are you about to enter the realm of halloween contacts
then this is the video for you i'm gonna give you the top three
do's and the top three don'ts of wearing and buying halloween contacts let's
focus in
hey howdy everybody this is Dr. Neal Guymon, Dr. EyeGuy
with the show that focuses on keeping your eyes the healthiest and your vision
the clearest if you're new consider subscribing also
check down below for any additional helpful links from this video
and let's focus on halloween contacts i'm going to start with the number one
do of buying halloween contacts and that is to buy
fda approved halloween contacts now contact lenses are considered a
medical device that means it is illegal to buy contact
lenses without a written prescription from your
eye doctor that includes halloween contacts even
ones that do not have a prescription or correct your vision
this fda approval for contact lenses means that the manufacturing
and the materials are safe to be worn on the surface of your eyeballs
now speaking of safety of the material fda approval of the material one of the
big things that they're talking about is how much oxygen can get through the
contact to get to your eye that is called the dk value of that
contact lens the higher the better the one thing
about your cornea is that there are no blood vessels in
your cornea or else they'd be in the way of your vision
so the only way that the cells of your cornea can actually get oxygen are from
the air or from the inside of your eyelids that
means while your eyes are open your cornea
does suck in some air from the atmosphere and
of course when there's a contact lens blocked onto the eye it does limit that
amount of oxygen that gets to the eye hence it is
important to know if these contacts are fda approved now
generally speaking of halloween contacts they are on the low side of this dk
value meaning that while you're wearing this halloween
contact there is not a lot of oxygen that can get to your eye
and this leads me to the number one don't of wearing halloween contacts and
that is to never ever ever sleep in the halloween
contacts like i said before wearing a contact
blocks the oxygen that's getting to your eye
sleeping with the contacts on there is a double whammy i use this analogy in
the clinic all the time sleeping in contacts is kind of like
walking around with a plastic bag over your head and trying to breathe
it actually took me a lot of guts to put a plastic bag over my head and try and
breathe maybe like the video for that one and
just like the plastic bag analogy sleeping in those halloween contacts can
lead to a host of problems on the cornea the cornea will actually suffocate and
will need to try and breathe somehow so it will cause a bunch of problems that
you do not want to deal with and this leads me to number two on the
do side of wearing halloween contacts and that is to get a valid prescription
from your eye doctor for these contacts we eye doctors are actually looking for
a specific fit for contact lenses one example would be making sure that
contact lens is not too tight on the cornea if the contact hugs
the cornea too tight no tears will be able to sneak under
that contact lens and coat the surface of that cornea
which can lead also to a bunch of different problems
number two for the don't side of halloween contacts
do not over wear the halloween contacts now what do i mean when i say that we
already talked about sleeping in lenses i mentioned previously that the oxygen
that gets through this contact is really low
that means you do not want to wear these contact lenses for a very long
amount of time typically if i'm going to wear halloween contacts
i might wear them for four to five hours maybe six hours at the most
an evening halloween party perfect for that if you start to wear the contacts
for longer than that your cornea will start to suffocate a
little bit one thing to keep in mind is that
halloween contacts do have an expiration date
generally speaking like the Gothika halloween contacts that we sell
usually expire after one year of opening that pack
so just be sure that during that year you're changing the solution
changing the case but at that year mark you're going to want to toss them and
get some new ones tip number three on the do side of
wearing halloween contacts and that is to make sure you're washing
your hands keep everything clean as possible
the biggest thing that i see in the clinic with halloween contacts or
contacts in general are usually infections
ulcers on the cornea and a lot of times these can be
avoided just by keeping things clean washing your hands
before you even touch your eye washing your hands before you touch the contact
lens making sure the contact lenses are clean
make sure you're using the right solution
make sure you're not reusing solution that every time you clean the contacts
every time you use the contacts you switch the solution in the case
every once in a while maybe once a month change the case out use a different case
this is the number one reason why people get
infections from halloween contact use if you can wash your hands
keep the contacts clean keep the case clean likely you will not have to see
your eye doctor unless you break the rules of the don't
sign tip number three on the don't side and
this is an important one do not wait to go
see your eye doctor if you have a problem if you're wearing colored
contacts any contacts especially halloween contacts and your eyes get red
and irritated and it does not get better let's say you wait a day
and it does not get better do not wait to go see
your eye doctor there are too many times that i can count
where i've seen a patient that has come in that's had a red irritated eye
light sensitive vision is blurry and it's been going on for a few days and
they were hoping that it would go away on its own but
maybe had an infection or maybe they had a corneal ulcer which
is scary scary scary so please don't wait to go to your eye
doctor you only have two eyes make sure you don't lose one but then i
guess you could wear a halloween patch on one side become a pirate if you lose
an eye but you know don't do that don't don't
do it now at the end of this video the number
one question that i usually get is doctor where do i buy halloween contacts
now there are vendors online that you can get fda approved
prescription halloween contacts now if i can make one plea
and that would be to buy them from your local eye care doctor
most eye clinics that you go to like the one that i'm at do
sell halloween contacts we're going to make sure that the contacts fit great
that they have your prescription and that we're going to be there if you have
any problems with the halloween contacts hey thanks for watching everybody and
don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell icon
question for the comments are you planning on getting halloween contacts
are you going to make sure that you follow my tips today again i'm Dr. Neal
Guymon, Dr. EyeGuy looking out for you and your
eyes stay focused and i'll see you in the
next video