Should Halloween Contact Lenses Be Prescription-Only?
That depends on if you can afford to get them. Costume lenses are all the rage for Halloween by adding an exciting dimension to the costume wearer. But did you know it’s illegal to market them as over the counter?
Many consumers do not realize that they are FDA- regulated medical devices, and that recent legislation has made it illegal to market them as over-the-counter products. Still, they are commonly available in costume shops, beauty shops, convenience stores, novelty shops, and other places that people shop for Halloween items, as well as over the Internet.
I didn’t realize that. It’s amazing that you can pay someone without a medical license to inject ink in your eye or put a piercing in your tongue for cosmetic reasons but you can’t buy a harmless costume lens without a prescription. I can understand some protection of the cornea is achieved by proper fitting but the same could be said about cosmetic tongue piercing. And I don’t see the FDA swarming over tatoo artists.
Why can you get cosmetic contact lenses in Canada without a prescription? Do they make cosmetic lenses better and safer in Canada. If safety was an issue, are we to assume the Canadians don’t care about safe products or practices? Is that why their care is cheaper? Or did the people realize that paying Canadian doctors $100 won’t make the lenses any safer or sterile for casual use. Perhaps the Canadians realize that this type of legislation only adds unnecessary cost to an unnecessary process.
And you wonder why health care is so expensive in this country. Because you can’t get a Halloween costume without a prescription. And you want more government rules to direct your care?
*This blog post was originally published at A Happy Hospitalist*
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