Washington Woman Warns that Halloween Contact Lenses Almost Left Her Blind: 'a Nightmare'

Jordyn Oakland

A Washington woman is raising awareness this Halloween after nearly losing her eyesight during her "nightmare" experience with costume contact lenses.

Jordyn Oakland, a 27-year-old licensed esthetician, told PEOPLE that she ordered color contact lenses for her "cannibal esthetician" Halloween costume last year, which left her in the emergency room.

The contact lenses — which Oakland says she ordered "against my better judgement" due to minimal information or reviews — were purchased from Dolls Kill, a fashion brand that sells color contacts supplied by manufacturer Camden Passage.

Oakland said she had issues with the lens in her right eye when she attempted to take it out after wearing the contacts for six hours.

"When I put them in initially they did feel a bit uncomfortable," she recalled to PEOPLE, noting that she typically wears prescription contacts and knows how to properly put them in. "When I tried to initially take the contact out, it wouldn't quite move. I regrabbed the contact and when I took it out of my eye, it didn't feel good."

Jordyn Oakland

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Jordyn Oakland

After her eye watered, Oakland decided to rinse her eyes and leave it alone. The following day, she says she woke up at 6 a.m. in "excruciating pain" with her eye completely swollen shut, prompting her to visit the hospital. She revealed that doctors told her she "could potentially lose your eyesight" before referring her to an ophthalmologist for treatment.

"The costume contacts are not fit custom for your eye," Oakland explained. "So basically it created an air bubble and it suctioned to my cornea. So when I removed it, that's why I felt like it was a bit stuck because it actually had suctioned and removed the outer layer of my cornea."

The 27-year-old shared that her ophthalmologist — who worried about possible blindness, longterm damage, or surgery — told her they get an influx of similar cases each October around Halloween involving the costume contacts.

"Miraculously, two days later, my eye was healing really well," she said, noting her doctors were surprised she was able to recover. "It was around day four or five that I could finally start subtly lifting my lid on my own and I was wearing an eyepatch for at least two weeks."

Jordyn Oakland

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Jordyn Oakland

Oakland told PEOPLE that the incident on Halloween 2020 left her with "horrid" vision and she's still dealing with side effects a year later. She's experienced some long-term symptoms like dry eyes, difficulty reading, and she faces the risk of recurrent corneal erosion — meaning she could experience the same situation again in the future.

"I have a lot of eye sensitivity now so it's very photosensitized and my vision is not the same. I have to be mindful of wearing mascara because it'll water nonstop, too."

Camden Passage, the manufacturer that supplied the contact lenses Oakland purchased, told PEOPLE in a statement that they reported the incident to the FDA and have begun an investigation.

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Now, Oakland is urging others to be cautious and sharing steps to stay safe this Halloween.

"The best advice my eye doctor gave me was, you can go into an eye doctor and have them make you custom creative Halloween-style contact lenses and then you can reuse them over and over safely and they'll be fit to your eye," she said.

Oakland continued, "Go the extra mile, spend the money and get a pair that you know is safe and not going to cause you any actual damage."

Jordyn Oakland

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The FDA warns that contact lenses without a prescription should never be purchased from street vendors, beauty supply stores, flea markets, novelty stores, Halloween stores, or unknown online distributors because they "may be contaminated and/or counterfeit."

Regular and decorative contact lenses can be purchased safely from your eye doctors and other FDA-cleared companies. The FDA states that anyone selling you contact lenses must get your prescription and verify it with your doctor.

Anyone experiencing any side effects from wearing contact lenses should see a licensed eye doctor — optometrist or ophthalmologist — immediately.

"I shared because I just wanted people to know that this can happen to you. We see these videos all over TikTok and these big makeup artists wearing these costume contacts and yeah, they may be okay but you could have a one-off instance, like me, that could leave you blind," Oakland added.