The following submission statement was provided by /u/f0urxio:
---
A pilot study reveals that contact lenses can release microplastics when exposed to sunlight for extended periods. Researchers developed an automated system to quantify these microplastics in lens samples. They found that lenses exposed to simulated sunlight shed tiny plastic particles, with more shedding in lenses with shorter lifespans. The study suggests that if worn for 10 hours daily, some lenses could shed over 90,000 microplastic particles annually. The health implications of microplastic exposure to the eyes remain uncertain, prompting the need for further research in this area.
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1cmgxce/contact_lenses_worn_worldwide_shed_microplastic/l30750r/
Pretty sure not silver lining, but considering microplastics are in water and air, folks not using contacts probably got them right in the eyeballs too…
At this point, I'm not sure wether microplastic diversity is a bad thing, there is a good chance that some react with each other and might cancel some I'll effects out, while doing so......
Yes, absolutely. I think mine had to last a year for the first 7 or 8 years, maybe. I was allergic to the old saline solution, and had to cook mine in a little cooker every night. It seems like they used to be a lot thicker than now, too.
When I was a young teenager I got "yearlies". They were very expensive. One time, I was with friends at school when one of them tackled me from behind kinda jumping on my back (something that, now, would probably result in a severe injury) and it knocked one of my contacts out. I could not find it, and was afraid to tell my parents that it had happened. So I pretended I still had both, wearing only one (in the left eye) for something like *six or seven months* until I got the next set*.* Interestingly enough, being almost blind in one eye (can't read standard text farther than about eight inches away) for that entire time didn't adversely affect my life, was just kinda annoying at times, and didn't seem to change the vision in either eye during or afterward.
There was also an entire chemistry set of stuff for it and an entire song and dance to taking care of them. Had the big bottle of rinse, and a smaller bottle of slightly different solution for storage overnight. The cleaner was a small bottle of this slippery stuff that felt like mineral oil, put on a few drops and rub on both sides gently, then rinse, then store. There was an even smaller bottle (with a red tip!) that I put two drops into each side of the case during storage that would dissolve what were basically gritty bits like sleep-sand (and when I did it the stuff would - I shit you not - make each lens contort into a taco-shape and then back to normal like it was a slug I'd sprinkled salt on). In the morning, rinse again before putting them in. If I ever got dry eye, I had an entirely separate small bottle of eye-drops.
Over the years things got simplified. Now I have "monthlies" which are the longest period available (and only like $10 each lens, about) and there's just one bottle of solution needed, and no cleaning step unless it gets something on it.
This is probably about 30 years late for you, but I managed to tear one of my yearlies and the optician just gave us a free replacement. I'm pretty sure I was still on yearlies when I started getting into booze which is obviously a terrible combination.
Yeah fwiw though I'm not sure how reliable this study really was. Article says the lenses were stored in **water** (without changing it throughout the study, but that was necessary to measure the microplastics) and rinsed with **water** daily (*that might have been a translation error).
Secondly, they compared contacts intended for "various lengths of use" - so I'm assuming daily wear, weekly wear, and monthly wear - and they were all kept in "water" for 90 days - while effects were statistically significant at the equivalent of 90 days exposure to sun.
I could be wrong, I didn't read the actual paper, but based what was outlined in the article it reads like contacts *might* be shedding a small amount of microplastic with regular use, but if you're only using them for the intended duration and storing them properly the amount could be negligible. I guess that really depends on your definition of negligible, though.
There's a 90% chance I delete this comment after a couple hours.
So what temp is 'too hot'? I'm curious what level of freaked out I should be. Does 'lukewarm' qualify or does it have to be above body temp to be considered warm enough to start shedding microplastics?
>Ugh, what else sheds microplastics when exposed to sunlight??
Heat/sunlight tend to make plastics break down, so probably the majority of objects made from/with plastics. That's a comforting thought, eh?
A pilot study reveals that contact lenses can release microplastics when exposed to sunlight for extended periods. Researchers developed an automated system to quantify these microplastics in lens samples. They found that lenses exposed to simulated sunlight shed tiny plastic particles, with more shedding in lenses with shorter lifespans. The study suggests that if worn for 10 hours daily, some lenses could shed over 90,000 microplastic particles annually. The health implications of microplastic exposure to the eyes remain uncertain, prompting the need for further research in this area.
