Eyeball Licking (Oculolinctus) Can Be Dangerous, Doctors Warn
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Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health; Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 16 Jun 2013 - 0:00 PDT
Eyeball Licking (Oculolinctus) Can Be Dangerous, Doctors Warn
Eyeball-licking fetishism, also known as "oculolinctus" or "worming", has become a popular way of expressing affection or inciting sexual arousal in Japan. Doctors warn that it is linked to a serious risk of virus conjunctivitis, other eye infections, and even blindness
According to the Japanese website Naver Matome, the oculolinctus craze in the country among young lovers has resulted in a significant increase in eye-infection cases.
Naver Matome first reported on eyeball-licking when a Japanese school noticed that children were coming into class wearing eye patches. Apparently, one third of all the twelve-year-old children at the school had engaged in oculolinctus.
Eyeball licking is dangerous
Pink eye - a case of viral conjunctivitis caused by eyeball licking
When the tongue makes contact with the eye, it is exposed to all kinds of infections and eye damage.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, David Granet, M.D., an ophthalmologist said "Nothing good can come of this. There are ridges on the tongue that can cause a corneal abrasion. And if a person hasn't washed out their mouth, they might put acid from citrus products or spices into the eye."
There is a serious risk of passing on viruses. If somebody who does the licking has herpes and a cold sore, there is a risk of human transmission via oculolinctus.
The International Science Times quoted Dr. Phillip Rizzuto, a spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, who said there is a risk of eventual blindness. "The bacteria in the mouth are nothing like the bacteria in the eyeball, which is why we no longer recommend people lick contact lenses to moisten them.," Rizzuto added.
If the person doing the licking suffers from halitosis (bad breath), they are likely to have a huge number of harmful bacteria. Allow them to lick your eyeball, which has an absorbing membrane, and your risk of infection is considerable.
Animals use their tongues for personal hygiene (watch a cat cleaning itself), to a certain extent humans do the same. However, the tongue and mouth are designed to deal with a much wider variety of pathogens than our eyeballs are. Who knows what would be passed on to somebody's eye when the licker had just licked his/her hands, especially if that hand has not been washed in a while.
Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Toda
