Contact lenses can take a good Halloween costume to the next level. Whether you're a golden-eyed werewolf, a milky-eyed zombie, or a vampire with a bright red glare, cosmetic contact lenses will get you noticed. And you're not limited to changing the color of your irises, either. There are contacts to give you pupils like a cat or a devilish goat; others will color your irises while turning the whites of your eyes black for a dramatic and otherworldly style.

But it would be a mistake to treat contact lenses as casually as the spray-in hair color or easy-to-remove greasepaint that many people use with their costumes. There are some important things you need to know before you plan on using contact lenses as part of your costume.

Set Up An Appointment With An Eye Doctor

Some people think that, if they don't need glasses, they must be able to get "non-prescription" contacts without visiting an eye doctor (like those at Vision Eyeland Super Optical LLC). Others think that, if they already have a prescription for glasses, they can simply order contacts with the same prescription. This is a very bad idea; unlike glasses, contacts must be designed to the specific shape of your eyeballs, which means that getting contacts that fit properly takes a little more information than a regular eyeglass prescription.

Because it can take some time to get in to see an optometrist, it's a good idea to set up an appointment as soon as you can. This will also give you a chance to get contacts early and practice wearing them so that you're not fussing with your eyes while trying to be a dramatic Halloween monster.

Never Share Contact Lenses

Taking someone else's Halloween costume and customizing it for your own use can be fun; taking someone else's contacts as part of that costume is a big no-no. First of all, your eyes and their eyes won't be the same shape, which means the contacts will likely irritate the eyes of the person they weren't designed for. In addition, sharing contact lenses also means sharing germs, and the risk of getting an eye infection is high. Even if you think you've done a good job cleaning them, it's not worth the danger—eye infections can lead to blindness.

If They Irritate You, Take Them Out

You might be thinking that, for just one evening, you can put up with some irritation; you'll just wait until the end of the night to remove them. If they're irritating you because they don't fit properly or have torn, you may scratch your corneas, and the longer you keep them in, the more damage you'll do.

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