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Are Halloween-Themed Contact Lenses Safe?

Colorful contact lenses definitely add a little extra flair to your costume if you're planning to be a zombie, vampire or other fictional creature for Halloween. Unfortunately, wearing over-the-counter lenses for just one evening could harm your eyes.

Novelty Contact Lenses May Increase Your Risk of Eye Injury and Infection

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates contact lens sales to ensure that the lenses are safe to wear. Many novelty lenses haven't received FDA approval and are brought into the country illegally. Those lenses may contain bacteria and other contaminants or may be poorly made.

This past June, a Florida woman was convicted of selling counterfeit contact lenses that contained microbial contamination. Law enforcement officials seized 600 lenses imported from China during an undercover operation in Pensacola.

Although the counterfeit lenses looked perfectly fine, anyone who wore them may have soon developed a terrible eye infection. In fact, infections can occur just hours after you wear contaminated lenses and may cause permanent vision changes or even vision loss if you don't receive prompt treatment.

Novelty lenses are often available in one size only. Unfortunately, everyone's eyes aren't the same size. Wearing lenses that don't fit your eyes properly can lead to scratches or sores on your cornea, the clear layer of tissue that covers your iris and pupil. If scars develop as a result of infections or sores, your vision may never be the same again.

Signs that may indicate an infection or eye injury include:

• Pain

• Change in Vision or Double Vision

• Sensitivity to Light

• Redness

• Burning or Itching

• Discharge

• Constant Tearing

• Foreign Body Sensation
   

Buying Prescription Lenses Offers a Safer Solution

The safest lenses are those approved by the FDA and prescribed by an optometrist. During your appointment, your eye doctor measures the curvature of your cornea and the size of your irises and pupil to determine the ideal lens size for you. It's important to visit an eye doctor whether you need contacts to see better or just want to wear the lenses as part of a Halloween costume.

Your optometrist or his staff will also teach you how to insert, remove and safely care for your lenses. Infections can occur if you don't follow proper care instructions, even if your lenses were prescribed by an optometrist.

9 Tips That Will Help Protect Your Eyes This Halloween

Keep these tips in mind if you're interested in changing the color or appearance of your eyes to compliment your Halloween costume:

• See an optometrist for an eye examination and contact lens fitting.

• Buy your lenses from a company that requires a prescription from an eye doctor.

• Don't wear costume lenses overnight.

• Wash your hands before handling your contact lenses.

• Follow your optometrist's cleaning and disinfecting instructions to prevent infections.

• Put your lenses in before you apply Halloween makeup. At the end of the night, take out your contacts before you remove your makeup.

• Remove the lenses if they're uncomfortable or irritate your eyes.

• Call your optometrist immediately if you notice any signs of an infection or inflammation.

• Don't share contact lenses with your friends, even if they're non-prescription. Sharing lenses can increase your risk of infection.
   

Would a pair of colorful contacts be the perfect finishing touch for your Halloween costume? Don't put your vision at risk by purchasing over-the-counter novelty contact lenses. Contact us to schedule a contact lens examination with an optometrist.

Sources:

U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Florida: Pensacola Woman Pleads Guilty to Selling Counterfeit Contact Lenses, 6/27/19

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl/pr/pensacola-woman-pleads-guilty-selling-counterfeit-contact-lenses

All About Vision: Halloween Contact Lenses and Other Special-Effect Contacts, 10/17/18

https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/theatrical.htm

American Optometric Association: Halloween Hazard: Never Buy Decorative Contact Lenses Without a Prescription, 9/14/18

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/news/scary-lenses

CDC: Keep Your Eyes Safe on Halloween

https://www.cdc.gov/contactlenses/keep-eyes-safe-halloween.html

U.S. Food and Drug Administration: ‘Colored’ and Decorative Contact Lenses

https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/colored-and-decorative-contact-lenses-prescription-must

Normal sight includes central vision (the field of view straight ahead) and peripheral vision (the field of view outside the circle of central vision). The inability to see within a normal range of view often indicates peripheral vision loss. In severe cases of peripheral vision loss, individuals only see with their central vision, which causes the sensation of looking through a narrow tunnel. For this reason, peripheral vision loss is sometimes referred to as tunnel vision.
 

Peripheral Vision Loss Signs and Symptoms

The primary symptom of peripheral vision loss is tunnel vision. When this symptom occurs, you are only able to see a small circle straight ahead. You may also have difficulty seeing in low light and have trouble walking.

Peripheral vision loss does not always occur rapidly. As a result, many sufferers do not immediately realize they are experiencing a loss of peripheral vision, and do not receive diagnosis until examined by an eye care professional.
 

Peripheral Vision Loss Causes

Several conditions cause peripheral vision loss. Some conditions are serious and require immediate treatment, while others will simply clear up on their own. Any loss of vision or change in sight, however, should prompt an immediate examination by an eye care professional to rule out or begin treatment for any serious medical conditions.

Conditions which cause peripheral vision and require medical treatment include glaucoma, damage to the retina, detached retina, retinitis pigmentosa, brain damage due to stroke or loss of blood, occlusions (eye strokes), optic nerve damage, optic neuritis, compressed optic nerve head, and concussions or other head injuries.

