Another risky way to abuse alcohol

[susiestar]

Will people stop at NOTHING to abuse alcohol?

A new trend called Eyeball Shots has apparently been picked up by teens. I was curious about it so I called the campus police at the university in my town. They have had problems with the college kids and high school kids who sneak into college parties doing this.

To do an eyeball shot a person either lays down face up or bends over backward to lean on the bar face up. Then vodka is poured directly onto the OPEN eye. Blood vessels in the eye absorb the alcohol and it gives a quick buzz.

According to one article I read there are over 800 youtube clips about this and a facebook page dedicated to it. Seems like it has become very popular and is spreading quickly. I cannot imagine why it ever sounded like a good idea, and I bet that many who try it will regret it when they are older. Or even now. One person quoted in an article said that she has a constantly watering eye and is always in pain from this. She is very much afraid that it will get worse over time.

Personally I would rather have someone puke in my face while pounding nails through my hands and feet than let someone pour alcohol into my eye.

The risks seem so high to me. Not just of the alcohol use, but of eye infection, other eye problems and even the possibility of going blind. Not sure anyone has gone blind or will, but it seems logical that there is at least some chance of going blind from doing this.

Just one more thing for us parents to worry about! Do you think your child, difficult child or typical teen, would try this? Have you heard of this before?

 

[AnnieO]

To me, this is the height of stupidity. Talk about the consequence fitting the action.

 

[CrazyinVA]

holy cow.. this sounds insane to me.

 

[Mom2oddson]

Never heard of this....but I can see both difficult children trying it if it will give them the quick-fix results. I don't understand why you would do something like this, especially with the risks, but then, I don't get trying any of the drugs out there because of the risks. Once again, I'm out in left field, at night, in the middle of football season....

 

[Tiapet]

OMG! How disgusting and well.....never heard of it and wished I hadn't but on the other hand glad I do now as I'm better educated! I hope that none of the difficult child ever take up alchohol nor do this stupidity!

 

[GoingNorth]

I can't imagine this. Years back I was tending bar at a military club and accidentally splashed vodka in my eyes. The pain was excruciating. So bad that I immediately flushed my eyes with water from the bar sink and later went to the dispensary to see if I'd done any permanent damage. It took about a week for the chemical conjunctivitis to really start to clear up.

I don't remember any sort of "buzz" from it, either.

 

[Marguerite]

THinking about this, I think the theory of it sounds plausible, but any "buzz" would be form the public attention and the hype of actually trying to do this. Yes, you could theoretically absorb some alcohol that way, but if you think about the amount of ethanol your blood vessels would have to absorb, and the surface area of the mucosa in your eye - I don't think enough alcohol could cross the mucosa and get into your bloodstream, to make up a sufficient;y large amount.

Let's do the sums. Human blood volume is 8 litres. In Australia in order to be over the limit to drive (assuming you're not on a provisional licence, where the blood alcohol permitted is ZERO) is 0.05%. That means 0.05% of 8 litres, is ethanol. You would have to absorb 1.6 mls of pure ethanol into your bloodstream. That would mean being able to hold about 3 ml of vodka next to the mucosa. I'm not sure that is really possible, although it could be plausible.

Now, where this becomes a little more plausible - normally as we drink, the ethanol gets into the bloodstream from the stomach, but it still has to go through the liver. It is the liver's job to save us from ourselves and clean out anything dangerous from what we have eaten or drunk. But form the mucosa of the eye, it would get right into the bloodstream, and so bypass the liver. And so would any other impurities in the vodka. Considering that some pubs and watering holes (especially in places where they do this sort of stupid thing and don't immediately get thrown out for drunken, irresponsible behaviour) tend to adulterate their drinks with cheap, commercial additives (such as metho, I suspect, or even commercial-grade ethanol never designed to be ingested because it has trace impurities that are toxic) then you risk getting poisoned, badly.

Now, back to the 0.05% blood alcohol level - you're generally not rolling drunk at that level. Instead, your ability to drive is sufficiently impaired on average, that our authorities would rather you didn't drive. I know a lot of people who say they feel quite sober on 0.05%.

Because it absorbs moderately fast and would bypass the liver, you could get a short, brief, mild buzz, maybe. But frankly - I think anyone who says they get a buzz or rush from this is kidding themselves. You would, in all seriousness, get a much bigger buzz from taking a big gulp of your net vodka and it also wouldn't be ending up mostly all over the bar, over your clothes and on the floor.

So it sounds like urban myth to me which could still become a dangerous and stupid (as well as pointless) craze.

Marg

 

[graceupongrace]

Wow -- I just heard about this today via a youth culture newsletter. Here's what it said:

"Eyeballing," a drinking game where participants pour vodka directly into someone's eye, is the latest -- and dangerous -- fad, and videos of the act are even popping up online. "They're not doing this eyeballing to get drunk, they're doing it after they're drunk and they're drunk enough to act stupid," Mike Gimbel, a substance abuse expert told Fox41. "They're actually doing it as part of a fad. You know, I dare you to do this." "Vodka is about 40 to 50 percent pure alcohol, which can take off the top layer of the cornea," said Robert Stutman, president of the Maryland Optometric Association. "It can cause scarring. Can it make you go blind? I suppose it probably could, if it causes severe enough scarring of the cornea." Source: AOL Health


Who do you think thought this up?!?! Now we not only have to warn kids not to drink alcohol, we have to warn them not to pour it into their eyes!

 

[DammitJanet]

Not only are they pouring it on and in their eyes, they are filling super soakers with grain alcohol and shooting at their eyes. Target practice.

 

[muttmeister]

Sometimes (often) I think PEOPLE are the dumbest animals on the planet. Can you think of any other life form that would do something like this?

 

[Marg's Man]

I can't imagine the PAIN it would involve.

As a chemist, I work with all sorts of solvents. Over the 30+ years of my career I have got most of them in my eye at some time - usually due to failing to be as rigourous in safety precautions when I was younger (and stupider). Occasionally I have simply been unlucky and they got past my eye shields.

As a result I know what they feel like in the eyes from first hand experience and I can say they all feel the same. They HURT!!! Some hurt worse than others. I would expect that Vodka (essentially 40-50% ethanol) would be concentrated enough to be very painful.

The warning from the Optometric Association should be heeded.

Marg's Man