| Coloured contact lenses are
now available in a wide range of colours to create an amazing range of
colour changes - from changing your eye colour completely to enhancing
the colour of your existing eyes. There are even novelty lenses to
change your eyes into an alien or a wolf - great for Halloween! Many of these coloured contact lenses are
available in plano form (without visual correction), as well as in
designs for people who have astigmatism,
who need
bifocal
correction, or who want a disposable or frequent replacement lens.
Most standard contact lenses come with a visibility tint is usually a light blue or green tint
added to a lens, solely to help you see it better during insertion and
removal — or if you drop it. Since it's a very light tint, it does
not affect eye colour, or
your perception of the world at all.
Companies that make coloured contact lenses have
worked hard to mimic the natural iris pattern, by using a multitude of
coloured dots on the contact lens which makes it more natural. The
centre part of the lens, covering the pupil, is left clear on purpose
so that it does not affect how you see.
The pattern and intensity of the dots governs
the type of effect of the lenses on your eye.
A good example of a lens that can alter the
colour of a lighter coloured eye , or enhance the colour of a darker
eye is
Freshlook Colourblends , which use a combination of three iris
patterns to create the overall effect. Further examples are
Acuvue
Colour enhancers, which, as the name suggest, enhances your own
eye colour rather than dramatically changing it.
If you want a more dramatic effect, for example
to change a brown eye blue, you could try
Freshlook
Colours,
Soflens
Natural Colours, or
Frequency
Colours
Cibavision have
also released
Freshlook
Dimensions which
enhance or change light eye
colours for a beautiful natural look and
Freshlook
Radiance which
Iluminate and brighten your natural eye color and
feature beautiful pearlescent effects that add sparkle and
shine to both light and dark eyes.

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Some colour contact
lenses have a dot iris
pattern, masking
natural eye colour.
Shown are "honey" and "turquoise"
from the
FreshLook
ColorBlends line.
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Some Disadvantages
Although coloured contact lenses are carefully
fitted by your Optician, there may be occasions when the coloured part
can slide slightly, exposing your own eye colour. Also, the size of your pupil is
constantly changing to accommodate varying light conditions — so
sometimes, like at night, your pupil may be larger than the clear
centre of the lens. In these instances, your vision may be slightly
affected. In addition the colour of contact lenses
shown on web sites may not be exactly that when seen in real life and
the effect of any lens on the eye is difficult to predict - it is only
when you see the lens on your eye that you can truly know the final
colour produced. It is important to have a trial with the different
colours at your opticians so you can work out which lens is best for
you.
Special Effects Contact Lenses
Special effects contact lenses have been used in
the movies for a long time and are now available to buy over the web.
The variety of effects are truly amazing - you can get devil,
cats eyes, white out, black out and many more. These lenses only cover
the iris - not the whole eye. Have a look at some of these lenses
here.
It is possible to get specialised lenses
that cover the whole eye, called scleral lenses, but these need
careful fitting and making by specialised Optometrists and costs £100s
of pounds.
Sharing Contacts: A Bad Idea
Sharing contact lenses with your friends can
transfer bacteria which can cause severe eye infections.
If lenses are not going to be worn daily, it is
usually safe if you store them in contact lens storage solution, but
change the solution 2 -3 times per week, so that it stays fresh and
carries on disinfecting your lenses. If you simply leave your own
lenses in stale solution for an extended period of time they will
become heavily infected with bacteria (or even mouldy) and be unsafe
to wear. |