Colored contact lenses allow you to change your eye color and create a stunning look that is subtle, bold or anywhere in between. Whether you are keen to enhance your everyday look or rock a crazy design for some important parties and other special occasions.
Colored contact lenses are available in both prescription and plano forms:
- Prescription color contacts are able to correct eyesight problems such as myopia , hyperopia and astigmatism, as well as enhancing or completely changing your eye color.
- Plano color contacts have no lens power and are usually worn purely for cosmetic purposes to simply just change eye color.
The cost of colored contacts can be significantly more expensive than the regular contacts. But, there are many of us who look for coloured contact lenses just for cosmetic purposes.
Most colored contact lenses are designed to change the colour of our iris.
Since this area is made up of colorful shapes and lines, some color contacts feature a series of tiny colored dots and radially arranged colored lines and shapes to create a natural eye look on you.
These are the types of color contacts come which divided into three kinds of tints:
Visibility tint
This usually is a light blue or green tint added to a lens, just to help you see it better during insertion and removal, or if you drop it.
Visibility tints are relatively faint and do not affect your eye color.
Enhancement tint
This is a solid but translucent tint that is a little darker than a visibility tint. As the name implies, an enhancement tint is meant to enhance the natural color of your eyes.
Colored contacts with this type of tint usually are best for people who have light-colored eyes and want to make their eye color more vibrant.
Opaque tint
This is a non-transparent tint that can change your eye color completely. If you have dark eyes, you’ll need this type of color contact lens to change your eye color.
Color contacts with opaque tints come in a wide variety of colors, including hazel, green, blue, violet, amethyst, brown and gray.
Costume or theatrical contact lenses also fall into the category of opaque color tints. Long used in the movies, these special-effect contact lenses are now widely available for novelty use. You can temporarily transform yourself into an alien, goth or vampire, to name a few.
How to choose the right color for your eyes?
The contact lens color that will suit you best depends on many factors, such as your hair color and skin tone. Here’s some useful tips if you are looking for some guidance on how to choose the perfect coloured contact lens for yourself.
Color contacts for light eyes
If you want to change your appearance but in a more subtle way, you may want to choose an enhancement tint that defines the edges of your iris and deepens your natural color.
If you want to wear on contact lenses that still look natural on you, you might choose contact lenses in gray or green, for example, if your natural eye color is blue.
If you’re after a dramatic new look that everyone notices immediately, those with naturally light-colored eyes and a cool complexion with blue-red undertones might choose a warm-toned contact lens such as light brown.
Color contacts for dark eyes
Opaque colored tints are the best choice if you have dark eyes. For a natural-looking change, try a lighter honey brown or hazel colored lens.
But if you really want to stand out from the crowd, opt for contact lenses in vivid colors, such as blue, green or violet. And if your skin is dark, bright-colored lenses can create a show-stopping new look.
Custom-tinted contact lenses
If you’re after a truly individualized look, some contact lens manufacturers specialize in creating custom color tints for both prescription and non-prescription contact lenses.
Custom-made tints are created from a variety of colors in varying densities. The colors typically are semi-translucent, creating a natural-looking appearance. They can even camouflage a congenital eye defect or eye injury, or mimic the appearance of a healthy pupil.
Custom-tinted colored contact lenses aren’t just for cosmetic use. Custom tints are increasingly popular among professional athletes to increase their visual performance.
Key benefits of these types of coloured contact lenses are to reduce glare, enhance contrast sensitivity and heighten depth perception. For example, a green tint enables a tennis player to spot the ball more clearly on the court.
There are also contact lenses that have a photochromic tint which can adjust automatically according to different lighting conditions. They are designed to reduce the brightness of sunlight entering your eyes in bright conditions.