Dear friends

MY FRIEND SENT ME A MAIL SAYING THAT IT IS A HOAX

 

Please send it to all your recipients,if forwarded.

SORRY FOR THE WRONG INFO

 

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Contact Lens BBQ Warning Hoax


Summary:
Email claims that staring at a BBQ fire while wearing contact lenses can
cause the lenses to melt and lead to permanent blindness (Full commentary
below).



Status:
False

Example:(Submitted, December 2006) 

Those who wear contact lenses, remove them when you have to attend a BBQ
party or whatsoever that got to do with flames... I heard a horrible true
story about contact lenses.... It happened to a 21 year old guy, he wore a
pair of contact lenses during a barbecue party. While, he was barbecuing, he
stared at the fire charcoals. After a few seconds, he started to scream for
help and moved rapidly, jumping up and down. No one in the party knew why...
When he arrived at the Hospital, the doctor said he'll be blind permanently
courtesy of the contact lenses that he had worn. Contact lenses are made by
plastics, and the heat from the charcoal melted his contact lenses.

So, tell all your friends.....DO NOT WEAR CONTACT LENSES WHERE OVERHEATING
AND FLAMES ARE CONCERNED... pass this message to all your friends 




Commentary:
According to this email forward, a young man who stared at a BBQ fire became
blind when the contact lenses he was wearing melted onto his eyes. However,
the information in this foolish "warning" is completely unfounded.

Years ago, I worked in a Sydney metal products factory. At the time, there
was a story circulating among workers that a welder in a nearby factory had
gone blind after a welding flash melted his contact lenses to his corneas.
The rumour turned out to be untrue. In fact, the story is a long running
urban legend that has haunted work places around the world since the 1960's.
An American Welding Society Fact Sheet
<http://www.aws.org/technical/facts/FACT-12.PDF> (.pdf) notes:

Since 1967, the American Welding Society has received reports concerning
welders who have claimed to have had contact lenses fused to their eyes,
either by the heat of the arc or by microwave radiation. Not one of these
reports has been substantiated, and safety bulletins issued by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), and the National Safety Council (NSC) have all refuted
that such incidents could possibly have occurred. 


This BBQ warning message appears to be a mutated version of the older
welding urban legend. Like the legend, it has no basis in fact. If an
everyday occurrence such as staring at a BBQ fire for just a few seconds was
enough to melt contact lenses and cause serious eye injuries, then there
would undoubtedly be thousands of well documented cases of such injuries. If
standing close to normal BBQ coles was enough to melt lens, then household
heaters, stoves, and a variety of other common heat sources would presumably
have the same effect. However, I could not locate even one credible report
of such an injury. Given that there is at least 125 million contact lens
wearers worldwide, it is vastly improbable that such injuries would have
somehow escaped the notice of medical authorities and the news media. Quite
obviously, if contact lens where so apt to cause blindness when exposed to
commonly occurring heat sources, then they would have been removed from the
market years ago.

There are potential risks <http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/contactlenses/risks.html>
associated with contact lens use, but these risks are generally concerned
with possible eye infections and corneal ulcers and having nothing to do
with lenses fusing to eyeballs due to heat exposure. Using lenses as
instructed and following common sense contact lens safety guidelines
<http://www.eye-directory.com/contact_lenses/>  can minimize such risks. 

Because contact lens may, in some cases, "complicate eye safety", there is
also some controversy
<http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/prevention/contact_len.html>  over the use
of contact lens in the workplace. Again, however, these potential safety
issues are in no way related to eye injuries caused by "melting" lenses.

Forwarding errant nonsense such as this is nothing more than scaremongering
and will serve no good purpose. 

References:
American Welding Society: <http://www.aws.org/technical/facts/FACT-12.PDF>
CONTACT LENS WEAR (.pdf)
FDA: Contact Lens - Risks <http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/contactlenses/risks.html>

Safety Tips for Contact Lens <http://www.eye-directory.com/contact_lenses/>
Wearers
OSH Answers: Contact Lenses at Work
<http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/prevention/contact_len.html>  

Last updated: 19th December 2006
First published: 19th December 2006

Write-up by Brett M.Christensen <http://www.hoax-slayer.com/about.html>  

From: Y.P.Girish [mailto:y...@bhelhyd.co.in] 
Sent: 21 January 2010 07:42
Subject: FW: Contact Lens

 

To: julietja...@yahoo.com
Subject: Contact Lens






Do please pass this message to all your near & dear ones


A 21 year old guy, he used to wear a pair of contact lenses, during a
barbecue party. While, barbecuing he stared at the fire charcoals
continuously for 2-3 minutes. After a few minutes, he started to scream for
help and moved rapidly, jumping up and down. No one in the party knew why he
was doing this ? Then he was admitted into the Hospital, the doctor said
he'll be blind permanently because of the contact lenses that he had worn. 

Contact lenses are made by plastics, and the heat from the charcoal melted
his contact lenses. DO NOT WEAR CONTACT LENSES WHERE OVERHEATING AND FLAMES
ARE CONCERNED... ..OR WHILE COOKING...! Friends if u feel the information is
important. Please pass this message to all your near & dear ones.



 

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