If you wear glasses, you totally understand the frustration that grips your vision when yours are not functioning well. Wearing glasses day in-day out can lead to wearing out and may require an optician check for accuracy.

Often times, people who wear glasses experience issues of enlarging frames, broken frames, scratched lenses and many other challenges that make using these unbearable.

Dr Anil Agarwal, an ophthalmologist, recommends glasses over contacts because they do not require as much attention and care.

“Unlike glasses, contact lenses are recommended for people who pay attention to hygiene, to avoid infections especially in dusty environments like Uganda’s,’’ he says.

Here are some emergency hacks to cater for people who use glasses as vision aids.

Keep your glasses off when doing make up or using hair spray

Make up has no proven damage to the glasses but it can make the lenses dirty and blur one’s vision. Whereas this may not be of danger, hair spray should not come close to your glasses because of the chemicals, and these may not react compatibly with the lens.

Keep them away from perfumes

Like hair sprays, perfumes are made of alcohol and other strong chemicals which may be hazardous to the lenses and may possibly reduce their effectiveness and vision.

Use both hands to remove glasses

This may seem obvious or basic knowledge but it is necessary to adopt it as a daily habit. Taking off your glasses with both hands gives an opportunity of safety and eliminates unnecessary enlarging or stretching.

Set the tabletop test

If your glasses are causing abrupt headaches or keep sliding of, it means that the glasses are out of shape and need adjusting. So, here is a tip; place your glasses on a table and observe the side that is limping. Then you will know which side needs to be adjusted. If you don’t know how to correct this manually, set up a doctor’s appointment and let your optician provide the service.

Use a toothpick as a temporary screw

When glasses are used overtime, the screws tend to weaken and end up falling out. Often times when they do, the owner starts to panic, especially those who can’t operate without them. In such a situation the emergency solution is using a toothpick or thread as a screw. Thread twice and tie or place the toothpick and use the glasses until you have access to the optician.

Use the pinhole method in emergencies

Remember the pin hole vintage camera? This trick is more of an imitation. Hold your two fingers to form a circle and place on your eye to get an easy view of text or wordings in small fonts. It works like magic, which is why it is an emergency trick.

Use rubber bands or braids to hold sliding glasses in place

Say goodbye to sliding glasses by using rubber bands on both sides of the frame or using braided hair to give a stronger grip.

Avoid using detergents on glasses

People will tell you washing your lenses with soap and detergents will make them clearer and shiny. This may be true but it may be the beginning of faulty glasses, as it may affect the effectiveness of the lens.

Glasses and heat are not friends

Have you realised that after leaving your glasses in the car, they seem more enlarged and don’t fit like before. Stop leaving your glasses in the car, because however much it seems like a safe place, the heat and hot temperature may not be favourable for the kind of materials used to manufacture the glasses.