased. After I got tired of needing to spray my safety glasses, I got some 3M anti-fog safety glasses. These also work well even without included the foam gasket.
Thanks, I will see about ordering some.
Living in a small town is great…until you need something.
Thanks for all the tips everyone, I’ll see what I can find locally, as well.
My snowmobiling friends swear by Cat Crap Lens Cleaner and Anti-Fog, and it’s available nearly anywhere. Walmart, Amazon, REI and so on. I’m going to try it at the upcoming competition to see how it does.
Teaching at a community college, in a lab class, I have been dealing with this for the last year. The easiest thing I have found is to get a pair of safety glasses with a slightly better nose piece, that you can then stick over the nose piece of your mask (works on the cloth and surgical masks as long as they have the metal nose pieces). It also does great at holding the mask in place while you talk.
Unfortunately, NIOSH standards for N95 don’t guarantee a good fit. Per NIOSH’s YouTube video, respirators are glued to a test fixture using beeswax or hot-melt glue. To my knowledge, there’s no requirement for good fit based on some sample head, anthropometric data, etc.
Anecdotally, the 3M N95’s I link below do work well for me, and do not cause glasses fogging. I have had issues with glasses fogging with some other 3M models I’ve used at work, but I have no way of digging up the model.
I have tried a handful of KF94’s and KN95’s and have found models that work for me and others that do not.
That said, there are a variety of N95’s available on McMaster, some of which are close to ~$1 per mask which isn’t awful.
McMaster doesn’t specifically list the brand/model, but if can use the listed approval number (TC-blah-blah) to figure out the model. For example, McMaster #5450T42 is a 3M model 8210 respirator.
Costco sells 100 real N95 masks online for $100. I have them and can confirm they mitigate almost all glasses fog. This could be a great team or event purchase!
https://www.costco.com/niosh-n95-round-respirator%2C-100-masks.product.100707773.html
I also want to point out that, while it’s slightly more complicated than this, real N95 masks should be good for about 40 hours of use (five eight-hour days or four ten-hour days in the case of an FRC Regional)
On the other side, I bought Stoggles for safety glasses and they are great. I’ve had zero fogging no matter the style of mask I wear (from KN95 to surgical to cloth) and they are lightweight and comfy and will still be my go-to pair whenever the day comes that we can stop wearing masks.
I think this link will give you a discount or go direct to their site if interested: https://fbuy.io/stoggles/colleen733
I hate to be “that guy,” but I really wish there was a good way to communicate face (nose?) size/shape since it’s critical to good fit.
The best I can think of is sharing the prescription glasses (or sunglasses?) sizes, but not everyone has those.
For example, my glasses are sized 55/17/145.
These are the masks that I’ve found to reduce or eliminate glasses fog:
3M 8210 N95: McMaster-Carr
BYD CARE KN95: Premium Quality BYD Care KN95 Respirator with Ear Loop, Box of 50 Pieces – Planet Halo Health
Armbrust KN95: Armbrust USA-Made KN95 Mask – Armbrust American
Airqueen Nano* : AIRQUEEN Nano with clip (Black) - FDA approved mask made in Korea, America shipping | Soomlab
*NOT a KF94 or similar, but the fit was good for me. The Airqueen Nano tested at 90%+ filter efficiency in testing by NPPTL (sample size 10) and Armbrust (sample size 1, and they make their own masks so make of that what you will).
I have less fashion sense than patience to shop, and have found a ~6" piece of masking tape (from eye to eye) holding down and sealing the top of the mask works great for not letting typical safety glasses fog up, and is always available.
Plus, can’t forget to put the mask back after eating or drinking 
(I also have a very proud nose and angular face, so much so that I have never had anything less than a full size rubber respirator frame provide a real seal. Bonus, the rubber respirator frame doesn’t fog glasses.)
If you want to be kinder to your skin, I’m sure there are benefits to medical tape.
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