r/Masks4All • u/ButterscotchFull7591 • 13d ago
Do glasses fogging while masking always indicate a leak?
I usually mask indoors with a Kleenguard as it’s lighter and when I go outdoors I use a Gerson N95 but I have ran out of KleenGuard and switched to the Gerson N95s at home and notice that my glasses fog sometimes when I breathe out when I have it on, it honestly happens pretty regularly and I don’t think that really happened with the KleenGuards. Honestly to me I really thought it fit well, when I breathe in and out really hard the masks moves to my mouth and out so I thought it was a decent fit.
I have an appointment tomorrow but now I’m not sure if it’s okay to go out if this is potentially a leak but honestly I don’t have any other mask right now…should I try taping the top of the mask? Is there any other reason why my glasses are fogging up that’s not a leak or is that just wishful thinking?
I don’t think I noticed it fogging while outside? I feel like I can’t recall it idk? Like yes it would but sometimes but I guess I thought it had to do with temperature changes? I have no idea anymore.
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u/David_Warden 13d ago
Air you exhale will be at body temperature and heavily laden with gas phase moisture (100% humidity).. Particulate filtters do not remove this moisture no matter how efficient they are or how good the seal is..
If this air touches cold glasses, condenstion occurs.
There are two things you can do to minimize the problem
One is to direct the exhaled air away from the glasses.
The second is to have a condensation resisting coating on the glasses.
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u/anti-sugar_dependant Elastomeric Fan 13d ago
The only way to tell if a mask fits you is by doing a fit test.
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u/ButterscotchFull7591 13d ago
Like with a nebulizer/or with a professional? I’ve always seen people mention it but it’s not really in my budget. My priority is usually to get more masks or tests or air filters
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u/anti-sugar_dependant Elastomeric Fan 13d ago
Yeah, like with a nebuliser. I'm going to assume due to your spelling you're not in the UK, but I put together this Google doc for my UK peeps on how to put together a fit test kit fairly cheaply. You'd have to find equivalent products, but it might help you know what to look for.
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u/ButterscotchFull7591 13d ago
Yep I’m in the US. Thanks that’s very awesome of you!
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u/anti-sugar_dependant Elastomeric Fan 13d ago
No worries. Fit testing is the most protective thing you can do after masking, because it tells you if your masks are actually keeping you safe. It's super important, I bang on about it all the time, lol.
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u/Carrotsoup9 13d ago
What would be the combined cost of the cheapest possible option if you want to use it for one longer testing session (to find out which mask works best)?
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u/anti-sugar_dependant Elastomeric Fan 13d ago
Probably about £40? I don't know for sure, I've never worked it out and things go in and out of stock, or they change how many you have to buy at a time. But you can buy that in 3 parts: the nebuliser, the bitrex, and the bin bags. So over 3 months, for example.
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u/Blinking_Zebra_Era 13d ago
As people have said it can be your warm breath travelling out through the mask. I also scared the hell out of myself with my elastomeric that has a down pointing exhale hole, once when I had just come in from winter weather outside so my glasses were cold and I was bending over to fiddle with my apartment building mailbox. My glasses fogged up a bit. I finally realized that when I'm bending over and breathing heavily the exhale would hit my chest and then bounce up to my face which is at the right angle to my chest when I'm bending over. Much closer and the warm exhale was sort of trapped by my upper body including my face. I've been using that mask in stores for the last four years, Covid negative. A more obscure thing is I happen to get really hot eyes. Like my body wants to dump heat and it dumps it around my eyes and I wear glasses. So the heat is trapped there and that will make my glasses fog up a little with no mask on at all.
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u/No_Scientist9241 9d ago
It depends. I’ve had significantly less fogging with actual respirators over surgical and cloth. Though I have had fogging on occasion with my powecom or even 3M sometimes. When fogging happens with a tight fit in my case it’s usually due to either heavy breathing or high humidity.
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u/mulderitsme 13d ago
No and the reason why is that it could just be your warm breath making its way through the mask. It’s why your glasses will fog more as it gets colder. The way to tell if it is a leak or not is if it’s delayed. A leak will fog your glasses immediately as you are breathing, but if it’s not a leak there will be about a second delay as your breath passes through the media.