Cosmetic Contact Lenses – What You Need to Know

Cosmetic contact lenses have become the hot Halloween costume accessory this year, but are they safe? Before you go putting anything into your eyes or your children’s eyes, take a moment to consider all the facts and share them with your family. T-Bone had been asking me about getting some cosmetic contact lenses and I was thinking sure why not? Here is what I found when doing some research….

Cosmetic Contact Lenses Aren’t Regulated

There’s no denying that cosmetic contact lenses look really cool. What’s scarier than a vampire with red eyes or a mummy with dead, gray eyes? It looks pretty amazing. The problem is that these lenses aren’t prescribed by a doctor, and they aren’t fitted to individual eyes. They’re just a colored lens that you pop onto your eye ball.

Cosmetic Contact Lenses are Dangerous

These over-the-counter cosmetic contact lenses are actually more dangerous than you think. Without proper doctor supervision and sizing these lenses can permanently damage your eyes. Think about having something in your sock. What happens? It rubs. And it rubs. And it rubs. Until you get an irritated area on your foot. It’s kind of the same thing with over the counter cosmetic contact lenses. A non-prescription lens most likely will not fit properly, which means it will float on your eye and could cause irritation or worse.

Always Practice Safe Contact Lens Use

If you must use cosmetic contact lenses, follow these safety do’s and don’ts that prescription contact lens wearers use.

Do:

• Wash, rinse, and dry your hands thoroughly before handling your lenses. Use a lint-free towel. You don’t want fuzzies in your eyes!

• Put contacts in before applying makeup – Halloween or otherwise.

• If you experience eye discomfort, excessive tearing, vision changes, or eye redness, remove lenses immediately and contact your eye care professional.

• Always follow your doctor’s recommended removal, cleaning, and disinfecting recommendations. If you have over the counter cosmetic contact lenses, ask your eye care professional about this.

Don’t:

• Wear another person’s lenses.

• Wear lenses longer than your doctor recommends. If you are using cosmetic contact lenses, follow their instructions.

• Rinse your lenses in tap water or expose them to water sources period.

• Use anything other than contact cleaning solution.

Better Safe than Sorry

Before I learned about them, I was seriously considering getting a pair of cosmetic contact lenses for T-Bone to wear on Halloween, but having the scariest costume on the block isn’t worth the possible eye damage in my book! If you really, really want to use them always practice the best safety practices and take them out immediately after use. Have a chat with your eye care professional. Better safe than sorry!

Please visit Healthy Vision & Contact Lenses,  an awesome resource with additional tips and information from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc..