A night vision goggle system includes a housing, and an eyepiece forming a back end of the housing for viewing an object of interest. An optical field-of-view (FOV) is formed through the eyepiece, where the FOV is defined by a cone having an apex formed adjacent to an exit pupil at the eyepiece and tapering outwardly toward the object of interest. A desiccant is disposed within the housing, and located outside the FOV. The desiccant is visible through the eyepiece when viewed from outside the FOV. In addition, when the eye of a user is placed within the FOV, the desiccant is not visible through the eyepiece; and when the eye of the user is placed outside the FOV, the desiccant is visible through the eyepiece.