Are Your Contact Lenses Shedding Microplastics?

Millions of people count on contact lenses to see, but are they shedding microplastics? A recent study shows that contact lenses tend to shed microplastics when exposed to sunlight for a period of time.

Contact Lenses Shed Microplastics in the Sunlight

In order to determine the quantity of microplastics in small samples like contact lenses, researchers from Nanjing and Hohai created an automated system that collected microscopic photos of the samples, analyzed the images, and counted the number of microplastics present.

Their findings, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, showed that lenses exposed to sunlight over time can shed tiny fragments of plastic, though the health impact is unclear.

‘The contact lenses you wear everyday may be shedding microplastics when exposed to sunlight for prolonged periods of time. #contactlenses #microplastics’

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The researchers gathered six kinds of contact lenses from various brands and of different lifespans.

To mimic normal wear and care, the lenses were stored in water, kept under a lamp that mimicked sunlight and were rinsed with water three times every 10 hours.

After receiving the equivalent of 30 or 90 days of sunlight, the water each lens was stored in was analyzed.

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In tests with standard amounts of microplastics, the team found that the new system's analyses were quicker and more accurate than when the samples were analyzed manually. In the absence of any simulated sunlight, no microplastics were detected.

Shorter the Lifespan of the Contact Lenses, Greater the Number of Microplastics Shed

However, the researchers observed increasing amounts when the contact lenses were exposed to the equivalent of 90 days of sunlight. Lenses with shorter lifetimes showed the greatest amount of shed microplastics after this exposure.

Based on their data in this small-scale study, the researchers estimate that more than 90,000 microplastic particles per year could be shed from some lenses if worn for 10 hours a day.

Health and Environmental Risks of Microplastics
Researchers are investigating the risks of microplastics, using lessons learned from nanotoxicology.

The human health impact of direct exposure of microplastics to eyes is not currently known, but the researchers say their findings indicate that more studies in this area are urgently needed.

Reference:

High-Content Screening Discovers Microplastics Released by Contact Lenses under Sunlight - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37267077/)

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Source-IANS