In addition to these conditions which can lead to permanent vision loss, some factors cause temporary tunnel vision and may not require medical treatment. These include alcohol and drug use, high levels of adrenalin, extreme stress, panic, and anger. Peripheral vision loss due to these factors will clear up on its own with no treatment.
 

Diagnosis and Treatment

Eye care professionals diagnose peripheral vision loss by using a field of vision exam to test your range of vision. If peripheral vision loss is detected, the eye care professional will determine the specific cause by performing further medical testing, observation, and by looking at your medical records. Once an underlying cause is determined, an eye care professional will recommend the treatment options. Depending on the cause, this might include surgery, medication, or vision therapy.

A normal cornea — the clear front covering of your eye — has a round curve, like a basketball. However, many people have an irregularly shaped cornea while others have an irregularly curved lens. Both cases can cause light that enters the eye to bend the wrong way, causing blurry vision. This disorder is called astigmatism.

If an abnormally shaped cornea is causing your astigmatism, it’s called corneal astigmatism. Lenticular astigmatism is the term used for astigmatism caused by an irregular lens.

If you have corneal astigmatism, your cornea is shaped more like a football. The curvature of your cornea is probably uneven, with some areas being flatter or steeper than other areas.

Often, astigmatism occurs in conjunction with other vision conditions, such as farsightedness or nearsightedness. All three of these conditions involve errors in the way the cornea and lens refract, or bend light.

Causes

Both children and adults can suffer from astigmatism. In minor cases, they may not even notice a change in vision. While this condition is usually present from birth, it can change over time.

Astigmatism may also develop after eye surgery or an injury. In rare cases, a condition called keratoconus causes astigmatism. This means the cornea becomes thinner and more cone-shaped over time, leading to increasingly poor vision.

Diagnosis

When you get a comprehensive eye exam, your doctor tests for astigmatism. She or he will measure how your eyes focus light. To determine the curvature of your cornea, the doctor uses an instrument called a keratometer. It focuses a circle of light on the cornea. This allows your doctor to measure the reflection and determine the proper fit of contact lenses, if you opt for this treatment option. If your doctor wants even more details, she or he can use a special video camera to map your cornea’s surface. Other instruments measure how your eyes focus light.

Treatment

Wearing eyeglasses is the safest and simplest way to treat astigmatism. Both glasses and contact lenses correct this disorder by altering the way light enters the eyes.

Orthokeratology is a non-invasive procedure involving a series of rigid contact lenses. Worn under your doctor’s careful supervision, you can use these to gradually reshape your corneal curve. However, if you stop wearing these specially designed lenses, your corneas will return to their former shape.

Refractive surgeries, such as LASIK and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), change your cornea’s shape by using a laser to remove a tiny amount of corneal tissue.

If you suffer from blurry or elongated vision, you might have astigmatism. Call us today so we can schedule an exam and get you on the road to clear vision.

People with hyperopia, also known as farsightedness, can usually see objects in the distance, but their close vision is blurry. Symptoms of untreated hyperopia include:

• Difficulty concentrating on near work, such as reading

• Eye strain

• Headaches after reading or other activities involving close focus

• Aching, burning eyes

• Irritability from concentrating on tasks

• In children, eyes may look crossed
   

Causes and Risk Factors

If your cornea lacks an insufficient degree of curvature or your eyeball is too short, you’ll be farsighted. These defects, called refractive errors, prevent light from focusing correctly inside your eye. Instead of an image being focused on the retina, your eye focuses it behind the retina. This results in blurred close vision.

About 5 to 10 percent of Americans have hyperopia. You’re more likely to be farsighted if your parents are.

Diagnosis

To diagnose hyperopia, your eye doctor will give you eye drops to temporarily suspend your eye’s focusing mechanism. Then, he or she can assess how farsighted you are.

Prescription Lens Treatment

If you are only a little farsighted, your eyes might be able to compensate without any intervention. Many hyperopic people can benefit from corrective lenses, either eyeglasses or contact lenses. Corrective lenses help your eyes focus correctly by altering how light enters them.

Eyeglasses are the simplest way to correct hyperopia. However, many people prefer contact lenses, since they provide slightly clearer vision than glasses do. Your doctor can discuss the pros and cons of each.

Surgical Treatment

Several types of refractive surgery permanently alter the shape of the cornea, decreasing or eliminating the need to wear corrective lenses. The ophthalmologist uses a small laser to reshape your cornea by sculpting tiny amounts of corneal tissue. To treat hyperopia, he or she increases the curvature of the cornea.

If you think you might be farsighted, call us today so we can help find the most appropriate treatment option for you.

This group of corneal disorders includes more than 20 variations. Each affects different parts of the cornea, causing it to get cloudy and compromising vision. Most of these dystrophies are inherited, affect both eyes equally and spread between layers of the cornea as they gradually progress.

In order for your eyes to focus normally, six muscles around each eye must work together. When your two eyes see different images, your brain tends to favor the stronger eye. This means the weak eye gets weaker, resulting in amblyopia, or “lazy eye.”

