Women, especially younger women, are always looking for products that will enhance their beauty. Sometimes new, hot products are used without much consideration for the safety of the product. That seems to be the case with circle lenses now, a new type of contact lenses that young women are buying at an obsessive rate.
Circle lenses are a hip fad with teenagers and young women. They are purchased online from companies in Asia. Thus the lenses have not gone through the safety checks that the FDA puts American contact lenses through. Also, the companies in Asia sell the circle lenses without requiring a prescription from a doctor. Thus circle lenses are being used on the eyes without any medical supervision.
Circle Lenses: A New Trend
The circle lenses are colored contact lenses that make eyes look larger and more dramatic than usual because they cover the iris of the eye and also extend to cover part of the white of the eye. The circle lenses give a wide eyed anime look.
Circle lenses come in a wide variety of colors, even purple and pink. They are sold in non-prescription lenses and also prescription lenses.
The hazards of circle lenses bought online from Asia are immense. The lenses could cause severe eye damage such as damage to the cornea, damage to the eye from lack of oxygen, or infections.
Karen, Riley of the F.D.A. told the NY times that “Consumers risk significant eye injuries – even blindness when they buy contact lenses without a valid prescription or help from an eye professional.
Circle lenses do not allow tears and the eye’s natural moisture to flow over the cornea. This lessens the flow of oxygen to the eyes. And since circle lenses are a new product, the long-term effects of their use are still unknown.
Asian Products are Often Dangerous
It is typically wise to avoid products from Asia. Although stores in America are full of items from countries in Asia, these products are often risky to the health. Products in Asia often have not undergone the testing the F.D.A. provides here. They may damage the health in a lot of different ways.
It is silly to be putting contact lenses from Asia on the eyes. Is a little bit of excitement from some unusual eyes really worth the risk of going blind?
Wearing any contact lenses is always a bit risky. Wearing contacts requires regular medical checkups to ensure the eyes are functioning normally. That procedure is skipped when buying illegal contacts from Asia.
While spiffing up the beauty routine is always fun it is best to stick with American contact lenses and get a prescription from them. I will admit my eye doctor and I have had a good laugh when I said I really liked my colored contact lenses that I used to wear, but that I didn’t see as well with them as with the normal clear lenses. I said “Oh vanity!” And we laughed.
The colored lenses make the eyes pretty, but after a while the somewhat blurred vision they provided became tedious. A parent and a grandparent had really pretty green eyes, so it was but I ended up with brown eyes. I liked the fake green eyes from the colored contact lenses, but I don’t wear them any more. I like my vision to be sharp and it was a bit off due to the colored lenses.
I won’t be trying out circle lenses either. Better safe than sorry! Don’t mess around with your eye health over a silly beauty trend.
Sources:
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=120000&biid;=2004072679268
