About 45 million people use contact lenses in the U.S. It is a risk-free and efficient way for many people to enjoy better vision. Most people who wear contact lenses today are unaware of the dangers these lenses pose to themselves and the rest of the natural world, and they would be shocked to learn this. Recent findings from in-depth studies demonstrate how harmful contact lenses are to our waterways. Plastic is used to make contact lenses, a type of hydrogen peroxide product that, despite being biomedical, is not genuinely biodegradable. This indicates that they leave damaging traces after use compared to Orange County LASIK.

If that isn’t enough evidence to convince you to seek Orange County laser eye surgery, consider this: many contact lenses are improperly discarded. Since some contact lenses need to be changed daily and don’t last forever, even a small portion would have been problematic. There is nothing tiny about this, though. About 20% of people who wear contacts have the habit of flushing their lenses down the toilet or sink, releasing these tiny pieces of plastic into our waterways. A portion of the 9 million pairs of contact lenses flushed into our waterways on a regular basis—20 percent of 45 million—are flushed daily. According to estimates from a research team, this amounts to roughly 6 to 10 metric tons of these lenses entering the waste stream annually in the United States alone. The harmful level of microplastic pollution that we already face is being made worse by this.

The impact of wastewater treatment on contact lenses may be a problem because they are made of softer plastics than those used for everyday items like textiles. After doing some research, it was found that prolonged exposure to these chemicals weakens the plastic polymers used in many contact lenses. Physical breakdown brought on by weakened polymers reduces the size of already-compact contact lenses even further. It is nearly impossible to get rid of at this rate. Some of these end up in our stomachs as food when dumped into the ocean and consumed by corals, fish, and other small marine animals. In a sense, we are also in danger. It’s scary to think about how much plastic has become a part of our daily lives and how we use and throw it away without much consideration.

The good news is that there is something you can do about it. The cost of laser eye surgery is less than the total cost of decades of contact lenses. By choosing to see an Orange County LASIK surgeon meet your eye care needs, you will save yourself some cash in your wallet and help out Mother Earth a little bit. So if you’re considering having LASIK or are ready to change your life for the better, please don’t hesitate to contact Excel Eye! You can always call our office or send an email through our website’s contact form. Keep in mind that our patients come first at this facility. In all of Southern California, we are dedicated to giving you the best eye care possible. Because of this, we are the ideal ophthalmology office for you.