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.

中文翻译：

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高内涵筛选发现隐形眼镜在阳光下释放的微塑料

塑料制品的广泛使用导致微塑料在日常生活中无处不在，而由于传统检测方法的限制，长期使用的隐形眼镜中微塑料的释放尚未见报道。在这里，我们建立了一种新的快速方法，通过使用高内涵筛选系统来捕获和计数微塑料。该方法可以同时测量每个塑料颗粒的直径、面积和形状，并用商业微塑料验证了该方法的可靠性和适用性。据估计，一副隐形眼镜在佩戴一年期间会释放出 90,698 个微塑料颗粒。通过扫描电子显微镜和傅里叶变换红外光谱指纹分析，证实渗滤液中的微塑料是从隐形眼镜中释放出来的。我们的研究揭示了微塑料直接接触人类的未被发现的途径，强调迫切需要评估眼睛接触微塑料所造成的潜在健康风险。