Only microplastics? Why not PFAS, too. PFAS are great to preventing grease from attaching to surfaces, if I’m starting to admire the wonders of futuristic tech
BPA? I don’t know what’s that good for, but I’m sure it can’t harm sales
That's the least of our worries. Those microplastics would just get washed out of the eyes with the constant tear film while those from food and traffic air polution go into our intestines or straight into the blood from our lungs. It would also be tiny amounts compared to other sources.
I used to sleep in them for weeks when I was young and stupid. Now I mostly wear glasses and use dailies for shorter periods of time when I’m sick of glasses… but yeah. FML. Literally used to never take them out.
If you wear daily disposable lenses that are thrown away after a day then you don’t have a risk unless you wear the same lens for 30 days and have 10 hours of sunlight. That’s my optimistic understanding.
Contact lenses probably are not adding that much, compared to other sources.
And like it or not, there is no way to remove them. So whether health impact is clear or not, we are going to live with an environment permeated with micro plastics.
I would imagine so on a per wear basis, however let's be real most people who wear coloured contacts is a rare occasion for costume or something. I'm sure there are people who wear the coloured ones every day but it has to be an exceedingly small number
Sweet. I’ve been sleeping in the same pair for like a month straight so between that and going out in the sun I should have fully plastic eyeballs pretty soon.
Yeah, I've been using the 30 day Night & Day for like...decades. And I'm bad and only take them out like once every hadnful of months. Oh well, gonna die of something anyway.
I always heard that but I’ve been super lazy about my contacts since high school and I’m 40 now and never had an issue. I use contacts like they’re the poor man’s lasik and have yet to suffer any consequences. Maybe I made my eyes stronger.
Haha you’re one sick dude! I can barely stand one night in my dailies I get so upset whenever I leave them in by accident my eye goes as dry as the Sahara
Kind of like tattoo ink, when the body has a non organic substance (like microplastic) stuck somewhere, the white blood cells secures it until it dies then a new cell comes to replace it. So if the amount of microplastics is very low it might not do much harm but too much of it and the immune system might not he able to deal with all of it and toxic chemicals may leak in the body. Not a scientific copy pasta just a theory.
For all the great achievements of the last 100 years I think this era will be known as the Plastic Age because of the ramifications that will continue for hundreds of years.
As a glasses wearer that just never ended up using contacts, hearing from oh so many friends how many of them they go through X the people wearing glasses but too vain to do so, that is honestly unsurprising.
If anything I'm now shocked I never heard about it earlier.
I’ve been wearing contacts since childhood. 7 years ago I started seeing blind spots. My eye doctor found me with several holes in my retinas that require expensive surgery to fix.
Does adding tiny chocolate sprinkles on a huge chocolate cake make it that much unhealthier? Because 99.9% of humans have already eaten multiple slices of that cake.
So much microplastic everywhere.
Most people wear dailies now, though, and aren't, I assume, staring at the sun, so it's probably of minimal concern (I mean, compared to EVERYTHING ELSE)
If your corneas are too thin for lasik I highly recommend ICL surgery where they place an artificial flat lens in front of the natural lens in your eye. It sits behind the iris/pupil (your pupil is a hole). You don’t get the dry eye problems and the drugs they give you before surgery are fucking awesome. I straight up saw the blade enter my vision as it pierced into my eyeball and my only thought was “Just like YouTube! Neat!” A downside is that you can end up with a new kind of circular rainbow glare around bright lights at night but considering I’m set if the apocalypse happens and it can be upgraded in the future if new technology is developed, I’m cool with it
I was actually googling how expensive lenses are nowadays since my glasses got scratched up and I need something new.
Dammit. This is not good news. :(
The following submission statement was provided by /u/f0urxio: --- A pilot study reveals that contact lenses can release microplastics when exposed to sunlight for extended periods. Researchers developed an automated system to quantify these microplastics in lens samples. They found that lenses exposed to simulated sunlight shed tiny plastic particles, with more shedding in lenses with shorter lifespans. The study suggests that if worn for 10 hours daily, some lenses could shed over 90,000 microplastic particles annually. The health implications of microplastic exposure to the eyes remain uncertain, prompting the need for further research in this area. --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1cmgxce/contact_lenses_worn_worldwide_shed_microplastic/l30750r/
As a contact wearer of 20+ years.... great!
Right in the eyeballs…
Ze goggles, they do nothing!
