Vendors of contact lenses claim ignorance over risks

KUALA LUMPUR: The risks of using the wrong type of contact lenses does not seem to be a concern for non-licensed vendors.

Optometrist trainee Laura Su Xin-Yi from the National Institute of Opthalmic Sciences demonstrating the proper way to put on contact lenses.

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Reporters from the New Straits Times posed as potential customers and discovered that non-qualified contact lens vendors couldn't care less for their customers well-being.

Contrary to optometrists' standards -- who prescribed contact lenses based on patients' requirements -- an online vendor said it was the customers who dictated what products they wanted.

"Our customers want to have 'bigger eyes', so we just give them what they want," the vendor said.

"The lenses are made to accommodate any eye size, hence buyers need not worry whether it will fit or not," the vendor claimed.

Medical experts had earlier told the NST team that contact lenses from reputable brands could last for different periods of times, depending on its material and frequency of use.

The experts had said that with proper care and good hygiene, a regular user could keep a pair for a maximum of three months.

However, checks revealed that some vendors do not adhere to the accepted medical standards.

A vendor said her products, imported from South Korea, could last for a whole year with "proper maintenance".

Some online vendors even sell hard-lenses which according to optometrists, were only prescribed for special cases. It had become obsolete over the years.

Referred to as a Rigid Gas Permeable Lenses (RGPL), it was only meant to be worn by people with very specific requirements, namely those with irregular shaped corneas.

Optometrists had said hard-lens wearers must take extra care, even more so than soft contact lenses.

Checks revealed that many vendors were unaware of the different types of contact lenses and that each required specific solutions for storage and cleaning.

"None of my customers asked me about the solutions before, hence it was never my interest," she said

"The lenses are made of plastic, so I believe there will not be any complications regardless of the solution used," a vendor said, unaware of the risks taken by consumers by wearing her products.

These vendors are also unaware of the water content as well as the oxygen transmission of their lenses.

"Lenses are like shoes, the longer you use them, the more comfortable they get."

Another online vendor also included vision corrective contact lenses, or contact lenses with "power", in their catalogue.

The vendor said he would tell his customers to check with a "spectacle shop" to ascertain their "power level" before buying.

Unaware of the possible detrimental effects of putting foreign objects into the delicate eye, most vendors believe their contact lenses were safe as they were solely for cosmetic purposes.