Risk factors for developing strabismus may include farsightedness and a family history of the disorder. Both adults and children suffer from strabismus, but the causes are different. For adults, causes include:

• Diabetes

• Stroke

• Botulism

• Graves’ disease

• Shellfish poisoning

• Guillain-Barré syndrome

• Cranial nerve palsies

• Tumors

• Eye injuries

• Traumatic brain injury

• Vision loss
   

Treatment

Treatment for strabismus involves a few steps. First, your eye doctor will determine whether you need glasses. Then, he or she will treat your amblyopia. This typically involves wearing a patch over the stronger eye, forcing the weak eye to work harder. This can be frustrating and tiring, but is an important step.

Next, you might need surgery to help the eye muscles work together correctly. This surgery can be done at any age. Eye alignment surgery is generally performed as an outpatient procedure, often with local or regional anesthetic. However, in some cases, it might require hospitalization. Most people can return to their regular activities within a few days. Your doctor might restrict swimming and heavy lifting for several weeks.

The reasons to have eye alignment surgery go way beyond cosmetic benefits. Eye misalignment can cause disabling and dangerous double vision. Since people with strabismus are often self-conscious about this condition, getting alignment surgery may improve your circumstances emotionally, socially and even economically.

What to Expect After Treatment

Any type of surgery bears risks, including infection, bleeding and anesthetic complications. The most common risks for strabismus surgery are double vision and residual misalignment. In rare cases, patients may suffer retinal detachment or decreased vision. However, most patients experience a significant improvement in eye alignment after surgery. They may feel pain and a pulling sensation around the eyes for a few days. Usually over-the-counter pain relievers can address this level of discomfort.

If you suffer from strabismus and would like to discuss your treatment options, call our clinic today.

Automated targets with timing mechanisms not only show the optometrist how the eyes move in the beginning of treatment – when eye problems have yet to be fully addressed – by strategically positioning the targets, but they give weak eyes a necessary workout. By moving the eyes around to focus on different targets at different times, the weak eye's muscles are strengthened so that they can learn to move in harmony with the stronger eye

Optical filters carefully transfer light in a specific range of wavelengths or colors while obstructing what remains. These dyed plastic or glass devices are placed in the optical path. They are described by their frequency response, and this identifies how the scale and stage of each frequency component of an incoming signal is altered by the filter.

Known also as optometric phototherapy, syntonics deal with the application of selected visible-light frequencies and are used to treat lazy eye and problems with peripheral vision and depth perception. By applying particular visible-light frequencies through the eyes, syntonics can improve vision. This is because when light enters the eye, retinal nerves connected to some of the brain’s center are stimulated. The hypothalamus and pineal gland are regions of the brain that affect electrical, hormonal and chemical balances – all of which impact body function, including vision and the nervous system.

There are many potential causes for blurry eyes. The answer to why you have blurry vision is best answered by your eye care professional, who can offer diagnosis and prompt treatment so that your vision does not get worse. Some conditions that cause blurry vision are easy to treat, but others require quick medical attention.
 

Common Causes of Blurry Vision

Astigmatism—Refractive errors and irregularities on the cornea can make objects appear blurry from any distance. Prescription glasses, contacts, or refractive surgery can correct this problem.

Myopia or nearsightedness—Objects that are farther away appear blurry due to refraction irregularities. It can also be accompanied by headaches and eye fatigue.

Hyperopia or farsightedness—You may have to strain to see closer objects clearly, while objects further away are clearly visible. Hyperopia can cause headaches, eye strain and blurry vision when reading.

Presbyopia—Age-related hardening of the eye’s lens; causes symptoms similar to hyperopia. It can be treated with multifocal glasses or eye surgeries.

Computer Vision Syndrome—Eye strain related to an ergonomic problems and excessive use of computer screens. Frequent re-focusing rest breaks, special glasses, and an ergonomic workstation set up can help.

Pregnancy—Hormonal changes can affect the shape of your cornea, but more serious conditions like gestational diabetes or high blood pressure could also cause blurry vision during pregnancy. Contact your doctor immediately if this occurs.

Dry Eyes—Without sufficient tear lubrication, the eyes can feel irritated and scratchy while vision becomes blurry; artificial tears help in many cases while medications and punctal plugs can help in more severe situations.

Vitreous Injuries and Aging—As you age, gel-like vitreous can liquefy, causing microscopic bits of tissue to float around, casting shadows or “eye floaters” over the retina. An injury might also cause blood to enter the vitreous, also leading to blurred vision.

Eye Injuries and Infections—If the eye becomes inflamed from injury or an infection like conjunctivitis, blurry vision may result.

Post-LASIK Blurriness—Blurry vision is normal for a few days after surgery, but if it does not steadily improve, contact your eye care professional
 

Serious Causes of Blurry Vision

Note: people with cardiovascular conditions and diabetes need to be especially vigilant when any vision problems arise, as these can signal serious systemic health problems as well.

• Eye Occlusions

• Retinal Detachment

• Cataracts

• Glaucoma

• Diabetic Retinopathy

• Macular Degeneration
   

Contact your eye care professional right away if you experience blurry vision symptoms.