Teenager Almost Goes Blind With Cheap Colored Contacts

Maybe this will make someone think twice about buying colored contact lenses without prescription:

Some wearers of cosmetic contacts looking for trouble, doctor says (readingeagle.com)

Nonprescription lenses can do lot worse than altering looks

Nonprescription Novelty and colored contact lenses sold online and from mall kiosks and novelty shops are illegal and can cause blindness.

Velez said she and her daughter were frightened by her daughter's brush with blindness.
"She had to take three different drops," Velez said. "The doctor said she had a bad infection and that she had to go one day without sleep putting the antibiotic drops in her eyes once every hour. There were three different drops. One for pain and two to fight the infection."

Her daughter has recovered but Corbin said other patients aren't so lucky.

The teenage girl almost went blind. To get better, she had to stay up all night, putting in drops to save her eyes.

The law is that you can only wear contact lenses (of any kind - colored or not) under the supervision of an optometrist. This is exactly why this law was enacted. There are too many vendors out there selling colored contact lenses like candy bars. A store's supplier has them on their list and it looks like there's good markup on them, so they put them in their store, not knowing the consquences. It's the store that gets in trouble for selling them - not the consumer but even though you may be able to find color contacts without a prescription doesn't mean you should get them.

The cheap paint on these cosmetic colored contacts ends up going into the solution and this causes an eye infection. They're just made too cheaply. Too many corners are cut to bring the price down and then people buy them and put them in their eyes - almost going blind!

Only get colored contacts from vendors using quality materials like manufactures such as Acuvue or Colorblends. Be smart and don't go cheap when it comes to your eyes.
-Tony