Colored Contact Lenses

Colored contact lenses are lenses that are meant to change or elevate the appearance of your eyes. They can be worn daily or as a decorative lens for special occasions and they come in various shade of color providing various options to choose from. The price of colored contact lenses is slightly higher than regular contacts but with its ability to change one's eye appearance, it is well worth it.

Types of Colored Contact Lenses

Colored contact lenses can be broadly classified into three different categories:

1. Prescription and Non-Prescription: these are colored contact with or without dioptres
2. The intensity of tint on the lenses: there are opaque lenses and translucent lenses
3. Wear duration: The choice can be made between daily disposable and monthly lenses

Classification based on Diopter

Prescription colored contacts lenses: These can be used for correction of eye defects in case of myopia (short-sightedness), hyperopia (long-sightedness) or astigmatism while at the same time enhancing or completely changing your eye color appearance.

Non-prescription colored contact lenses: These are worn for purely cosmetic or decorative purposes, it is designed especially for those that do not require prescription lenses. It has no lens power (0.00) for vision correction.

Classification based on Tint Intensity

Depending on the reason for choosing to wear colored contact lenses, the types of colored contacts lenses available should be taken into consideration before purchasing so as to buy the ones specifically targeted to your needs - colored contact lenses are available in three kinds of tints:

• Opaque tinted lenses - Opaque means “not transparent” and these lenses enable you to completely change the color of your eye due to the non-transparent tint on the lens. It is suitable for those with darker eyes. It comes in various colors such as hazel, green, blue, grey, brown to name a few. They also come in a variety of special effect forms for costume or Halloween colored contact lenses uses such as vampire, cat or anime/naruto eyes.
• Enhancement tinted lenses - Just as its name implies, it enhances the natural color of the eye by adding a solid color that is translucent (see-through) enough to the contact lens. It is suitable for those with a light or pale colored eyes that want to make it more vivid.
• Visibility tinted lenses - These lenses are those that have a light blue or green tint added to the lenses to aid insertion and removal of the contact lenses. They do not affect the color of the eye and is a common choice for those that do not want to change their eye color

Classification based on Wear Duration

Daily colored contact lenses: They are lenses that are designed to be worn for a day then discarded upon removal. These lenses are the easiest to use because they do not require maintenance. If you are planning to wear colored contact lenses on a one-off occasion, daily colored lenses are suitable and FreshLook One Day colored contacts are an ideal fit for it.

Monthly colored contact lenses: These contact lenses can be worn (for up to 30 days) on a monthly replacement schedule and they require maintenance for healthy eyes. It is important to follow the guidance on the recommended hours to wear these lenses so as to avoid irritated and red eyes. To take care of these lenses, you would require a contact lens case and a cleaning solution. Also, avoid sleeping with your contact lens in except if approved by your optician.

Pros and Cons of Coloured Contact Lenses

Pros

• They enable you to change your look as much as you want
• Due to its versatility, you can change your lenses often to suit any occasion

Cons:

• If the tint is too strong, your eye might give off an artificial appearance
• Dry eye symptoms might occur
• Since colored lenses are not 100% transparent and changes in the size of the pupil due to its accommodation of varying light degrees can affect your visibility.
• Risk of infection if proper care of the lenses is not taken especially for monthly or annual lenses

Choosing the best color for you

Picking the right color shade for your eyes depends on various aspects such as your hair or skin tone but that being said it ultimately depends on what kind of look you want to achieve, a complete change in color or a slight enhancement of your natural eye color giving off a natural effect. You can head on to Air Optix Colors Studio to virtually try on different colors.

Based on the color of your eyes

Coloured contact lenses for light or pale eyes: If your eye is of pale or light colour and you would like to enhance its natural color subtly, selecting the enhancement tinted lenses is a good choice and colored contact lenses such as FreshLook Dimensions which is specially designed for people with light eyes or FreshLook ColorBlends aids your natural eye color to stand out.

However, you can also choose to experiment with different colored contact lenses that match your skin tone while not drastically changing your eye color appearance. For example, a green or grey opaque colored lenses can give your eyes a subtle effect if the natural color of your eye is light blue.

Colored contact lenses for dark eyes: For darker colored eyes, wearing enhancement tinted lenses would make the color of your eyes stronger but if you want to soften the effect, choosing opaque tinted lenses are ideal - you can try out lighter shades of hazel colored lenses. FreshLook Colours or Air Optix Colours are suitable for this and it comes in different various shades and colors to choose from.

If you have an olive or dark skin tone, choosing a lighter eye color would create an impressive effect for a different look that would help your eyes stand out.

Based on your Hair Colour

Your hair color can be used as a determinant of the color shade that fits with your eyes, in addition, the color of your eyebrow is also important as it matches with your hair.

Colored contact lenses for dark brown to black hair: The recommended colors are hazel, brown, green lenses and depending on the shade of your hair, the intensity of the tint chosen can also vary. So, for light brown hair, you should stay away from lighter shades and can try dark to medium brown lenses.

Colored contact lenses for red hair: You can try out green, hazel, brown and grey lenses.

Colored contact lenses for blond to light brown hair: The recommended colors are green or blue lenses and it is preferable to choose a subtle shade of these colors as they make your features stand out. You can also try out light grey and hazel.

Based on your Skin Tone

To start off, determine your skin tone type and you can do this by checking the color of the veins on your forearm. If the color of your vein is blue, your skin has a cool tone, if the vein is green, your skin is warm toned.

Colored contact lenses for warm tones: You can try out hazel, brown or green contact lenses - these colors are warm and match your skin tone hence producing an overall cohesive appearance.

Colored contact lenses for cool tones: Try out blue, violet, or grey contact lenses - these colors has a cooler vibe and complements your skin tone so they should produce as a complementary effect on your appearance.

What to take into consideration

Before you begin to wear colored contact lenses, it is important to be aware of some of their attributes.

Colored contact lenses are available in different sizes that fit the eye of majority of its wearers, yet it is quite possible for part of the pupil to be concealed most especially if opaque tinted lens is used and it is more evident when blinking in case the lens slides or shifts a bit in the eye lessening its natural outlook.

Colored contact lenses are safe to use as long as proper care of the contact lenses is taken. It is advisable to pay a visit to your optician for a proper fitting in terms of getting the correct lens size for your eyes so they are comfortable.

With the information above, you are now equipped with the necessary information about colored lenses on what to look for when choosing the contact lenses that suits your eye color or the look you are aiming to achieve. It is important to note that prior to you using colored contact lenses or any type of contact lenses for the health of your eyes, we recommend you visit your ophthalmologist for an eye check-up as well as advise on if you are suitable to wear the contact lenses.You can buy colored contacts lenses for both prescription and non-prescription or cosmetic purposes at eOpticians.co.uk