New Zealand teenagers were issued a warning against the strange eyeball-licking craze that's popular among Japanese youth.

Oculolinctus, or popularly known as "worming" is licking the eyeballs of another individual. It is a fetish practice among Japanese teenagers who are using eyeball-licking as a sign of affection between couples.

News reports from Japanese media said the number of teens suffering from eye infections due to eyeball-licking are on the rise. As a result, eye doctors in New Zealand agreed to warn Kiwi teenagers of the risk of infection from following the Japanese craze.

A school in Japan has reported that one-third of its population of 12-year-olds had engaged in the practice of 'worming' or eyeball-licking. Teachers became aware of the craze when they realised that the eye patches students were wearing were not part of the latest fashion trend. Students wore eye patches to hide conjunctivitis.

The eyeball-licking craze has evidently reached the U.S. as a 29-year-old environmental science student praised the 'worming' craze, according to a Huffington Post report.

YouTube videos and photographs of people licking their partner's eyeballs and being 'wormed' were also seen going viral on the Internet.

Visique New Zealand's chairman, Ian Finch, has issued a warning to New Zealand's teenagers to refrain from engaging in eyeball-licking since it can cause conjunctivitis. The eye condition is also known as 'pink eye'. Licking eyeballs may also lead to transmission of the herpes virus.

Mr Finch said the eyes are vital organs and it is important to take good care of them. Oculolinctus may have serious implications since some eye problems can lead to blindness.

More than 40,000 bacteria live on the human tongue so it's not something that should be near anyone's eyes. Mr Finch said the eyes are prone to diseases and damage. Eyeball-licking can cause infection and more likely result in permanent damage like loss of sight.

Dr Andrew Sangster from the New Zealand Association of Optometrists said he hasn't heard of any cases of infection from eyeball-licking in the country but also warned against the dangers of the Japanese craze.

Mr Sangster said eyeballs are the most sensitive organs in the human body. There are so many possible infections from the bacteria living in the mouth.

A spokesperson of the Auckland District Health Board said eye clinics have not yet reported any cases related to eye infections from eyeball-licking.

While New Zealand eye doctors warn Kiwi teens about the dangers of eyeball-licking, they might be interested to know the craze that allegedly began in Japan was apparently a hoax.

Japanese eyeball-licking craze a hoax?

According to a Tokyo-based journalist and translator Mark Schreiber who traced the source of the bizarre news story of the "worming" craze among Japanese teens, the report is just a hoax. Mr. Schreiber said the source of the eyeball-licking story was a Japanese tabloid site.

Based on the tabloid report, its primary source was an anonymous school teacher in Tokyo who revealed how he had traced a pinkeye epidemic to "hentai play" or perverted play like the so-called licking of eyeballs among students.

Mr Schreiber said the original tabloid story lacked details and reliable sources that it had all the "trappings of an urban legend." He contacted two ophthalmologic associations, school clinicians and an ophthalmologist in Yokohama but none of them knew anything of a pinkeye epidemic.

Mr Schreiber, who is a regular contributor to The Japan Times and a Tokyo resident since 1966, also contacted the editor who posted the original story on Bucchi News.

The editor replied and evaded questions about the real identity of the story writer. The editor also said defensively that ''the story never claimed the problem was widespread" and implied the site's readers were looking for "thrills and not facts". The story's purpose was evidently to titillate.

The rest is history as Japanese sites picked up the story and later on added a photo of a Japanese girl wearing an eye patch. A social media frenzy of retweets and shares began.

The eyeball-licking craze causing an pinkeye epidemic in Japan may be a hoax but the risk of infection is real.

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