Everything You Need to Know Before You Buy Color Contact Lenses

Thinking about buying color contact lenses? Great! There are just a few things you need to know before you buy. Colored contacts have a range of tints, wearing schedules and care requirements. Read on to find out everything you need to know to choose the right ones for you!

Color Contact Lenses: What Are They?

Color contact lenses are any lenses that alter the appearance of your eyes. Some completely transform the color, while others offer only a subtle change.

Contact lens technology is very advanced. Some brands of colored contacts can add a sparkle effect to your eyes or make your irises appear larger. They can also be both a cosmetic accessory and a medical device. This means that they’re available with vision correction or plano (no corrective power).

Lenses With Visibility Tint

Contacts with a visibility tint will not change the color of your eyes. This is simply a clever feature that makes your contact lenses easier to see. Visibility tints are usually pale green or blue. If you’ve ever dropped your contact lens, you’ll understand how useful this feature is.

Some visibility tints are only applied to one side of the contact, so you can see which is the inside and which is the outside. This is particularly useful if you’re a new user and struggle to put in your contact lenses. Contacts with a visibility tint are suitable for any eye color because once the lens is in the eye, the tint isn’t visible.

Lenses With Enhancement Tint

Enhancement tinted lenses are on the subtle end of the colored contact scale. These won’t exactly change the natural color of your eyes, but they’ll intensify it. The iris of your eye (the colored part) is not a solid block of color. It’s made up of flecks of color in different shades. Enhancement tints mimic your eyes’ natural details.

Naturelle Elegant Brown contacts are one example of enhancement tinted lenses. Its tinted circle makes your iris appear more defined and your eye seem larger. As an added benefit, all Naturelle lenses have microencapsulation technology. This technology forms a barrier between the tinted part of the lens and your eye, lessening the risk of irritation.

Lenses With Color Tint

Any lens that transforms your eyes from one color to another is a color tinted contact. These are opaque and completely cover your natural irises. As a result, green-eyed people can get blue eyes for a day, and vice versa. It’s challenging to make darker eyes lighter, but some lenses are opaque enough to make brown eyes a sparkling blue or green.

Colored Contacts: Know the Risks

To stay safe when shopping for colored contacts, it’s important to stick to one rule. Never buy contact lenses without a prescription. To sell contacts in the United States, it’s a legal requirement that you obtain a prescription. This is true even if you have perfect vision and want to buy plano lenses. Your eyes are unique and badly fitting lenses can cause serious damage.

Each year around Halloween, sellers flood the market with cosmetic or decorative lenses. Cat eye, blackout, and red or white zombie effect lenses are common. Many of these sellers don’t ask for prescriptions and claim the lenses are “one-size-fits-all”. This is a red flag.

Non-prescription color contacts can damage your eyes. If they don’t fit properly, they can irritate or scratch your corneas. This opens your eyes up to serious bacterial infections that, if left untreated, can harm your vision.

Colored contact lenses that change the appearance of your eyes in an extreme way are also dangerous. For example, scleral lenses that cover the entire white areas of your eyes. These contacts can starve your eyes of oxygen, which can have serious complications. Many ophthalmologists notice a huge spike in ocular emergency room cases around Halloween due to improper use of colored contacts.

Caring for Color Contact Lenses

Around 45 million people in the United States wear contact lenses. They have a greater risk of developing eye infections than people who don’t wear contacts. The risk comes from poor contact lens hygiene and failure in following safety guidelines. So are you guilty of any of the following bad behaviors?

Wearing Lenses for Longer Than Recommended

You should never wear your lenses for longer than one day unless they’re specifically designed for overnight wear. You should also never wear them for longer than their recommended wear time.

Sharing Contact Lenses

Yes, it seems unlikely, but some people share color contact lenses. Or at least try each other’s on for size. Sharing contact lenses shares harmful bacteria. Don’t ever put someone else's contacts in your eyes!

Ignoring Eye Irritation

If a contact lens is irritating your eye or causing any disturbances in your vision, take it out immediately. Visit your optometrist to ensure there's no damage. Also, take their advice before trying contacts again.

Failing to Clean and Store Lenses Properly

You should only clean your contact lenses with lens solution. Do this before you put them in and after you take them out. Handle your lenses with clean hands and store them in a disinfected lens case overnight.

Which Color Contact Lenses Are Best?

The best color contact lenses are the ones you like best! We recommend experimenting to find the lenses that work best for you. Try contacts that change the color of your eyes by a few shades at first to see how you like the effect. If you want to go bolder, choose ones in a color that clashes with your natural hue. Make your blue eyes brown, or turn those brown eyes green.

FreshLook ColorBlends lenses are a popular choice for those who want to experiment. ColorBlends are affordable weekly wear contacts that are available in a wide range of colors. If you’ve tried one color and find the lenses comfortable and effective, you can move right on to another one.

FreshLook ColorBlends are opaque, and also use 3 different colors to create each of their unique shades. Suitable for all eyes, ColorBlends are available in colors including Brown, Gemstone Green, Gray, Honey, Pure Hazel, Sterling Gray, True Sapphire and Turquoise.

With an up-to-date prescription and our advice on good care for color contact lenses, you can try them all!