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American Morning
Government Regulators Seeing Red About Teen Trend
Aired October 25, 2002 - 08:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Some kids consider them way cool, very colorful. Government regulators are seeing red about a trend some teens. the nonprescription lenses can cause serious eye damage and Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with us this morning.
Your eyes look so beautiful this morning, Sanjay, with or without contact lenses.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT; I think I will keep mine just brown, no blue, or green or spiral or anything. Contact lenses are a big deal. In this country, 34 million people wear contacts. That's over 10 percent of the population. They can correct about every vision problem out there, near sightedness, far sightedness, a stigmatism even, presbyopia (ph), which is aging eyes. But now a lot of people are interested in changing their eye color. According to the eye care industry, about 14 million people will change their eye color if they could.
Now, red -- I'm sorry, blue, green, those are the most common ones. But you can see all of these different sort of choices as well. Hypnotica is one of them, Alien, Red Hit, White Out, Wildfire, all of these different choices out there. There's even some contact lenses that change color constantly while you have them in your eye. And these are becoming increasingly popular, Paula, as you mentioned, especially around the Halloween season.
Now the FDA has been investigating this and has issued a pretty strong warning just this past Monday, talking about the fact a lot of these contact lenses are not prescription, they're not actually properly fitted, and sometimes they can cause serious problems, possibly even blindness. What is really amazing about this, Paula, is that sometimes you can get some of these contact lenses in flea markets, convenience stores, beach stores. That is not right. You can buy them about anywhere. They are not properly fitted, and that is a real problem.
Let's look at some of the problems it can actually cause. You can see there are corneal ulcers, possible blindness from infection, conjunctivitis, which is just an infection of the eyelid and surrounding eye, corneal swelling, which is just a very unpretty site, corneal abrasion and scarring, reduction in visual function. All of those are possible problems from these improperly fitted, if at all fitted, contact lenses that aren't prescription. You can buy them just about anywhere, Paula.
ZAHN: So does that mean you should avoid cosmetic contact lenses altogether, or you should not buy them at the flea market, which seems like a very odd place to be buying cosmetic contact lenses in the first place.
GUPTA: Right, in fact, one of our producers, Matina Gikas (ph) with the medical unit, actually went to a novelty store in Atlanta and purchased some of these contact lenses which we have here, purple, and these are called White Out contact lenses. She actually and put them in her eye and her eye turned very red. She is a contact lens wearer. Her eyes turned very red, very irritated very quickly.
I don't think there is a problem actually buying cosmetic contacts. You got to get them from an professional. They still have to be fitted, even though they are nonprescription lenses, and they still have to be cared for. Contact lenses are mechanical devices that you put in your eye. They can reduce the amount of oxygen to your eye. They can be reservoirs for bacteria. That can be a real problem, especially if they're not cared for properly -- Paula.
ZAHN: Doctor, I know we talked about a story earlier this week that sort of got lost in the crush of the news cycle. And Monday, I want you to come back and tell us how there is a study if you have liposuction on your hips that you actually expand here. Women saying, who have had the procedure, that they grow a full cup size after having their hips sucked out. I don't get this.
GUPTA: Paula, since you gave me that assignment, I have been making tons of phone calls. I talked to the people who wrote that paper. I talked to the chairman of the Academy of the Plastic Surgery. I'm going to have real answers for you on...
ZAHN: You are? Is it true, though? You shrink here and you grow there?
GUPTA: It's not all going to be good news. How about I just tease with that? There is some science behind it, but it's not all what it's cracked up to be, or grows out to be, as the case may be.
ZAHN: The countdown goes on between now and Monday when you come back.
Sanjay Gupta, great.
GUPTA: Good seeing you.
ZAHN: Thanks. Have a great weekend.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 25, 2002 - 08:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Some kids consider them way cool, very colorful. Government regulators are seeing red about a trend some teens. the nonprescription lenses can cause serious eye damage and Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with us this morning.
Your eyes look so beautiful this morning, Sanjay, with or without contact lenses.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT; I think I will keep mine just brown, no blue, or green or spiral or anything. Contact lenses are a big deal. In this country, 34 million people wear contacts. That's over 10 percent of the population. They can correct about every vision problem out there, near sightedness, far sightedness, a stigmatism even, presbyopia (ph), which is aging eyes. But now a lot of people are interested in changing their eye color. According to the eye care industry, about 14 million people will change their eye color if they could.
Now, red -- I'm sorry, blue, green, those are the most common ones. But you can see all of these different sort of choices as well. Hypnotica is one of them, Alien, Red Hit, White Out, Wildfire, all of these different choices out there. There's even some contact lenses that change color constantly while you have them in your eye. And these are becoming increasingly popular, Paula, as you mentioned, especially around the Halloween season.
Now the FDA has been investigating this and has issued a pretty strong warning just this past Monday, talking about the fact a lot of these contact lenses are not prescription, they're not actually properly fitted, and sometimes they can cause serious problems, possibly even blindness. What is really amazing about this, Paula, is that sometimes you can get some of these contact lenses in flea markets, convenience stores, beach stores. That is not right. You can buy them about anywhere. They are not properly fitted, and that is a real problem.
Let's look at some of the problems it can actually cause. You can see there are corneal ulcers, possible blindness from infection, conjunctivitis, which is just an infection of the eyelid and surrounding eye, corneal swelling, which is just a very unpretty site, corneal abrasion and scarring, reduction in visual function. All of those are possible problems from these improperly fitted, if at all fitted, contact lenses that aren't prescription. You can buy them just about anywhere, Paula.
ZAHN: So does that mean you should avoid cosmetic contact lenses altogether, or you should not buy them at the flea market, which seems like a very odd place to be buying cosmetic contact lenses in the first place.
GUPTA: Right, in fact, one of our producers, Matina Gikas (ph) with the medical unit, actually went to a novelty store in Atlanta and purchased some of these contact lenses which we have here, purple, and these are called White Out contact lenses. She actually and put them in her eye and her eye turned very red. She is a contact lens wearer. Her eyes turned very red, very irritated very quickly.
I don't think there is a problem actually buying cosmetic contacts. You got to get them from an professional. They still have to be fitted, even though they are nonprescription lenses, and they still have to be cared for. Contact lenses are mechanical devices that you put in your eye. They can reduce the amount of oxygen to your eye. They can be reservoirs for bacteria. That can be a real problem, especially if they're not cared for properly -- Paula.
ZAHN: Doctor, I know we talked about a story earlier this week that sort of got lost in the crush of the news cycle. And Monday, I want you to come back and tell us how there is a study if you have liposuction on your hips that you actually expand here. Women saying, who have had the procedure, that they grow a full cup size after having their hips sucked out. I don't get this.
GUPTA: Paula, since you gave me that assignment, I have been making tons of phone calls. I talked to the people who wrote that paper. I talked to the chairman of the Academy of the Plastic Surgery. I'm going to have real answers for you on...
ZAHN: You are? Is it true, though? You shrink here and you grow there?
GUPTA: It's not all going to be good news. How about I just tease with that? There is some science behind it, but it's not all what it's cracked up to be, or grows out to be, as the case may be.
ZAHN: The countdown goes on between now and Monday when you come back.
Sanjay Gupta, great.
GUPTA: Good seeing you.
ZAHN: Thanks. Have a great weekend.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
