Foggy Goggles

A friend from work is a newbi triathlete. He knew that I was a swimmer at one time and asked me how to prevent his goggles from getting fogged up. I responded to his question with what I knew about foggy goggles. Below is a little reserch and my recollection of the discussion I had with him.

During a long swim, most goggles can and will get fogged up to some extent no matter what you do. The reason for this is that static electricity collects on the lenses and they attract very small water particles or droplets that cause the fog.

The most important thing to remember is to stay calm and not let this distraction cause you to veer off the coarse. The way to reduce the amount of fog is to eliminate the static electricity.

Unfortunately, there is no real effective way of eliminating static electricity long-term as goggles are continually exposed to dust and other contaminants that will eventually build up a new layer of charged particles over time.

There are several goggles on the market that claim that they do not fog up, but most often they will eventually fog up just as much as any pair of goggles. These goggles have a coating on them to reduce the amount of static electricity and therefore reduce the fogging. The second way to reduce the fogging is to apply a coating of anti-fog solution onto your goggles. Place a drop of this solution into each lens and swipe the solution with your finger to ensure that you cover the whole lens. Let it stand for one minute and rinse each lens with cold water. Several companies make this anti fogging solution. (Speedo, Aqua Sphere, and Tyr are among them)

These do work. But be careful, some of them sting the eye a bit if water gets into the goggles.

The best solution - and the least expensive - spit. Try this: rinse your goggles completely in water. Then spit into each lens. Then, swipe them one time back under water. Shake off the access and you are good to go. They may still appear foggy right when you put them on, but that should disappear once you start swimming.

One more suggestion... keep your goggles in a clean area when you are done using them. A zip lock bag works great once the goggles are dry.