Halloween is the perfect time to try out a new eye color. It’s a quick and easy way to add a dynamic aspect to your costume without spending a lot of money, and the next day you can go back to looking like your natural-born self. However, whether you’re using a color-enhancing tint to mimic Lady Gaga’s gray eyes, using opaque lenses to turn your brown eyes blue, or special cosmetic lenses that allow you to stare at others with the gaze of an exotic cat, if you haven’t been properly fitted then you could be in for some scary consequences.
Unlike colored contacts that remedy some kind of vision impairment, costume lenses are in most cases Plano, which means they have correction strength of zero power. Although they can be worn by anyone, there are some strict guidelines to promote eye safety. If these guidelines aren’t followed, it could result in serious damage to your vision. It may be tempting to let friends try out your new look for themselves, but wearing contact lenses that aren’t properly fitted for the eye can cause infection, scratch the cornea, and in severe cases even cause permanent vision loss.
One Prescription, Many Options
Lens wearers in the United States are required to obtain a prescription for Halloween contact lenses, or any other contact lenses for that matter. While some types of contact lens are labeled “non-prescription” the term usually means that they have no vision correcting properties. You may be thinking, is it really worth all the trouble to get a prescription for something that’s for theatrical or cosmetic purposes only? The answer is yes! Here are some of the other, less obvious benefits of getting a prescription for Halloween contact lenses.
- Credibility – Prescriptions for contact lenses are like a note from your doctor to the · company. A credible company will understand FDA regulations that state eye care professionals are required to give their patients who are fitted for new contacts a hard copy of the prescription for the lenses, even if the patient doesn’t ask for one.
- Versatility – Prescriptions are written for a certain brand. When you choose a brand that offers a broad range of contact lens colors and styles, then each one of their products is available to you with that single prescription, whether the lenses are a tint to create a subtle change to your natural eye color or opaque Halloween contact lenses to give you a vampire, feline, or zombie appearance.
- Individuality – Prescriptions are written for the size and shape of your eye, which means there is less risk of infection or other types of eye damage. Even if you’re wearing disposable lenses as a single occurrence on Halloween night, contact lenses are considered a medical device.
Opaque and some other types of theatrical types of Halloween contact lenses are thicker than soft, clear contacts that correct vision. The added thickness prevents enough oxygen from getting to your eye, so limit wearing them to between 6 and 8 hours per day and don’t sleep in your contacts. Scarier than any Halloween costume or prank is the feeling of waking up and feeling like someone glued the lens directly to your eyeball.
Knowing When to Dispose of Disposable Lenses
Finally, while disposable lenses are reusable they won’t last forever. The life span of a disposable contact lens is irrespective of how much you’ve worn it after initially opening the package. Before opening the original container, contact lenses are kept in a sterile, saline solution and are good until the expiration date listed on the packaging. However, after opening the package the lenses are only good for about 30 days (always defer to you doctor’s recommendation when it comes to replacement). When you try and stretch the life of your lenses, you’re inviting bacteria to make its home in your eyes which could cause infection. If the shape of the lens becomes compromised, it could scratch your cornea which is quite the painful experience.
After going through the process of getting a prescription for Halloween colored contacts, there’s no reason to toss the prescription afterwards. Contact lens prescriptions are good for at least another year after your doctor writes it out. Just because you plan to wear gold vampire lenses to look like Twilight’s Edward Cullen or Bella Swan, an opaque blue tint to mimic Effie Trinket’s aqua eyes in The Hunger Games, or berserker or green ghoul to resemble an extra from AMC’s The Walking Dead for Halloween doesn’t mean you can’t select a traditional colored contact lens to enhance the everyday look of your natural eye color.
Freelance writer Staci Howard enjoys writing because it allows her to work from home where she also takes online classes to continue her education. She loves holidays but Halloween is her absolute favorite. Whether she’s dressing as a vampire princess or a sexy pirate wench she enjoys using theatrical Halloween contact lenses to complete the look. When she isn’t writing for www.colormecontacts.com, Stacy enjoys spending her time perusing antique shops, meeting friends for coffee, and hiking the trails in the public forest near her home in Vancouver, Canada.