14 DAY TRIAL // Teenagers love to wear contact lenses for a variety of reasons. Glasses might be too clumsy when they play sports or they think they look better if they have contacts. Teenage girls want to have their pretty eyes show brightly to the boys. Even though eyeglasses have become very fashionable in every color of the rainbow, teens prefer to wear contact lenses. Boys also like wearing novelty contact lenses at parties to scare their friends or show off a hot trend.
Sports team logos are popular among boys. Girls wear makeup and this poses new ingredients into the contact lens cocktail. Bottom line, both boys and girls need to know how to care for their eyes if wearing any type of contact lenses.
Novelty contact lenses are fun, but they pose many hazards and have a definite down side. The FDA sees all of the costume lenses on the market as medical devices so they must have a prescription to buy them.
These lenses do not carry any kind of corrective prescription; it is just as though they were a plain pair of glasses with fake lenses in them. Black market novelty contacts are everywhere online, in novelty shops, gas stations, flea markets, or salons. If they get them from somewhere other than a reputable distributor or eye doctor, they could be inviting serious permanent eye injury.
Most teens wear novelty lenses once or twice a year at Halloween or for theatrical productions. These lenses generally stay in the same solution for months or even years. The solution must be changed as frequently as other contact lens solutions or serious bacterial growth occurs. Novelty contacts also present a danger because many of the styles limit the amount of light that enters the eye. Their peripheral vision may also be restricted, causing problems while driving or even walking.
Novelty can be safe to wear as long as they follow the guidelines from your eye care professional. If they aren't fitted specifically for your teen, the lenses can cause eye injury and will be very uncomfortable to wear. They should never swap corrective lenses with their friends and it is no different with the novelty lenses. They should clean them just as they would other lenses, and no sleeping or swimming in them. Contact lens wearers and people with allergies or sensitive skin may experience problems with eye makeup and cosmetics. These problems range from tearing, dry eye, injury, infections, and deposits on the lenses, watery eyes, visual loss and even blindness.