Halloween costume contact lens 'ripped off' a layer of woman's eye
A 27-year-old woman has claimed a Halloween costume contact lens "ripped off" a layer of her eye. Makeup artist Jordyn Oakland, who lives in the US, says she used a pair of blacked-out contact lens for her 'cannibal aesthetician' costume last Halloween. But, when she removed the lens from her right eye, she knew something had gone wrong.
"I have worn contacts before so I took the contacts, slid it a little bit and tried to grab it how I normally would and it felt like it was stuck and I didn't get the right grab on it," she said [via Lad Bible]. "So the second time I went in I grabbed it a little bit firmer and took it out of my [right] eye and at that point it was just full of tears and it immediately felt like I had a really bad scratch on my eye."
Jordyn explained how the pain in her eye after removing the lens was so bad, she went to bed in the hopes of sleeping it off – but this didn't work. "I woke up at 6am and was in excruciating pain. My eye was burning and so swollen I could barely open it at that point," she added, "I immediately started crying because of the pain. It was really hard to manage it in the moment. The whole drive [to A&E] I was in excruciating pain. I don't even know how to describe it. It was some of the worst pain I've ever encountered."
At the hospital, Jordyn was seen by a specialist, who confirmed the lens had damaged her eye. "He [the doctor] looked at my eye and basically said that the outer layer of my cornea looked like it had been completely removed and that's why the pain was so bad," she continued, "He told my boyfriend 'there could be a chance that she could lose eyesight. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, this is really really bad'."
Luckily, her eye started to improve after a few days, but the 27-year-old is still suffering with long-term complications one year on. "Since the incident, right in the centre of my eye there's always this little area that feels dry in a way," she said, "My vision in my right eye is noticeably worse. It was always not great, I could see some small text from far away but now it's game over with that."
Jordyn continued: "After the incident, the one thing that I could potentially deal with is reoccurring erosion. I could maybe wake up one morning and have the exact same thing happen for no apparent reason."
After her ordeal, the makeup artist wants to raise awareness about the risks associated with costume contact lenses, and is encouraging anyone who thinks about using them to do proper research. "It's scary to me because those are so easily accessible and I think about young kids and how easy it is to use debit cards and go online and order something," she stressed, "I'd never wear costume contacts again unless they're made by a specialist who had really informed me that they're very safe to wear."
She went on, "I hoped posting could even help one person second guess that decision if it's really worth elevating a Halloween costume to that extent for the damage that could potentially happen."
A spokesperson for the lens manufacturer, Camden Passage, claimed that they'd had no reports of "adverse effects" during their 11 years in the market. Instead, they suggested Jordyn had not followed the instructions provided with the lenses.
"Clinical studies show that anything that would cause dry eyes such as birth control pills, alcohol or allergy medication could make contact lenses uncomfortable and would increase the chance of an adverse event," they added, "We will complete a detailed investigation as required under our ISO certified quality management system and report findings to regulatory authorities."
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