Safety Situation of Monthly Colored Cosmetic Contact Lenses from Markets in One District of Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand

Abstract

Nowadays, the cosmetic use of colored contact lenses (CL) is rising among the teenagers group. Although CL are regulated by notification of the Medical Devices Control Division, the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand as medical devices, there is ineffective control of the safety and performance of these medical devices by the sellers, because most of the CL are sold by untrained opticians. Lack of information about using CL and deteriorated and contaminated products are the unsafe conditions that are the objectives of this study. A cross-sectional study of monthly colored cosmetic CL that are sold in five non-optical shops in a single district of Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand was conducted during June 2020. The fifty-eight samples of every monthly colored CL brand underwent product information examination and physical property analysis. Most of the CL are sold in the beauty shops. Sixty percent of these shops sell them only for cosmetic purposes. A total of 11 brands and two vial sizes were examined in this study. The average cost of a pair of CL was calculated as 89.30±12.70 baht. All of the sellers did not provide any advice or medical device documentation (MDD). External product defects, e.g. dirty products, unclear/unreadable labels, sticking on another label, and expired products were found at a rate of 46.55%, 22%, 5.17% and 3.45%, respectively. The CL being unable to freely move in the solution was the most common internal product defect. Foreign bodies were also be found in the vials at 3.45%. Also, the customers did not receive important information such as purpose of the product, how to use it, how to store CL after opening, and the warnings and cautions from the label of the product. Product quality control in the shops and the data recognition of the customers may be the potential factors for the safety of monthly cosmetic CL usage. Comprehensive advice about care from the seller and transfer of all of the product’s information to the customers may improve the process of caring for CL, which could reduce the risk of CL-related microbial keratitis and other complications.

Keywords : colored cosmetic contact lens, beauty shop, label, medical device documentation