Contact lenses may enhance your beauty, but a new study has shown that they can harm your body. The study found that contact lenses are increasing microplastic pollution in water bodies around the world.
In a study published by the American Chemical Society, researchers estimate that lenses worn for 10 hours a day release more than 90,000 microplastic particles per year. In the study, scientists collected 6 types of reusable lenses of different lifetimes. These were kept under a lamp which was a process similar to sunlight.
Along with this it was washed with water three times every 10 hours. After the lenses had been exposed to sunlight for 30 to 90 days, scientists analyzed the water in which they were placed. They found that microplastics released from lenses over a lifetime.
Harmful to the environment
In the UK alone, over 750 million contact lenses are thrown into landfills every year. Once in a landfill, they can take up to 500 years to decompose. The effect on human health of direct exposure to microplastics to the eyes is not currently known, but the researchers say their findings suggest that more study is urgently needed in this area.
