WARNING – Stay Away From Decorative Contact Lenses For Halloween
Halloween can be a fun time for many adults and children, but some costumes and makeup can cause harm to our bodies. Here's a look at one cosmetic to avoid.
Investigators with Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Custom's Enforcement are teaming up with other federal and local authorities, in certain areas of the country, to target counterfeit cosmetics that could bring bodily damage to people this Halloween season.
ICE has stated that makeup, counterfeit contact lenses and other cosmetics can contain lead and other toxins that could pose severe damage to the eye and skin.
They've said that putting lead directly into the eye can lead to medical issues to include conjunctivitis, impaired vision, eye infection which can cause inflammation to your eyeball and eyelids.
Other investigations of these dangerous, but decorative contact lenses, that are marked as counterfeit and have not been approved by the government for consumer use, can contain high levels of bacteria that could result in serious health problems.
Forty million Americas are known to wear contact lenses, of which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates as medical devices under federal law.
Professional Optometrists say that decorative contact lenses that have not been approved by the FDA and are not professionally applied, can cause eye damage.
According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology's website, It is illegal for a retailer or anyone else, for that matter, to sell any type of contact lenses without a prescription in the United States.
Be safe this Halloween season. If decorative contact lenses are a must for your costume, be sure to have obtained a valid prescription and have a professional optometrist install them.