Four Scary Tricks Behind Halloween Contact Lenses

Four Scary Tricks Behind Halloween Contact Lenses

Posted by on November 3, 2014 in Blog

hawaiivision2Halloween’s come and gone; the spooky decorations replaced by turkeys and fall foliage. But something scary remains: painful eye irritation! You might have thought those non-prescription contact lenses were the perfect finish to your costume, but the truth is, they have lasting, ghastly consequences.

Hawaii Vision Clinic Inc wants you to know the four complications from costume contact lenses:

  • Scratches. If you’ve noticed redness, light sensitivity, eye discharge, pain or the sensation that something is stuck in your eye, you might have corneal abrasions. Costume contacts are not customized, and wearing ill-fitting contact lenses can easily scrape the outer layer of the sensitive eye.
  • Sores. The above symptoms could also point to something even worse than abrasions: corneal ulcers. Resembling white dots on the colored part of your eye, the iris, corneal ulcers are open sores that can cause scar tissue as they heal, which result in permanent vision impairment. Corneal ulcers can be treated with prescription eye drops.
  • Infections. Experiencing redness, swelling and pain? A secondary side effect of corneal ulcers and abrasions is increased vulnerability to serious eye infections known as keratitis. Bacteria, viruses and amoebas can seep into the eye through scratches and ulcers in an alarming rate. In 2011, a study found that costume contact lenses lead to 16 times the risk of keratitis in otherwise healthy patients.
  • Blindness. In rare cases, complications from scratching, ulcers and infection might need surgery. Excessive scarring from repeat infection distorts the cornea, requiring corneal transplants to restore vision, but in the rarest cases, infections end in blindness. Now that’s scary!

Costume contact lenses might seem like a treat, but they have a few tricks of their own. Hawaii Vision Clinic wants to protect and keep your eyes healthy, avoiding blindness and surgery to fix one night of fun. Remember these four complications before you finalize your costume.