Removing Anti-reflective Coatings From Eyeglasses

Most vendors who sell eyeglasses push you to get anti-reflective coatings at a surcharge. These coatings do not age well and often you get bubbles and delamination at the edges. The eyeglasses are still good but the coatings have deteriorated. I tried removing these coatings with isopropanol and gentle scraping with wooden toothpicks but it made it worse. I found a simple and effective way to remove these pesky coatings - heat!

You need a source of hot air that does not exceed 110 C. I used a temperature controlled hot-air soldering iron. A hair dryer may work.

I laid the eyeglasses on a surface and applied the hot air onto the eyeglass lens over the anti-reflective coating. The heat resulted in the film peeling off without any visible damage to the polycarbonate lens.

Used alcohol wipes to remove the flakes with gentle rubbing. Repeated the process on the other lens. Almost all the coating did come off with a few stubborn spots still remaining.

This method may potentially work by placing the eyeglasses in boiling water to loosen the coatings.