Eyeball Licking.
I am constantly amazed at the stupid things people do to entertain themselves. Have you heard about the new trend called 'eyeball licking'? (Also known as 'oculolinctus' or 'worming'.) Basically, people are licking each other's eyeballs and it's becoming a popular show of affection. Umm, I'll stick to hand holding and kisses on the cheek thanks.

But the new trend has led to outbreaks of pink-eye, can cause blindness, and spreads herpes. Here are three (of many) reasons you should NOT lick someone's eyeball.

  1. Bacteria In The Mouth Can Damage An Eye and Even Cause Blindness
    Dr Phillip Rizzuto, from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, told The Daily Mail that, "Eyeball licking can cause blindness as the bacteria found in the mouth can damage eye tissue."
  2. It Can Spread Pink Eye (Conjunctivitis)
    One school in Japan stumbled on an outbreak of Pink Eye when dozens of students showed up for school wearing eye-patches. They discovered that many of them were engaging in eyeball licking and had spread a nasty case of pink eye around the school. They surveyed the school and found that 1/3 of the preteens admitted to taking part in the eye-licking.
  3. It Can Spread Herpes
    Yes, herpes and other diseases like it can be transmitted through the act of eyeball-licking.Herpes is bad, and herpes of the eye doesn't sound like it would be any more appealing.

I'm pretty sure I can think of plenty more reasons why I wouldn't lick anyone else's eyeballs, but I think those three reasons are more than adequate to keep your tongue out of other's ocular cavities.

If you don't believe me that this is getting "popular" just head to YouTube. A search of "eyeball licking" turns up 18,000 results. Gross. Watching other people lick each other's eyeballs weirds me out almost as much as the thought of doing it. But, I know you're probably going to look at some of them anyways, so here is a video CNN International put up, and it's a fairly tame one.

According to CBS Atlanta, medical experts are worried about the growing popularity of eyeball licking because of all the damage it can do. This fetish started gaining tracking in Japan and is starting to spread around the world.

Shanghaiist suggested that the trend may have been exacerbated by a music video from the Japanese band Born, in which a woman licks the lead singer's eyeball. The eyeball licking trope also seems to have disturbing precedence in manga, Japanese comics books.

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