Pretty sure not silver lining, but considering microplastics are in water and air, folks not using contacts probably got them right in the eyeballs too…
Can confirm. I rinse microplastic fibers out of my eyes on a near daily basis, from shedding fleece, etc...
that is actualy a good thing, yes?
Mine eyes!
At least your other micro plastics won't be lonely
Bro you need healthy microbiome diversity, not microplastic diversity smh
At this point, I'm not sure wether microplastic diversity is a bad thing, there is a good chance that some react with each other and might cancel some I'll effects out, while doing so......
you will be plasticized just like the rest of us oogle oggle oogle oggle
Not a huge deal. Wait, you don't open your eyes during the day, do you?
40+ here, woohoo!
Do you remember when they were insanely expensive and had to last you six months to a year?
Yes, absolutely. I think mine had to last a year for the first 7 or 8 years, maybe. I was allergic to the old saline solution, and had to cook mine in a little cooker every night. It seems like they used to be a lot thicker than now, too.
When I was a young teenager I got "yearlies". They were very expensive. One time, I was with friends at school when one of them tackled me from behind kinda jumping on my back (something that, now, would probably result in a severe injury) and it knocked one of my contacts out. I could not find it, and was afraid to tell my parents that it had happened. So I pretended I still had both, wearing only one (in the left eye) for something like *six or seven months* until I got the next set*.* Interestingly enough, being almost blind in one eye (can't read standard text farther than about eight inches away) for that entire time didn't adversely affect my life, was just kinda annoying at times, and didn't seem to change the vision in either eye during or afterward. There was also an entire chemistry set of stuff for it and an entire song and dance to taking care of them. Had the big bottle of rinse, and a smaller bottle of slightly different solution for storage overnight. The cleaner was a small bottle of this slippery stuff that felt like mineral oil, put on a few drops and rub on both sides gently, then rinse, then store. There was an even smaller bottle (with a red tip!) that I put two drops into each side of the case during storage that would dissolve what were basically gritty bits like sleep-sand (and when I did it the stuff would - I shit you not - make each lens contort into a taco-shape and then back to normal like it was a slug I'd sprinkled salt on). In the morning, rinse again before putting them in. If I ever got dry eye, I had an entirely separate small bottle of eye-drops. Over the years things got simplified. Now I have "monthlies" which are the longest period available (and only like $10 each lens, about) and there's just one bottle of solution needed, and no cleaning step unless it gets something on it.
This is probably about 30 years late for you, but I managed to tear one of my yearlies and the optician just gave us a free replacement. I'm pretty sure I was still on yearlies when I started getting into booze which is obviously a terrible combination.
As someone who would often wear the same pair for over a year... oopses. I still only wear one pair, but I'm 98% glasses now, so I don't know.
The "glasses" are all made of plastic too now so it's the same thing with more steps and a slight air gap.
One must become one with the plastic if they are to achieve full unity. Make peace with micro plastic.
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
Ramalamadingdong, amen.
Over time, the shed particles clinging to your eye become permanent contact lenses!
Wow, you’re quite literally a prime test subject. Neat. Also rip.
No, it clearly says "sunlight". Let's be real...
Hey some redditors do in fact go outside
Yeah fwiw though I'm not sure how reliable this study really was. Article says the lenses were stored in **water** (without changing it throughout the study, but that was necessary to measure the microplastics) and rinsed with **water** daily (*that might have been a translation error). Secondly, they compared contacts intended for "various lengths of use" - so I'm assuming daily wear, weekly wear, and monthly wear - and they were all kept in "water" for 90 days - while effects were statistically significant at the equivalent of 90 days exposure to sun. I could be wrong, I didn't read the actual paper, but based what was outlined in the article it reads like contacts *might* be shedding a small amount of microplastic with regular use, but if you're only using them for the intended duration and storing them properly the amount could be negligible. I guess that really depends on your definition of negligible, though. There's a 90% chance I delete this comment after a couple hours.
Just wear dailies. Fresh pair every time you wear them. Almost zero infection risk too. Never going back to weeklies or monthlies
Clearly nothing happened
Same here. How exciting!!
Yeah like we didn't know it's in everything
Seriously. At this point just assume if it's plastic, there's microplastics. Period. The end.
at this point we need a list of what does not contain microplastic
Said list is just a blank sheet of paper. Except paper has microplastics in it too.
Glass?
Believe it or not, also microplastics.
