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Contact Lenses Give Teens Lady Gaga Eyes
The latest fad to sweep the teen fashion world might do more than make them look ridiculous. Inspired by Lady Gaga, circle contact lenses are all the rage, giving girls large, anime-looking eyes similar to the computer-enhanced look sported by Ms. Gaga in her “Bad Romance” video.
But according to experts, these lenses are not only illegal, they are dangerous.
Colored contacts are nothing new. I wore doctor-prescribed, aqua-colored lenses for a brief period in my twenties. What sets these lenses apart is that they come in unusual colors like pink and violet and cover not only the iris of the eye, but part of the white as well. This larger lens give the wearer a doe-eyed and somewhat cartoonish look.
But while they are popular to the point of being mainstream in Japan, Singapore and South Korea, they have only just recently found their way to the U.S. Thanks to videos such as this one, in which viewers are instructed on how to achieve “crazy, googly Lady Gaga eyes,” American teens have jumped on the bandwagon. And despite the fact that it is illegal in the U.S. to sell contact lenses without a prescription, they are easily available online to anyone willing to shell out $20 to $30 for a pair.
So, what’s the harm in wearing these unusual contact lenses? According to Dr. S. Barry Eiden, optometrist and chairman of the contact lens and cornea section of the American Optometric Association, contact lenses that are not properly fitted to the individual can deprive the eye of oxygen and lead to serious vision problems.
Karen Riley, a spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration is more direct in warning of the dangers of contact lenses purchased without a prescription: “Consumers risk significant eye injuries — even blindness.”
Women have been torturing themselves in the name of fashion for ages, so it is no surprise that they would risk eye injury and even blindness to achieve a certain look. But considering the fact that this fad is particularly popular with teen girls, one has to wonder why parents would allow them to wear them. Based on the photo above, it certainly can’t be that they just haven’t noticed.
Image: ibeautyshop/Flickr
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Contact Lenses Give Teens Lady Gaga Eyes – Babble (blog) commented on Jul 07 10 at 10:07 am[...] Gaga's 'Bad Romance' Video Partially Inspires Hazardous Circle-Contacts TrendMTV.comContact Lenses Give Teens Lady Gaga EyesBabble (blog)CTV.ca -Zoiks! Online (blog) -Peace FM Onlineall 112 news [...]
Illegal Gaga Fashion Angers Doctors, Parents – EZ-Tracks (blog) commented on Jul 07 10 at 12:15 pm[...] Gaga's 'Bad Romance' Video Partially Inspires Hazardous Circle-Contacts TrendMTV.comContact Lenses Give Teens Lady Gaga EyesBabble (blog)EZ-Tracks (blog) -Zoiks! Online (blog) -Peace FM Onlineall 141 news [...]
Doctor’s Warn Against Wearing Lady GaGa-Like ‘Circle’ Contact Lenses – LA Weekly (blog) commented on Jul 07 10 at 1:17 pm[...] Contact Lenses Give Teens Lady Gaga Eyes [...]
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Contact Lenses Give Teens Lady Gaga Eyes – Babble (blog) | Best Contact Lenses commented on Aug 02 10 at 7:57 amJEssica commented on Jul 07 10 at 10:25 amThe parents are just unaware of the risk involved in wearing them. And personnally I think it looks better than piercings and tattoos.
bob commented on Jul 07 10 at 11:18 amI do wonder why we always need prescriptions for corrective lenses. It sometimes seems unreasonable to me. I really can’t get a new pair of glasses this year with last year’s prescription? I can’t order another box of contact lenses to get me through until next year’s insurance kicks in? How much danger is there, compared to, say, going without, or wearing too-old lenses, which I can do without a prescription. Now that I think about it, I can anything I want in my eye without a prescription, except a new contact lens!
jenny tries too hard commented on Jul 07 10 at 12:10 pmbob, you can get new glasses with a prescription up to five years old, possibly older than that. And nobody even asks how old the lenses are if you take broken frames in and just have the lenses popped into new frames. Contact lenses you need a prescription for because wearing contacts that are just barely the wrong size can keep your eyes from getting enough oxygen and lead to infection and blindness. Non-prescription eye drops pretty much never do any harm, unless they’re contaminated in the factory or in your home…
I’m actually not opposed to removing the legal requirements that adults have a prescription for contacts; I think that’s a risk adults should be able to determine, with full disclosure, of course…but I sure wouldn’t take that risk, or trust any doctor who would participate in it, and I wouldn’t want parents to take that risk with their kids.
ilsa commented on Jul 07 10 at 11:26 pmFound a lady gaga like contact lens on http://www.my-contactlens.com , just ordered one too.
anon commented on Jul 08 10 at 1:14 amwhy not make information open to everyone, wait, it is, it’s called the internet. Then, make everything legal, contacts w/o perscriptions, codine, currently illegal drugs… adults should be able to decide for themselves and weigh the risks themselves… Surely smoking marijuana is safer then picking a pile of random weeds in your backyard and smoking that.
perscription rules are in place not because it’s the most dangerous, but because it’s simply dangerous. Even though the danger is very very minute compared to some alternatives, it’s still a danger that can be controlled. Ordering another box of lenses for an expired perscription IS the same as wearing old glasses.
Parents that are unaware of their kid’s current fashion trends are simply out of touch, but more often than not, the kids will turn out fine.
As for these contacts, there may only be a 1 in 5,000 chance that the user will run into some sort of serious health issue, but do you want to be that 1?
znish commented on Jul 08 10 at 2:01 amoh my God, the pic you have placed is amazing….
you have write well that lens really make teen amazing and more beautiful
thanks for sharing this good idea with us.
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cheers
randomvisitor commented on Jul 09 10 at 2:14 pmI think more people getting killed on the road comparing to people getting blind by contact lenses. If contact lens are dangerous might as well give up driving.
ContactLensesExpress.co.uk commented on Sep 08 10 at 10:54 pmApt and very useful information related to Contact Lenses. We do provide you the same a bit elaborated. Find us on Contact Lenses Express
Order online or buy cheap monthly disposables, online daily, toric lenses and coloured contact lenses of various brands like Ciba Vision, Coopervision, Johnson & Johnson, Bausch & Lomb and more.
Titanium Earrings : commented on Oct 27 10 at 1:54 pmBausch & Lomb contact lenses are the best, i always use them all the time
Julie commented on Dec 06 10 at 2:15 amGood write up. While wearing circle lenses can be dangerous, there is little risk if they are taken care of properly.
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