It’s probably no surprise that I, along with many women (Asian in particular), absolutely LOVE the invention of Circle Lenses – contact lenses that are coloured beyond the circumference of normal iris. They give the effects of cute doll-like eyes, and make glamming up so much easier.
I’m not naive enough to not know that circle lenses are all more harmful to the eyes than clear contact lenses. However I was shocked to see these footages on a Taiwanese show shortly after arriving here:
The footage shows a circle lens being swirled around in some rubbing alcohol. And after a mere few seconds, some of the dye on the circle lens actually came off, staining the cotton tip touching it.
The show goes on to explain that, whilst the eye in which the circle lenses are placed on, contain no alcohol, some of the products you place in the eye may eg. eye drop. The dye that comes off can irritate the eyes, causing irreparable damages over time, and can even be carcinogenic.
Now I’m not usually one to propagate a single TV piece – see my previous ranty piece on The Misinformed Shopper. However upon further research I came across this Taiwanese blog post, in which the same experiment was carried out by soaking 4 brands of circle lenses in Eye Wash Solutions and Eye/Lip Makeup Removers ie. liquids that WOULD be placed into the eyes frequently. Now that is something to worry about!
I’m not going to discourage anyone from wearing circle lenses – in fact I certainly won’t. However let’s remind ourselves that we only have one pair of eyes, and not be, errr, blinded by our pursuit of beauty.
So whether you are about to jump onto the circle lens bandwagon, or are a seasoned user, please abide by my few tips:
- Research, research, research – find reputable, ISO certified brands that have been around for quite some time.
- Ensure you purchase from reputable sellers, there are a lot of fakes for the big circle lens brands (eg.GEO).
- Don’t scrimp! Expect to pay at least AUD$35 for a pair of circle lenses. Less and you may be in danger of purchasing a substandard brand or fakes.
- Don’t purchase circle lenses that have the colour printed on the side that would touch your eye ball. The best choice would be to purchase ones that have the colour sandwiched in the middle of the lens, but they’re limited to a couple of brands only (Acuvue and Cibavision as far as I know).
- Carry out the soak test in eye makeup remover to check if the dye comes off.
- Don’t wear circle lenses on a regular basis – not everyday and no more than 5 hours at a time.
- Remove the circle lenses as soon as they start to irritate your eyes. If the irritation happens more than a couple of time, toss them in the bin and don’t repurchase the same ones – ever.
Keep these tips in mind, and we can continue to sport our doe-eyes without hurting our vision!
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It is a scary concept. I used to always get lectures from my parents about them. Hence the reason I only wear them on special occasions. Used to be obsessed but now its just more of if I feel like it ^_^
Thanks for the informing post! Will be spreading this around to make sure everyone knows the risks of circle lenses, and that parts of how we function shouldn’t be sacrificed for beauty.
Khatsii: Aww thank you. I love circle lenses but this was a real shock to me! Luckily I researched for a while before making my first purchase, and have stuck with the same brand and seller since.
And as much as I love them – I still limit myself to wearing them only occasionally and not all the time.
Oh your post is so true & timely. Im currently at home from work recovering from an eye infection. I was wearing circle lenses on a daily basis like regular contacts (I wear them for vision correction) & ignored the the warning signs of redness & soreness. After my eyes recover I’ll be reserving cirlce lenses for special occasions rather than wearing them everday.
I’m switching to freshlook illuminate & accuvue define for daily use which my optometrist has recommended.
Dorian Gray: Luckily it’s just an eye infection for now. Please do heed your optometrist’s advice and only wear circle lenses occasionally.
I stick to clear contacts mostly, and even then I still give my eyes a break from them by wearing glasses at least 3 days a week (and always at home).
The greatest “danger” of circle lenses is actually the possibility of getting a fake pair that does not meet the minimum health standards and therefore can permanently damage your eyes.
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Emily Woodhouse: Yes that’s certainly true. The soak test was done on established brands – so there are some out there that are not fake, but can harm the eyes nonetheless.
I’ve never been a fan of circle lenses, but I know of many people who wear them and I’ll be sure to pass this post to them. It baffles me as to why people would scrimp and save on something that goes on the eyes. It’s not makeup; it actually goes on the eyeballs! Even for regular contact lenses; if I’ve not heard of the brand, I’m not buying them regardless of how cheap they are. Eye snob
PS: When you mentioned soak test, is it okay to reuse the lenses after soaking them in eye makeup remover (after cleaning it off, of course)?
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Tine: Unfortunately now that circle lenses are featured so much in beauty magazine shoots; people are forgetting that they are NOT the same as makeup. And yes, even for regular contact lenses, they can still irritate the eyes and some of these same tips apply to those too.
