The Misappliance Of Science

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The Contact Lens' Arc Enemy

Impossible: Welding while wearing contacts can cause them to stick permanently to your eyeballs if you look at the arc without goggles.

First mentioned in The Choking Doberman and expanded in The Mexican Pet, Brunvand cited Dr Bruce Spivey of the American Academy of Ophthalmology as saying (surprise!) that this is impossible.

Warnings were faxed everywhere when this legend was current, giving as an explanation that the electrical arc somehow instantly dried up the eyeball, fusing the contact lens to the eye. At the legend's height, the AP issued a debunking story on April 4, 1983, where they reported that the National Society to Prevent Blindness had heard the story since the late sixties. It doesn't get much airplay today.

References:

• AFU post on welded contacts
• The Choking Doberman
• The Mexican Pet