Since having the experience of representing a major loupe manufacture for many years, I thought to share some insight on a few popular question often asked such as, “how do I properly clean my loupe?" A few things to consider while caring for your loupes and light.

Use product cleaners with little to no alcohol content or harsh chemicals as it can deteriorate your protective lens coating over time leading to micro scratches, pits and lens surface discoloration. It can also degrade telescope-carrier lens adhesive leading to loose or popped out telescopes.

ALWAYS use a cotton-based cloth when wiping down your loupes and LED optic lens. AVOID using wood-based products such as paper towels, tissue or napkins since the small wood particles acts as fine grit sanding paper on delicate lens surfaces.

*Loupe O TIP #1: Since most quality custom made surgical and dental telescopes are water resistant, a recommended gentle hand rub under running warm water and promptly dried with a dry microfiber cloth for routine cleanings is very effective. This leaves lens surfaces clean and crystal clear!

Place loupes on a desk or countertop with the telescopes facing up towards the ceiling. Placing scopes facing down towards the tabletop can chip away at the lower telescope lenses and can breakdown the telescope-carrier lens adhesive from repeated hard surface placement and could lead again to loose or popped out telescopes. Placing loupes back in its original case is always best followed by wrapping in cloth with scopes pointing up.

Loupe O TIP #2: Check for loose screws a few times a year and always have an eyeglass repair kit handy. Many temple arms and nose pads fail at the most inconvenient times. By having an insurance policy tucked away in a drawer can get you back up and running in no time!

The use of superglue is initially tempting for loose or popped out telescopes, but will usually fail in few months time and can contribute to a higher labor bill and repair time for removal. Additionally, you can set the scope in a different alignment axis causing double vision and headaches. Although a pain, get it back into the manufacture for repair ASAP!

When placing a plastic sport frame loupes on and off, the use two hands is important to reduce center frame flexing that contributes to cracked and broke frame.

*Loupe O TIP #3: Although loupes are expensive, having a backup set of temple arms, nose pads, LED cord and loupes themselves can save time and frustration WHEN something goes wrong.

LED cords is the number one issue that pops up partaining to lights. The cord is the weakest link of the entire system while having a shorter life than the rest of the unit. Try and keep the cord straight and avoid kinks that often leads to flickering light output.

Try and recharge your battery power packs when its drained or nearly drained. The overall battery life is dictated by how many times you charge the power pack. If you charge it often when it still contains a significant amount of juice, you eat away at the cycles much sooner resulting in having it replaced early.

Loupe O TIP #4: Have two power packs and alternate when a power packs is depleted. This gives you the longest life out of the battery and you always have that second pack ready to go when the first is used up. Typically you get a deal when buying a new LED on the second power pack! And, if one power pack goes down, you're still operational.

Cloudy, condensation inside your telescopes? Busted 'O' ring is to blame and a trip to the repair lab is the only solution. You can, however, use a hair drier to clear out the condensation for a quick fix, but the root cause still needs to be addressed.