No good can come from eyeball licking Eyeball licking, or worming, is causing problems in Japan. EYEBALL licking, particularly in Japan, has seen an outbreak of people suffering conjunctivitis and eye experts warning against the practice. "Nothing good can come of this," San Diego ophthalmologist Dr David Granet told The Huffington Post. There are ridges on the tongue that can cause a corneal abrasion. And if a person hasn't washed out their mouth, they might put acid from citrus products or spices into the eye. Alternatively called "oculolinctus" or "worming," eyeball licking has been around since the mid-2000s. It has gained popularity in Japan where in one classroom of 12-year-olds, a third of students confessed to worming or being wormed. ShanghaiList.com reports that officials discovered that the practice was rampant when students started coming to school with eyepatches. Elektrika Energias, a 29-year-old environmental science student in the US Virgin Islands, said she found the fetish particularly erotic. My boyfriend started licking my eyeballs years ago and I just loved it. I'm not with him anymore, but I still like to ask guys to lick my eyeballs," she told The Huffington Post. I just love it because it turns me on, like sucking on my toes. It makes me feel all tingly. I don't ask just anyone to do it. Guys I like a lot are more likely to not think it's so weird. I've never had anyone turn me down though," she said. I got some weird offshoot of TB in my eye once. I ended up with corneal ulcers and I spent like a month in the hospital. I'm just safer now, I guess ... Live and learn. I mean they don't really make tongue rubbers, but maybe they should," she said. Eye experts warn that conjunctivitis or "pink eye" is just one of the conditions you can contract from eyeball licking.