1 yr. ago • 99%

Why do the nose pads on my glasses turn green--as opposed to some other color?

Do I have more in common with the Statue of Liberty than I might have thought? 🤔

21 comments

The metal your frames are made of is an alloy that contains copper, which turns green when it oxidizes. It's the same with cheap gold plated jewelry that turns your skin green.

49
- TIL why my nose pads turned green! Thank you, knowledgeable Lemmster! 🏆
  
  17
  
  So the answer to your other question is "Yes!" The Statue of Liberty is also green because it's made of copper. It was metallic when it was first installed in 1886, but had turned fully green within 20 years.
  
  10
- TIL! I always figued it was some kind of gross algae or bacteria. Really weirded me out.
  
  5
https://www.pottglasses.com/green-dirt-on-eye-glasses/

40
- No more calls; we have our winner.
  
  Glasses frame is usually made of a type of copper called monel. Monel is a table metal and unreactive towards a lot of chemical. It is also skin friendly. The only downside is that it turns greenish when it gets rusty.
  
  [edit] It's interesting that that article suggests a way to clean them--but the Costco optician just now said you can't really clean them. (They replaced them for no charge.)
  
  36
- I always thought it was moss, and that it was a sign I should go out more.
  
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  Permanently Deleted
  
  13
I think the green is from the locktight they use on the screws. But the glasses people blame the eyeglass wearer. It's a racket.

6
Might not just be copper. Nickel is a common coating due to its corrosion resistance, but even that can oxidize over time and form a green oxide

5
Does nobody actually wash their glasses regularly? I've never had a pair of glasses have their nose pads turn any color.

3
- Interesting point. I wash mine everyday. Water and diluted dish soap. The frames have titanium--but I bet the mounting posts on the silicon pads are the ones that are oxidizing!
  
  2
- I rarely wash my glasses with soap and water, maybe once every month or two. I DO regularly wipe them with a cloth, usually my tshirt. My nose pads have never turned green in 60 years of wearing glasses.
  
  1
- I've had this with cheap sunglasses that use copper screws to keep the pads on. The green is the copper oxidizing. Cleaning them would only make it worse as you're just exposing the copper to water.
  
  1
- mine are antimicrobial plastic, so I don't really need to that often, maybe a couple times a year when the corners get to gunky
  
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  😬
  
  1
I've had this with cheap sunglasses that use copper screws to keep the pads on. The green is the copper oxidizing.

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