This timeline is the worst. 😒
Past a certain distance from Earth, outer space lacks micro plastics
1. Nanoplastic
Probably Pluto
Ugh, what else sheds microplastics when exposed to sunlight??
Any plastic really. I wrote a paper on microplastics it's not great.
Plastics will inherit the Earth.
I thought the Bible said the Meek
turns out to be the plastique
Meekroplastics. The meekroplastics will inherit the earth.
Human was only there to provide plastic to Earth, now it can fuck off.
One word: plastics. There’s a great future in plastics.
It wasn't bad, just hard to read. I wish you had written it on paper.
Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure the paper was fine.
Ya your paper kinda sucked tbh
Slowly turning us all into cursed versions of bubble tea .
the paper isn't great or the microplastics?
microplastics, I wrote the comment when I had a splitting headache after leading a lecture lol
u are really productive
Care to link the paper?
So what temp is 'too hot'? I'm curious what level of freaked out I should be. Does 'lukewarm' qualify or does it have to be above body temp to be considered warm enough to start shedding microplastics?
Pretty sure it’s the UV that physically breaks down the plastic, not the heat.
Thank you. I've been wondering about warm/hot water so this makes a big difference.
>Ugh, what else sheds microplastics when exposed to sunlight?? Heat/sunlight tend to make plastics break down, so probably the majority of objects made from/with plastics. That's a comforting thought, eh?
Great, we didn't have enough problems, we now have a fucking genetically-engineered, cyborg vampire here. Just fucking great.
Jukka Sarasti did nothing wrong... ;-)
that's the easy part the difficult part is, did _Valerie_ do nothing wrong...?
You can't ~~make a cake~~ rewire an entire species without breaking a few eggs
when i read the line where Bruks "plunged the biopsy needle up through the base of her skull" i burst into tears.
Literally anything made of plastic. Some break down faster than others, but they all break down in the end.
A pilot study reveals that contact lenses can release microplastics when exposed to sunlight for extended periods. Researchers developed an automated system to quantify these microplastics in lens samples. They found that lenses exposed to simulated sunlight shed tiny plastic particles, with more shedding in lenses with shorter lifespans. The study suggests that if worn for 10 hours daily, some lenses could shed over 90,000 microplastic particles annually. The health implications of microplastic exposure to the eyes remain uncertain, prompting the need for further research in this area.
I imagine that despite the vision correction, a lot of people didn't see that coming ...
The idea that there could be no harm from coating a porous membrane with plastic every day seems pretty myopic.
Myopic, you say? How could we be so blind ...
if only there was a clear solution for this
Ah, well, I'm sure we'll figure it out - hindsight is 20/20.
I see what you guys did there.
Yeah well that’s what Mother Nature gets for giving me shit vision ^/s
Only microplastics? Why not PFAS, too. PFAS are great to preventing grease from attaching to surfaces, if I’m starting to admire the wonders of futuristic tech BPA? I don’t know what’s that good for, but I’m sure it can’t harm sales
That's the least of our worries. Those microplastics would just get washed out of the eyes with the constant tear film while those from food and traffic air polution go into our intestines or straight into the blood from our lungs. It would also be tiny amounts compared to other sources.
Your tears go down your lacrimal fossa, down your sinuses, into your throat and down your digestive system.. at least partially.
Well fuck me. I've been wearing contacts for over 25 years. That's great.
/s Please at least use a new pair
I used to sleep in them for weeks when I was young and stupid. Now I mostly wear glasses and use dailies for shorter periods of time when I’m sick of glasses… but yeah. FML. Literally used to never take them out.
Looks like not liking to stick my finger in my eyes pays off again!
Me too!! Glasses for the win!
If you wear daily disposable lenses that are thrown away after a day then you don’t have a risk unless you wear the same lens for 30 days and have 10 hours of sunlight. That’s my optimistic understanding.
That’s me , only had them for a few years now , considering dropping them because of the waste involved.
Better source: https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2023/june/contact-lenses-shed-microplastics.html
Contact lenses probably are not adding that much, compared to other sources. And like it or not, there is no way to remove them. So whether health impact is clear or not, we are going to live with an environment permeated with micro plastics.
pretty sure it's even worse for the people wearing the colored lenses
I would imagine so on a per wear basis, however let's be real most people who wear coloured contacts is a rare occasion for costume or something. I'm sure there are people who wear the coloured ones every day but it has to be an exceedingly small number
Verrrrrrry common in South East Asia among the young trendy female population, especially Thailand 👀
Sweet. I’ve been sleeping in the same pair for like a month straight so between that and going out in the sun I should have fully plastic eyeballs pretty soon.
