Halloween Contact Lenses Can Conjure Up (Health) Scare, Claims FDA

It all began so innocently. Laura Butler was vacationing at the beach last summer when she spotted a pair of blue contact lenses in a seaside souvenir shop. Almost without hesitation, the brown-eyed girl from Parkersburg, W.V., plunked down $30 for the lenses and embarked on a new journey with a slightly altered appearance “just for fun.”

Though she had no instructions or contact lens solution, Butler popped the lenses into her eyes. “They felt fine, but they moved around on my eyes and I had to adjust them with my finger,” she recalled.

As she drove home the next day, Butler felt a sharp pain in her left eye. “It was such excruciating pain, I had to quickly pull over on the side of the road,” she said. It took her 20 minutes to remove the lenses (they had become stuck to her eyes like suction cups); Butler suffered “indescribable pain” for the remainder of her trip home.

Eventually, an ophthalmologist diagnosed Butler with a corneal abrasion that possibly could lead to vision loss or the loss of her left eye. The doctor described the injury in simple terms, telling her it was as if someone took sandpaper and scraped her cornea. The injury forced Butler to visit an ophthalmologist on a daily basis for 10 days and remain under his care for seven weeks. Though professional care helped Butler avoid an injury, it could not diminish the agonizing pain that triggered hours of rolling back and forth on the floor in a fetal position. Butler has since recovered from the ordeal but it wasn’t easy (or cheap): She was unable to drive for eight weeks, her eyelid drooped for five months, and the vision in her left eye has yet to return to 20/20. Her total bill for treatment came to almost $2,000.

That’s quite a pricey lesson, considering Butler could have obtained two sets of colored contact lenses through an ophthalmologist for $50 (plus $60 for an eye exam). And it’s a lesson both Butler and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials are hoping others will heed this Halloween season as consumers search for scary or outrageous outfits. The FDA issued a consumer warning about contact lenses on Oct. 12, reminding the public that all lenses—including those worn with costumes (Twilight vampire eyes, anyone?)—are medical devices that should be chosen carefully and purchased only with a prescription.

Choosing the wrong contact lenses can cause eye damage and vision loss (Butler can attest to that fact) as well as an increased risk for serious eye infections. Decorative contact lenses, also known as fashion or color contacts, are popular around Halloween because they enable wearers to change their eye color or give their eyes an inhuman resemblance. Many of these products are sold illegally “over-the-counter” as cosmetics, without a prescription.

In its warning, the FDA advised consumers against purchasing decorative contact lenses from street vendors, beauty supply stores, flea markets, novelty shops or Halloween stores. The agency said all contact lenses should be fitted specifically to the wearer’s eye by an optometrist or ophthalmologist. A poor fit from over-the-counter lenses can cause corneal scratches or infections, conjunctivitis (pink eye), decreased vision or blindness.

“The problem isn’t with the decorative contact lenses themselves,” explained Bernard Lepri, O.D., M.S., M.Ed., an optometrist at the FDA. “It’s the way people use them improperly—without a valid prescription, without the involvement of a qualified eye care professional, or without appropriate follow-up care.”