OTTAWA -- Canadians who wear glasses are used to them fogging up in the winter and summer.

Now, wearing a face mask to protect yourself during the COVID-19 pandemic is creating new challenges for those who wear glasses – foggy lenses.

Celeste Blanchard is a frontline worker, and she wears glasses with personal protective equipment for 12 hours at a time.

“Sometimes it would just be hard to perform some of my tasks that I need to do at work when your glasses are fogging up.”

Wiping them is not an option, “You can’t touch them because of infection control.”

And it’s something that happens with a normal mask too.

Elizabeth Keith wears glasses, “I try and limit how long I have to wear the mask, take it off as soon as I’m back in my car.”

Trevor Burn has a tip to keep condensation down, “If I have to focus, I can kind of breathe out of the sides of my mouth, and that kind of makes it better.”

James Wood says its worse when heading in and out of an air-conditioned place, “I have to take them off right away, and sort of let the glasses acclimatize.”

Videos online recommend coating your glasses with everything from dish soap, Anti-Fog Spray, or shaving cream. But, what works?

Dr. Kirsten North is with the Canadian Association of Optometrists.

“I’ve worked with all of the tricks.”

She suggests a well fitting mask.

“Wearing the mask properly is helpful too; making sure it’s super-super tight on your nose will help; pushing it up underneath your glasses and putting your glasses over it will help, cause that will hold it against your face. Making sure you have a good tight fit.”

Dr. North says that anti-fog cream works well.

As for Blanchard, she has a home-made remedy,

“My co-worker taught me a trick to use dish-soap to clean the lenses, and since then it’s pretty much stopped - so it’s pretty handy to know that trick.”