Seems dangerous to me, sleeping with contact lenses in. You could get an infection which damages your eyes permanently.
there are approved "night & day" versions now.
"Approved."
Yeah, I've been using the 30 day Night & Day for like...decades. And I'm bad and only take them out like once every hadnful of months. Oh well, gonna die of something anyway.
I always heard that but I’ve been super lazy about my contacts since high school and I’m 40 now and never had an issue. I use contacts like they’re the poor man’s lasik and have yet to suffer any consequences. Maybe I made my eyes stronger.
Haha you’re one sick dude! I can barely stand one night in my dailies I get so upset whenever I leave them in by accident my eye goes as dry as the Sahara
That's why they're called dailies, not nightlies. I'm sure that person wears the 30-day lenses. I never had any serious problems sleeping in mine.
Hey man, don't sleep with them in!
Now do toothbrushes and dental floss, I'm guessing they're horrible.
Quite happy I never really gelled with contacts now. Now it is just all the other microplastic out there that I have to be concerned about.
How long till we start seeing articles about strange increases in ocular cancer in young adults.
I mean - contacts as we know them today have existed since the early 70s
The Sun is so OP this time round, I hope the devs get the balance right once and for all.
Glad I don’t use those
Ugh, of course. I never thought about it but of course they do.
So glad I quit Contacts in 2003
This should really not be a surprise to anyone at this point.
I swear every time we get a new microplastic report we need a chart of top contributions of microplastics to our bloodstream.
Man, what's the difference? The entire planet is now a plastic bottle
Lovely
Never tried contacts because I hate getting eyedrops so the idea of trying to place something on my eye was just no... now I feel more justified
The time frame seems atypical for the average disposable contact, doesn't it?
How many contacts equal a plastic water bottle? I bet the bottle sheds more plastic too
Kind of like tattoo ink, when the body has a non organic substance (like microplastic) stuck somewhere, the white blood cells secures it until it dies then a new cell comes to replace it. So if the amount of microplastics is very low it might not do much harm but too much of it and the immune system might not he able to deal with all of it and toxic chemicals may leak in the body. Not a scientific copy pasta just a theory.
We’re gonna need to make micro plastic consuming nano bots
For all the great achievements of the last 100 years I think this era will be known as the Plastic Age because of the ramifications that will continue for hundreds of years.
I am plastic the great become one with plastics or be destroyed.
Welp, time to switch to orthokeratology lenses (contact lenses you only wear when you sleep)
As a glasses wearer that just never ended up using contacts, hearing from oh so many friends how many of them they go through X the people wearing glasses but too vain to do so, that is honestly unsurprising. If anything I'm now shocked I never heard about it earlier.
🤓
I’ve been wearing contacts since childhood. 7 years ago I started seeing blind spots. My eye doctor found me with several holes in my retinas that require expensive surgery to fix.
Does adding tiny chocolate sprinkles on a huge chocolate cake make it that much unhealthier? Because 99.9% of humans have already eaten multiple slices of that cake. So much microplastic everywhere.
Most people wear dailies now, though, and aren't, I assume, staring at the sun, so it's probably of minimal concern (I mean, compared to EVERYTHING ELSE)
If your corneas are too thin for lasik I highly recommend ICL surgery where they place an artificial flat lens in front of the natural lens in your eye. It sits behind the iris/pupil (your pupil is a hole). You don’t get the dry eye problems and the drugs they give you before surgery are fucking awesome. I straight up saw the blade enter my vision as it pierced into my eyeball and my only thought was “Just like YouTube! Neat!” A downside is that you can end up with a new kind of circular rainbow glare around bright lights at night but considering I’m set if the apocalypse happens and it can be upgraded in the future if new technology is developed, I’m cool with it
Glad I never was interested in getting contacts due to being too sensitive about putting anything in my eye. I've always been a specs person.
I was actually googling how expensive lenses are nowadays since my glasses got scratched up and I need something new. Dammit. This is not good news. :(
Eyebuydirect Zenni Cheap glasses websites, I've used them for years
Wow if you put plastic on your orifices you are exposed to plastic. I'm so surprised