I used a eye makeup remover that is not completely oil based to do the soak test. However I would suggest that if cleaning doesn’t remove the oily feeling, and/or if the contacts feel uncomfortable on the eyes after doing the test, then ditch them and start on a new pair.
Great advice and warning Tina.
My optomerist friend said that the calcification on the surface of the lens is pretty nasty too, despite soaking it in lens solution etc, it doesn’t remove the build up and can cause infections in our eyes so we need to chuck it out after a 2-3 month period.
That means that we shouldn’t be hoarding circle lens like makeup and buying heaps and wearing different ones and keeping a collection. It’s better to wear one for a couple of months, toss and start new again.
She scared the be-jesus out of me after that lecture
Amy: Good point. I’ve heard the same thing too – so if the circle lenses are monthlies, then regardless of how many times it’s been worn in the month after opening, still chuck them after 1 month (and so on and so forth for weeklies and yearlies).
You should add that circle lenses also need to be properly fitted by an optometrist, because if the curvature is not aligned to your eye ball shape, the lens moves around and will cause abrasion. It’s a problem particularly for people with astigmatism and it’s a real worry that there are hardly any circle lens brands that offer toric lenses (specially designed for astigmatism). Highly recommend people with this issue avoid circle lenses until there are more options around curvature and not just prescription.
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Yishan: They are great points too. I go by the comfort level: I’ve worn colour contacts that move in my eyes, and just stopped cos I don’t see the point of wearing contacts that would actually impair my vision.
Re stigmatism or any other more complex vision impairments (ie. more than just short/long sightedness), definitely AVOID circle lenses as that’s not what they’re designed to correct!
I have nominated you for a Liebster Award!
http://fairytalesandcoffee.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/liebster-blog-award/
Fairytalesandcoffee: Aww thank you
Waa! I’m not a circle lens user, but I actually used to sell them.. and my customers had no problems with it. I do think that the prices have nothing to do with the quality — the brand I purchased from in bulk was really cheap and their only request was that we do not sell them for LESS than $10, hence the reason why circle lens sites has such different pricings and that some small sites have them for cheaper.
Anyways! Have you heard of the terrifying story on how circle lens damaged a blogger’s eyes!? I don’t remember who posted it but the lenses she received from a sponsorship was defective and scarred her eyes! Pretty sure I won’t be going near circle lenses any time soon.
LOL Anyways (again) before I start rambling on, great post Tina!! I definitely will share this!
I hope you & your hubby has been well in Taiwan! xx
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Tram: Yeah I did read that other post and it was scary! Our eyes are so important, and we should not ignore when they send warning signals to us ie. soreness, infection, becoming bloodshot.
Thanks Tina!
My eye doc also said that the constant use of my circle lenses was also starving my eye of oxygen & that if I continued wearing them like I did I’d get excessive vein growth on my eyeballs so that’s scared me. I’ve been told if I must wear circle lenses to look for lenses with the highest water content I could find as water content was related to oxygen permability to the eye. My fave lens of all time was & still is Big Geo Grang Grang brown but that was only 38% water. My freshlook illuminates are 69% water.
If you know of a circle lense with a big diam & high water content please let me know.
Don’t worry I’ll still heed the advice of my eye doc & stick to freshlook illuminate & accuvue define for daily wear & glasses at home.
Honestly I think your post has been so informative.
Dorian Gray: Yes I’ve heard about the vein thing as well. In my research I saw that water content is more related to the comfort level, but oxygen permeability is a separate calculation – it’s a little technical so I’m still trying to fully understand it. Once I do I’ll do another post on it.
Even GEO, which I love and find quite comfortable to wear, is apparently very low in oxygen permeability. So far Acuvue seems to be the best all-rounder.
Still, I believe the best thing to do is keep circle lenses to occasional wear.
Oh definately Tina tomorrow will be my first day that people will see me without my circle lenses in 2 years. As I said before I’ve worn them daily. So I’ll be wearing my Accuvue Define “Vivid” for the first time. I’ve got a box of Accuvue & freshlook to try out. Both are daily disposables.
I still don’t understand the whole oxygen thing but I’ll be doing exactly what the eye doctor tells me.
I’ve sent a link of your post to all my circle lense wearing friends & family including my Mum!
Thanks for such an informative post Tina! Due to the nature of my eyes (I have high astigmatism and require toric lenses), I try to limit my circle lenses usage to weekends/ Friday nights only as the prescription can never match my normal lenses ones. That prevented me from going crazy with Circle Lenses but after reading this post, I will need to make sure that I source my next pair of circle lenses from a proper optometrist. No more dodgy, cheap cheap bull shit! Its pretty scary seeing how colours can be removed and what may have been in contact with my eyeballs!!
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wow this has been a really big eye opener. Great post! x
Ann: Thank you!