I believe no. This is yet another urban legend, spreading via mails and social networks. I decided to blog about it after seeing too many posts like – “A 21 year old guy had worn a pair of contact lenses during a barbecue party. After a few minutes, he started to scream for help and moved rapidly, jumping up and down….”.
A quick googling shows that contact lenses’ melting points are about 90°C. Some sites suggest that contact lenses can be boiled to disinfect them. Do you think your eyes and face can stand that much heat?
The bottom line is, before the contact lenses melt on your eyes, your face’s skin might have burnt out.
Something which people disregard is not wearing the contact lenses for too long. If you wear them for too long then the portion between your eyes and the lenses might dry up while rest of the eyes are wet. This could result in suction force that may prevent the lenses from being removed.
Disclaimer: I don’t wear contacts and have no experience about them. All the above information have been collected over net.
Hey..
I wear contact lenses on a regular basis.. I can safely say that this is false and a rumor..
I have even barbequed many times wearing contact lens.. The only thing which will makes you jump up and down is when any small splinter (dust) blows into your eyes and causes irritation..
However, the fact that prolonged wear of contact lens does make the removal of contact a bit tough (not impossible), but just putting a few drops of lubricating drops solves this also..!!
Another point that before the contact lens melts they get dehydrated and turn into brittle glass which in no case can remain in the eye. (around 82% of contact lens is water) . Even when disinfecting them, they are kept in an aqueous medium to prevent them from dehydrating..
You were right when you said that the contact part between eye and contact lens will dry if we wear the lenses for long time. That is why there are different contact lenses which an eye specialist can suggest to you since everyone of us have different eye lubricant. And for those who have lack of eye lubricant, you can also choose the contact lens which has more on lubricant in order to use them for long time.
Contact lens do have a definite (though less) risk of creating a hypoxia(reduced oxygenation) to the lens tissue on prolonged use since it really grabs and sits on the lens and leaves a very fine film of space for air passage.This could have some consequences.