I've used the padded side to clean dry-erase follow focus marks off the lucite wheel in pinch.
I have two of these things and I think they're sort of useless- maybe you ended up with
one of mine (?)- enjoy. The brush end looks to be a stiffer synthetic which, as you suggest,
could do more damage than a softer natural fibre. I have found the lens pen very handy for
wedging into self-locking fire doors, when ducking out for a quick smoke.
- MJ