Ultrasonic eyeglass cleaning?

I was blessed with ridiculously oily skin, and have grown tired of going through 3 or 4 eyeglass wipes every time I need to clean my glasses. So I received an early Father’s Day gift of a small ultrasonic cleaner.

I’ve filled it with a mix of bottled water, isopropyl alcohol & a couple drops of Dawn dish detergent. My glasses come out free of visible grease/oil/dirt, but there’s a white residue left behind once they dry(even if I borrow SWMBO’s hair dryer to dry them off). I’m concerned about trying the various lens cleaning solution available, as I’ve heard some can damage the non-glare coating. 

Does anyone have tips or experience they can share?

No one?

Are you using the "real" eyeglass wipes? i.e. a small microfiber cloth? I have oily skin as well, but a good cloth usually gets it cleaned pretty well. My eye doctor also puts a hydrophobic/oleophobic coating on my lenses--or maybe Trivex already has it built in? Not sure. 

Your IPA is not as pure as you think it is, almost non of the off the shelf stuff is. 

Dawn also  a surfactant and can emulicify and can make things look filmy. I see it with less then 0.2cc of dawn in a liter in the industrial sonicators that I use at work. 

I wash mine in the kitchen sink with Dawn at least once a day. Then dry with a paper towel. From there they stay pretty clean. 

Maybe use deionized or distilled water too

Pete, I have oily skin too. I've worn glasses since I was twelve. (I'm now seventy). I use warm soapy water, dry with a tissue, and then wipe with the "special" cloth the optremitrist gives you. That works for me. Another trick is, if you have access to really hot water, hold your glasses under that. It cleans it magnificantly. 

Should I post this under David's new post about "life hacks?"

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I’ll look for specific eyeglass cleaner that states it’s safe for coated lenses & give it a try. 

The ultrasonic does such a great job of getting all the dirt & grime out of the places a rag or brush won’t reach that I’d like to keep using it. 

I leave out the ipa and just do a post rinse and a clean lens cloth to prevent waterspots. No issues.

I clean mine by rubbing the lenses under the hottest running water my fingers can stand. If I use any of the optometrist supplied cloths or fluid, they just get smeared.

So I’m a bit of an idiot. What I thought was a lens cloth I’d been using to dry off my glasses was actually one of SWMBO’s makeup towels. She fortunately knew where the correct one was, and I was able to dry them much better/easier. I’m still going to buy some actual cleaning solution to try though. 

I've had several glasses with anti glare. The only cleaner I've seen an issue with is anything with ammonia in it.

But with that said I no longer get the anti glare.  The last 3 sets of glasses I replaced were due to scratches on the anti glare.  The glass was fine but the coating started to scrape, chip and generally delaminate.

Also if you can find one of the soft, fluffy microfiber rags (Costco used to give them out with their glasses) you'll be much happier with how they clean.  The "slick" microfiber rags leave them a little smeary but the fluffy ones leave them sparkling.

 this is the cleaning stuff I use most of the time. Like $2 at walmarx. Spray each lense, hit with kleenex. Works great, cleans everything pretty well. Sometimes an extra Kleenex for streaks. I've got glass photogrey lenses, no fancy water proofing or other coating. 

If they're really bad or I've been cooking over oil, Dawn and hot water works fine for me.

I'm glad you posted this though, because I'm getting an ultra sonic soonish, and was thinking of cleaning my glasses with it, because even though I don't see it on my face or even when looking at my glasses, I get the weirdest gunk from astound the nose pads when I clean them and thought the sonic cleaner would help with that. Just a hunch my standard ultra sonic solution of lemon simple green wouldn't be a good idea to use. 

I use dawn in the sink with hot water. Every week or two I use a soft tooth brush to get at the places a general cleaning does not get. 

I found the most dirt is transferred from your fingers not directly from your skin. When was the last time you had your glasses fitted?  I get mine at Costco and when I am finding  my glasses constantly needing me to push them back in place it means that they need to be re fitted. Think of it like you are getting an alignment for your car. A properly fitted set of glasses will stay in place much better requiring less adjustment and less dirt and grime transfer from your hands to the glasses. I probably get them fitted/adjusted every two months. When I was racing I found that my helmet would alter the fitment a lot and I would usually need to have my glasses adjusted after a race weekend.  

I had oily skin, bad, like pull over on the shoulder of the interstate on the way home from work because my eyes were stinging so bad from my own grease, I couldn't see, bad.

About 2 years ago, in my mid 30s, my dermatologist finally talked me into a 6 month round of of Myorisan (Accutane).  No lie it SUCKED, poisoning myself for 6 months, the joint aches were the worst, and I absolutely roasted my ears and neck once, due to sunburn.  I'm a little over a year after finishing the poison now, and I no longer have super oily skin, and rarely have any pimples.  I wish I'd done it when I was in high school.

I also wear glasses, I do the dish soap and kitchen sink wash, before I was washing my glasses at least once a day, now I can often go a week.

I've found the Costco lens cleaning kits work the best for me.  Plus free refills of the solution at costco.

In reply to RevRico :

I ended up buying that cleaner & putting in the ultrasonic machine. So my process now is 1.) ultrasonic clean while showering, 2.) dry off frames with hand towel & lenses with microfiber wipe, 3.) use lens cloth to clean spots off my lenses. 
 

It may not be much less work than before, but they're consistently clean with this process.

I changed when I tried this stuff. It is now my go to cleaner for my glasses. Spray on dry glasses and rub/scrub then rinse under warm / hot water. Dry with clean cloth. It is amazing how clean this stuff gets things. 
 

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For years I've found that a stream of warm to hot water will clean my glasses 99% of the time.  Then either blow them dry or gently pat them dry with a paper napkin.  Minimize rubbing.  Many tissues and toilet papers seem to have something in them (aloe?) that seems to leave streaks on the lenses.  Mine look almost like new when its time to replace.  My wife uses some magic fluid and rubs her glasses with a microfiber cloth, and mentions that hers looked a bit scratched after a while.

Whatever cloth you use to wipe the lenses, make sure you have NOT dried with with fabric softener when washing them.  The fabric softener smears on the lens something fierce.