FDA warns against illegal colored contact lenses for Halloween

If you're planning on using colored contact lenses as part of your Halloween costume, the Food and Drug Administration has a warning for you. 

Those decorative contact lenses could be a major Halloween hazard if they're purchased anywhere outside of a doctor's office. 

"You can absolutely go blind from contact lenses that are not regulated or you don't know what to do with them, you don't properly know how to care for them, they come in a vile with bacteria. there's a lot of things that could give you an infection," said Caitlin Morrison, an optometrist at Framed Ewe Optical Boutique. 

Dr. Caitlin Morrison says the only proper, safe way to buy these types of lenses is through your eye doctor. She says if you buy from a costume shop or online they may look cool but come with a major risk.   

"You basically don't know where these contact lenses are coming from," says Dr. Morrison. "They could be in a little vile that has absolutely no way to fight off bacteria or other pathogens so you're putting that right on your eye, it's rubbing around which creates little tiny micro-abrasions on the cornea and those are entry points for bacteria to get right into your eye and create a bad infection."  

Dr. Morrison says these unregulated lenses are actually illegal to buy or sell without a prescription.

"A contact lens is a medical device that you're putting on a soft tissue, it has to interact with the soft tissue in a way that's appropriate that will keep you healthy even if just for a day."   

At the doctor's office, you can still buy all of the over the top lenses like full color, cat eyes, lizard eyes and all of the other lenses you can think of.