The widespread use of plastic products leads to the ubiquity of microplastics in daily life, while the release of microplastics from long-used contact lenses has not been reported due to the limitations of conventional detection methods. Here, we established a new and rapid method to capture and count microplastics by using a high-content screening system. This method can simultaneously measure the diameter, area, and shape of each plastic particle, and the reliability and applicability of this method were verified with commercial microplastics. It is estimated that 90,698 particles of microplastics could be released from a pair of contact lenses during a year of wearing. The microplastics in the leachates were confirmed to be released from the contact lenses by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy fingerprint analysis. Our study reveals an undiscovered pathway of microplastic direct exposure to humans, highlighting the urgent need to assess the potential health risks caused by eye exposure to microplastics.
Keywords: contact lenses; health risk; high throughput; human exposure; leachate.