eyelash oil

[Spec-Chum]

I know the general consensus is to not clean eyepieces unless absolutely necessary but my eyelashes are constantly touching my meade uwa leaving streaks on them. It's advertised as having 15mm eyerelief but in reality it's more like half that to see the full view.

I clean my cheaper eyepieces more often but I'm a bit reluctant to clean this one too often but just want to know if eyelash oil is harmful if left on for any period of time.

[Peter Drew]

I doubt whether eyelash oil will damage the coatings, however any greasy deposit, apart from perhaps blurring the view, will attract dust and other particles. Whereas dry dust could be blown off, dust embedded with grease would need to be cleaned with a solvent. Damage to coated surfaces is mostly caused by using unsuitable cleaning agents or cloths. Current good quality coatings should bear reasonably frequent cleaning with a product like Baader Wonder Fluid and a microfibre cloth. Follow the instructions carefully.

[Extreme Fencer]

Goto an opticians and ask for glasses lens cleaner and a micro fibre cloth.

If you get the one you can use on plastic lenses it will be fine as plastic lenses are nearly always coated any way.

You can get it in pocket size pump sprayers

[Spec-Chum]

It's not the actual cleaning that bothers me, I've got wonder fluid, the cloth, cotton buds and a blower. I'm very confident in cleaning eyepieces.

It's just that the Meade gets dirtier pretty much every time I use it from my eyelashes, so I just want to know if eyelash oil can damage the coatings if left for a couple of weeks.

[Extreme Fencer]

I can't see that it would. I don't see any damage on my glasses , they must get more exposure than an eyepiece would!

[Moonshane]

best thing to do is to stop using that pesky eyelash oil you vain thing you

but seriously, I agree that it won't do any harm in normal use but may impair the view possibly on detail critical or bright objects. clean carefully and you'll be fine too.