Students advised not to purchase non-prescription colored contacts for their Halloween costumes.
In light of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s recent news release bringing attention to the issue of purchasing non-prescription contacts this Halloween, Athens doctors are encouraging students not to purchase them to go along with their costumes this year.
Those non-prescription colored contacts can have significant health effects on the eyes of wearers, Dr. Shane Foster, optometrist at Drs. Quinn, Foster and Associates on West Union Street, said.
“We’re not talking about normal pink eye. It’s more like a potentially threatening infection of the cornea,” Foster said. “The only way to know if a lens is safe to wear is to be fitted in it by a licensed optometrist or opthamologist, even if it’s just a one-time wear thing.”
Non-prescription color contacts are illegal in Ohio and can prove dangerous to wearers, according to the news release.
“A lot of people think, ‘Well, just wearing them one time won’t hurt,’ which is absolutely not true. There are people that can have one bad experience and it can cause some major problems for the rest of their life,” Foster said.
Though the contacts are illegal, they can still be procured online or from other retailers, the release detailed. Foster advised against purchasing them from places like convenience stores, gas stations and flea markets.
“Actually, it’s illegal to sell them in a location like that, not that the person buying them is going to suffer any legal consequences,” Foster said.
Currently, there is no place to buy colored contacts in Athens, as Halloween City on East State Street does not sell them.
Chloe Szakovits, a freshman studying journalism, said she is steering clear of non-prescription colored contacts this Halloween.
“I read an article about how dangerous they are and it scared me to no end,” Szakovitz said in an e-mail. “My eyesight is already so awful, so I don’t want to risk damaging my eyes or potentially going blind.”
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="70c69934-7e9a-11e5-ae94-4b7cdcdb68e4"}}
Megan Doherty said she had never purchased them before in concern for the health of her eyes.
“I’ve never been interested in buying them,” Doherty said.
Foster encourages those who are interested in purchasing colored contacts to do so through eye-care providers, instead of buying them from non-licensed stores, adding that “with the proper fit and the proper follow-up, they’re perfectly fine.”
“No matter how cool they make you look, the risks aren’t worth the reward,” Szakovits said.
@alyseitbe
ap490814@ohio.edu
