AN OPTICIANS' network on Spain's Costas has spoken out with concern about social media 'challenges' that could cause serious eye damage – in many cases, irreversible.
Their warnings also serve as good advice – for some of these foolhardy 'dares', at least – for the general population about what not to do with your eyes, such as avoiding exposure to bright lights.
Viral online trends involving putting yourself through unnecessary discomfort to get 'likes' and keep up with one's peers are nothing new, and before the dawn of internet, they tended to happen among friend or school class groups, making them much harder to avoid – and harder to escape the hassle from one's contemporaries if you refused to have anything to do with it.
But with social media, at least, you can log off for a bit, or pretend you haven't seen it.
The latest crop of these so-called 'challenges', on TikTok, is putting teens in danger of permanently ruining their sight whilst their bodies are still developing.
And again, they are nothing new per se – only the methodology; the 1980s' and 1990s' equivalent involved daring your classmates to stare into a Bunsen burner or magnesium light during science lessons, and kids who rose to it may now be regretting it as they pay their opticians' bill in their 40s.
Bright eyes, damaged vision: Keep toxic substances out of them
Dr Nigel Best of SpecSavers revealed one of the 'dares' involves filling a plastic bag with a combination of bleach, hand-sanitiser and shaving cream, and holding it up to their eyes to make them 'look brighter'.
“Simply don't do it!” Dr Best urges.
“Apart from the fact that it won't make your eyes any brighter, if the bag splits and the contents leak out, it could cause corneal scarring, extreme pain and blindness.”
There's no remedy for the wreckage of bleach or alcohol getting in your eyes, and it really, really hurts.
But if you get any of these substances in your eyes by mistake, rinse them out thoroughly with clean water and go and see an optician as fast as you can.
Lights, filter, double vision
Whatever colour your eyes are, they're beautiful, even – and especially, as it's so unique - if you're one of the rare people born with an eye in each colour, and the trick to making them look great is to coordinate your clothing, accessories and makeup to highlight and complement them.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com