Changing your eye colour with contact lenses

Looking for a change? Altering the colour of your eyes cosmetically with contact lenses is a visually striking option you should learn more about.

There are many reasons to want to change your eye colour. Perhaps you want some freaky lizard lenses for your Halloween costume. Or maybe you want to change your eye colour so guys will stop hitting on you by singing “Brown Eyed Girl.” Regardless of the reason, here are some things you should consider before putting coloured or costume contact lenses in your eyes.

There are three kinds of cosmetic or coloured contact lenses available through your optometrist.

1. Cosmetic enhancement tints:These coloured contact lenses are translucent, which makes your natural eye colour pop, rather than give you a new colour. These contacts will enhance the natural colour of your eye andare best suited for blue, green or light hazel eyes.
2. Opaque/cosmetic:Want to make your brown eyes blue? Then you want to choose cosmetic tints that completely change the colour of your eyes. These are the contacts that also come in patterns and shapes perfect for Halloween costumes.
3. Visibility or “handling” tints:These contacts are only coloured enough to make the lens visible when handling then. That way, you’ll never have to crawl around on your kitchen floor looking for that nearly invisible contact lens.

Many people who want to wear coloured contact lenses don’t need their vision corrected, they just want to change their eye colour. Unfortunately, if you order coloured contacts online and just jam them in your eyeballs, you are seriously risking the health of your eyes.

All contact lenses (even non-corrective coloured ones) should be prescribed by an eye-care professional. Your eyes are one of the most delicate parts of your body, so take care with what you put in them. Non-prescription contact lenses can cause cuts, infection, bleeding and in extreme cases, blindness.

Unless you want your Halloween costume to permanently be Mister Magoo, get a prescription from an eye doctor before putting coloured or costume contact lenses in your eyes.

If you have thoroughly read the previous segment and are ready to book an eye exam, awesome. Most eye exams for contact lenses cost between $100 and $150, depending on if you go to a private clinic or a large chain. An optometrist can help fit a coloured or costume contact to your eyes, even if you have perfect vision. They will also give you instructions on how to care for your new lenses and what precautions to take when putting them in and taking them out.