Colored contacts

Colored contacts allow you to change your eye color in ways that are subtle, bold or anywhere in between. A prescription is required for colored contact lenses whether or not you need vision correction. This is because all contact lenses are considered medical devices and have the potential to harm your eyes if they are not properly fitted, worn and maintained.

This is a little confusing, because people often use the terms prescription colored contacts and non-prescription colored contact lenses.

When these terms are used, this is what's being described:

• Prescription colored contacts change your eye color and also correct myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) or astigmatism.

• Non-prescription colored contacts change your eye color only. They have no lens power to correct vision problems. (These are also called plano colored contacts.)

But regardless which type of colored contacts you want or need, a professional fitting and a contact lens prescription from a licensed eye doctor is required.

Types of colored contacts

Most colored contact lenses are designed to mimic the natural look of the colored part of the eye, called the 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 help the lenses look more natural on the eye.

The center of the lens, the part that lies over your pupil, is clear so you can see.

Color contacts come in several 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 (see-through) 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.

Blending tints

These color-blending contacts are designed with tints that become gradually more opaque from the outside edges in, which allows a more natural-looking new eye color.

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.