'Eyeballing' Fad has Teens Pouring Vodka into Eyes

 Wednesday, 26 May 2010

BY KAREN GRAY HOUSTON/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON - It's called vodka eyeballing. A Baltimore County substance abuse crusader is sending out warnings to police, schools and parents that it's a dangerous sport.

Mike Gimbel says you can find hundreds of videos documenting the practice on YouTube, and they're getting hundreds of thousands of hits.

The videos show kids pouring straight vodka, directly from a bottle, onto their eyeballs. Gimbel says they don't do it to get drunk; they're already drunk when they do it. He says they do it like a prank, a dare.

He's not the only one concerned. Robert Stutman, President of the Maryland Optometric Association says vodka can be 40 to 50 per cent pure alcohol, and pouring it on the eye can burn and scar the cornea, and cause blindness if the scarring is severe enough.