Using Halloween Contact Lenses to Enhance a Costume
Who are you going to be this Halloween? Bella from “Twilight”? Pennywise from “It”? Maybe even Regan from the classic “The Exorcist”? Once you know the look you want for this Halloween, you might consider making the costume especially gruesome and effective with Halloween contact lenses or special effects contact lenses. If you decide to use such contact lenses, however, keep your eyes open and proceed with caution.
Are Halloween Contact Lenses Safe?
Scary contact lenses can help you create an intriguing costume. You could delight friends, family, and neighbors, and it’s certainly fun to look truly creepy for a day. There’s all the benefits.
Now for the risks.
Prescription Halloween Contact Lenses
To start with, you will need a prescription for Halloween contact lenses. They are considered medical devices that require proper fitting by an eye care professional. In the United States, it’s illegal to sell any contact lenses without a prescription.
Never buy colored contact lenses from a retailer who doesn’t ask for a prescription. Avoid purchasing your contacts from disreputable online stores, beauty salons, novelty shops, or Halloween supply stores.
Dangers of Creepy Contact Lenses
If you do buy contacts from an illegitimate source, you’re taking significant risks. Some dangers include:
- The contacts will likely be the wrong size. Improperly sized contacts can shift in your eye, become stuck under your eyelids, or cling to your eye more than they should.
- You risk eye infection by using contacts that other people may have handled or manufactured improperly. Eye infections can last weeks to months and may even lead to blindness.
- Improperly manufactured lenses could scratch your eyes, which will be irritating, painful, and could possibly lead to permanent damage.
- The strength of the lenses should correlate with your normal corrective vision lenses.
- You still need to care for them as you would normal contact lenses by using contact lens solution properly. If you buy them from an illegitimate source, there’s a good chance this will be overlooked or neglected.
Additional Precautions
Another word of caution is to never use someone else’s contact lenses, even if they are cosmetic or novelty items. Infections can be spread from person to person, and the original owner might not have maintained the lenses properly. Different individuals require different sizes of contact lenses, so they will likely be the wrong size as well. These are just a few of the many reasons why you should not share Halloween contact lenses!
Colored contact lenses can give you a unique look, and they can definitely be a fun enhancement for a Halloween costume. Just make sure you obtain them from a qualified eye care professional and that you maintain them properly.
Contact Michigan Eye Institute for more information.
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