Chaos in Cosmetic Contact Lenses Industry

On June 10, Beijing time, National Medical Products Administration of China issued a document stating that because the cosmetic contact lenses directly cover the surface of the cornea and are in close contact with the eye tissue, it is directly related to human eye safety and has a high risk.

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On June 10, Beijing time, National Medical Products Administration of China issued the "Reminders for the Purchase and Use of Decorative Colored Flat Contact Lenses (cosmetic contact lenses)", pointing out that "cosmetic contact lenses" have high risks and are managed as a third-class medical device in China, advising people not to buy unregistered products from informal merchants or online stores for cheap prices.

"Cosmetic contact lenses" are contact lenses with decorative features, known professionally as "contact lenses". National Medical Products Administration of China pointed out that because it directly covers the surface of the cornea and is in close contact with the eye tissue, it is directly related to human eye safety and has high risks. To evaluate the effectiveness, only after obtaining the medical device registration certificate can it be produced, sold and used, and its production enterprises also need to obtain a "Medical Device Production License" before production; businesses operating such products need to obtain a "Medical Device Business License" to be able to operate.

According to the observations from CHAILEEDO, the beauty contact market is full of chaos. Not only do large and small optical shops sell them, but even boutiques, small grocery stalls, cosmetics stores, and nail salons can sell cosmetic contact lenses randomly. They are often cheap, so you can buy a pair for a few dollars; and some lenses are directly packed in small transparent bottles, with only the production date and shelf life on the packaging, and there is no manufacturer or product label. product".

In addition to offline channels, there are countless shops selling beauty contact lenses online. On Tmall, a mainstream e-commerce platform in China, using "cosmetic contact lenses" as a keyword search, it is found that some cosmetic contact lenses products are listed as "pharmacies" on the Internet, but when consulting the information on cosmetic contact lenses, the pharmacy customer service said that information about cosmetic contact lenses needs to be answered by someone else. Also, the delivery location of other products in the pharmacy is not the same as the delivery location of the same store's cosmetic contact lenses.

According to CHAILEEDO, some sellers of cosmetic contact lenses are not qualified themselves. With the strict supervision of e-commerce platforms in China, they will choose to cooperate with some online pharmacies to sell cosmetic contacts and other products by taking advantage of the other party's medical device license. The merchant is likely to be a warehouse and choose to cooperate with multiple online pharmacies, so it is normal for the delivery area to be inconsistent, so it is difficult to guarantee the quality of cosmetic contact lenses.

In addition, the cosmetic contact lenses sold on the e-commerce platform also have multiple brands of products using one medical device registration number, some of which may be used fraudulently, and some are products of the OEM model. This is because China has strict supervision of medical devices, not only in terms of technology, production conditions and other requirements, but it takes a long time to obtain a license. Therefore, many businesses choose the OEM model, only need to obtain a medical device business license, and then affix different brands to make a sale. In this OEM mode, the quality control of cosmetic contact lenses is prone to have such loopholes and the quality is worrying.

With unclear qualifications and excessive publicity, the quality of cosmetic contact lenses has become a problem that consumers have to carefully identify. In recent years, it is not uncommon to see news such as vision loss and eye stones due to frequent wearing of cosmetic contact lenses. Behind the booming market and fancy marketing of cosmetic contact lenses, many consumers who are attracted but have not yet matured their ability to distinguish often become victims of inferior cosmetic contact lenses.

Therefore, special attention must be paid to the inferior quality and hidden dangers of cosmetic contact lenses. In particular, most of the people who use cosmetic contact lenses products are teenagers who love beauty. Improper use will leave serious health risks. First, the Chinese regulatory authorities need to implement strong regulatory measures to solve the chaos in the cosmetic contact lenses market through special rectification; secondly, Chinese online platforms need to fulfill their own responsibilities and rectify some non-compliant behaviors of selling cosmetic contact lenses; Thirdly, consumers should learn to protect their rights and interests and cannot ignore the quality of cosmetic contact lenses.