Eye doctors advise caution with Halloween contacts
Think twice before glamming up your Halloween costume with anything wacky on or near your eyes.
Eye doctors are on guard around Halloween because trick-or-treaters encounter issues with eyes every year while indulging in spooky fun. So many wind up seeing doctors for Halloween-related problems that the American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends thinking twice before adding contact lenses to a costume.
The consequences of amping up a costume with contact lenses can include serious eye infections and even vision loss.
“If they don’t fit well, or if they’re not used appropriately, or if they’re not cleaned, the eye itself can undergo some stress that can lead to problems,” said Dr. Michelle Andreoli, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and an ophthalmologist at Wheaton Eye Clinic.
Costume lenses should be prescribed and fitted by a professional, just like regular lenses. These lenses can be especially thick, Andreoli noted. “Not enough oxygen moves through the lens, and without adequate oxygen coming into the eye, the eye loses its oxygen supply, and it can lead to cell death and to infection,” she said.
The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that people buy decorative lenses with a prescription from retailers who sell FDA-approved products. With a professional fitting, even children can safely wear costume lenses, Andreoli said, if they are able to wear regular contact lenses. She has young patients come in to get lenses fitted with little black cats on the lens, or flames, or the pupil whited out to look like a zombie.
Contact lenses that don’t fit well can scrape the cornea, the outer layer of the eye, which can increase vulnerability to bacteria and viruses. A corneal transplant might even be required, and extreme cases can end in vision loss.
“Those infections from misuse of contact lenses can be blinding,” she said. “They are quite difficult to treat. Once somebody’s had a really bad infection, often the end result is something as extreme as corneal transplantation surgery to salvage vision.”
The ophthalmologists group notes that nonprescription contact lenses are available at costume shops, gas stations and online, and it cautions to beware of packaging promises like “one size fits all” or “no need to see a doctor.”
And definitely don’t use the contacts your friend used last year. Sharing contacts can spread germs and create contagious conditions like pink eye.
Beyond lenses, haunted houses can also be harmful for eyes — the fog some use for special effects can create symptoms like eye irritation and throat issues, or even bronchitis-like symptoms. People with asthma, in particular, should steer clear of haunted houses with water-based fog machines, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
And don’t forget about fake eyelashes. Andreoli recently saw a patient who had attached false eyelashes with glue that created a corneal wound. “That was untoward and awful,” she said.
Also, Andreoli said many eye injuries are due to things like “kids not being careful with their pirate sword, or they were messing around, playing light sabers, and somebody gets light sabers to the eye.”
Adults aren’t immune from accidents in the dark.
“Even if you walk into something as simple as a haystack, organic material carries a litany of organisms that don’t belong in the eye,” she said. “A tree branch, a piece of hay, a clever placement of some plastic hatchet — those things can be devastating.”