UHS Notes Contact Lens Danger

Because so many students have been damaging their eyes through "injudicious use" of contact lenses, the University Health Services is distributing a bulletin outlining the dangers and the proper use of lenses.

"At least one student a day" since the beginning of the term has been seeking help at the Health Services because of injury or discomfort from wearing lenses, according to Dr. Edwin B. Dunphy, ophthalmologist to the Health Services.

Dunphy, who wrote the bulletin, said yesterday that two or three Harvard students have been hospitalized this year for eye damage caused by lenses. However, most of the students coming to him, he said, are suffering "minor trouble of improper wearing."

"If students wear them properly, there shouldn't be any problem," he said. Only a small percentage of cases involved poorly-made lenses or lenses that did not fit properly.

The bulletin, which is being posted throughout the University and distributed by the Health Services, warns that wearing lenses is "not without some risk of injury." People wearing lenses more than eight to ten hours per day "eventually get into trouble with corneal abrasions," according to the bulletin. Wetting lenses with saliva may lead to infection and "should never be practiced."