Contact Lenses Worn Worldwide Shed Microplastic When Exposed to Sunlight For Long Duration, Reveals Research

To determine the number of microplastics in the small samples, such as contact lenses, researchers from the universities of Nanjing and Hohai designed an automated system that took microscopic images of the samples, processed those images, and quantified any present microplastics.

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

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 rinsed with water thrice every 10 hours.

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

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.

The human health impact of direct exposure of microplastics to eyes is unknown, but the researchers say their findings indicate that more studies in this area are urgently needed.

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The above article has been published from a wire source with minimal modifications to the headline and text.