Crazy Halloween Contact Lens (Lenses)

First, colored contact lenses were offered in the 1980s to allow people with brown eyes to have blue or green eyes (although the first generation products gave people's eyes an eery, unnatural glow).

Now, contact lenses are available in artistic styles that are probably best saved for Halloween. Want to look like a cat, a ghoul, a zombie, or a devil? Contact lenses like those below will make you look feline, evil or just plain dead.

Be careful where you buy them: some of these things are available at flea markets and convenience stores, where their quality isn't assured. Please read the FDA warning.

If you're worried that your only option for decorative contact lenses at your local convenience store, don't worry. CIBAVision, which offers the largest selection of colored contact lens styles, offers WildEyes.It offers safe, creative options that should fit your Halloween look. (Note that CooperVision, the second-largest manufacturer of contact lenses in the world, used to offer Crazy Lenses, but this product line has been discontinued)

While Wild Eyes lenses offers styles such as:

• Jaguar

• Blackout
• Hypnotica
• Wildfire
• Knockout

There are other companies that also offer decorative lenses, many on the Internet, but be sure to do some research before buying. Don't be afraid to contact the company with questions about safety.

Decorative lenses can typically be bought for $40 per pair for more mass-produced styles, up to $80 or more per pair for limited editions. Be sure to shop around online to see which stores have the style you want in stock, and that can ship them relatively quickly.

More expensive are one-of-a-kind custom-made lenses, and scleral costume lenses, which cover not only your pupil and iris, but the entire visible area of your eye (which allows you to look like an insect).

First, buy multipurpose lens solution (no particular variety is necessary--whatever's used for regular contact lenses is fine). You'll also need a contact lens storage case if you want to keep your lenses after "the big day". Finally, a pair of plastic (not metal!) tweezers helps to handle the contact lens.

Here's how you apply your contact lenses:

1. Wash your hands with soap and warm water.
2. Gently pull the contact lens from the bottle with the plastic tweezers, and place it on your fingertip.
3. Rinse the contact lens gently with the contact lens solution
4. Gently place the contact lens on your eye.

If you are not used to wearing contact lenses, you might feel some discomfort and the sensation that something, like an eyelash, is in your eye. Try to resist the urge to rub your eyes, since the contact lens can fold, fall out, or drift below the eyelids.