Eyeballing vodka 'a dangerous new craze'

So long spirit-snorters, there's now an even dumber method of alcohol consumption — eyeballing.

The internet is abuzz with videos and photos of people tipping vodka into their eyes, reportedly the latest craze at US and UK universities.

"I think it's the same sort of stuff you might see in the movie Jackass, really dumb people doing dumb things," Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia spokesman Paul Dillon told ninemsn.

Reports first emerged in the UK earlier this week about the trend, which doctors say has the potential to cause devastating eye damage.

Mr Dillon said he did not believe it was a prominent issue among young people in Australia and likely something that was overhyped through social media.

"In the past things like this might have happened in the privacy of homes and gone unnoticed but now with the internet they can get a lot more attention," he said.

Some young people who have attempted the stunt claimed it produced an "instant high" but experts have said this is likely untrue.

A young Queenslander who tried "eyeballing" at a house party with friends told ninemsn it had no noticeable effect.

"I was being stupid with some mates," he said.

"You put it up against your eye — but it's hard for the vodka to actually go in past your tear duct.

"It hurt pretty bad and I don't really think it did anything … we were already pretty drunk."

He said he was inspired to try eyeballing after watching the 2000 film Kevin and Perry Go Large, in which a character performs the stunt in nightclubs.

Professor Robin Touquet, consultant in emergency medicine at St Mary's Hospital in the UK, told the Daily Mail he was "absolutely horrified" by the trend.

"At 40 per cent pure ethanol, vodka in the eye would create inflammation and thrombosis — clotting of the blood vessels — such that very little alcohol would be absorbed.," he said.

"Unlike the stomach, the eye does not have a gastro-intestinal lining to protect it and aid absorption.

"Poured into the eye over a period of time, it could cause serious damage to both the cornea and the sclera, the white of the eye."

Mr Dillon said although the trend seems to not yet have hit Australia, it was "something parents should be aware of".

"If a child has been out partying the night before and is having trouble with their eyes maybe parents should have a talk with them," he said.