Vermont is “officially” in the middle of peak foliage season, generally understood to be the last week of September through the first or second week of October, depending on where you are, of course. Trees across the state are rolling out the red, gold, and yellow carpets, donning their most vibrant fall garments and strutting their stuff.

In the early 1900’s, Vermont’s hillsides looked quite a bit different than they do now, even in fall. During that time, roughly 75% of Vermont’s forests were cut down for lumber, fuel, potash, and pasture, leaving all but the most difficult stands to access denuded and lifeless. Tourism not being then what it is today, Vermonters were not likely considering the standing trees in their vivid autumn attire an invaluable resource in and of itself!

Which isn’t to say people didn’t enjoy adding a little color to their lives. Colored contact lenses were first introduced conceptually in the late 1930’s. The idea of changing a Hollywood starlets eye color from brown to blue, was simply too irresistible an idea, and in 1939, the movie Miracles For Sale made history by being the first film to feature an actress wearing colored contact lenses.

Cosmetic Colored Contact Lenses

The colored contact lens concept evolved through the mid-20^th century until the 1980’s when cosmetic contact lenses were being mass produced for cosmetic purposes. With a palate of colors far more extravagant than what Vermont’s trees can flaunt on their finest fall day, colored lenses were suddenly available in lemon, turquoise, spring green, gold, aqua, amber, and violet, to name just a few.

Like anything else being mass produced, the ubiquity of colored contact lenses on the market means that not all lenses are of the highest quality. Colored contact lenses are not simply cosmetic fashion statements but offer vision correction and UV protection like any non-colored contact lens, but there are also versions that are simply “costume” lenses designed to alter the color, shape, or general appearance of the eye.

Are Colored Contact Lenses Safe?

The FDA classifies contact lenses as medical devices, and as such, manufacture and distribution of traditional or colored contact lenses is regulated, and theoretically required to meet certain acceptable standards with regards to constituent materials used in their production. It is in fact illegal to sell colored contact lenses without a prescription.

FDA-approved contact lenses, colored or otherwise, are perfectly safe for most people when prescribed and fitted by your eye doctor. That said, there are online retailers and stores that do sell contact lenses without a prescription, and these products could cause problems for people using them.

Contact lenses are not one-size-fits-all. Lenses that are not specifically fitted to your eye may not fit correctly. Wearing contact lenses that do not fit properly can scratch your cornea causing potential long-term vision problems.

Purely cosmetic, or decorative colored contact lenses that are not fitted to your eyes may also be thicker and have more pigments than their FDA-approved counterparts, letting less oxygen through to the eye, causing irritation, dry eye, and increased risk of infection. Some illegal colored lenses have also been found to contain chlorine and other chemicals that can also irritate and cause damage to the eye.

Prescription Contacts

Ultimately, the best prescription for the irresistible craving for color is heading out into the hills to take in the brilliant display of fall foliage across Vermont!

For those of you looking to change up your look and switch your eye color so the world sees you a little differently, see your eye doctor to get FDA-approved, properly fitted colored contact lenses that you can trust will not cause you any harm.