A little different than the NY Times story, but the story reminded me of my eyes. It makes me chuckle when people ask if my eyes are fake. It has been known to happen from time to time. I have big blue eyes, and not just regular blue eyes, but bright blue irises that have been known to attract attention.

The eyes are not always this color though. I've had a health condition I'm overcoming and when not feeling great my eyes turn green. (It is a slow process, the blue to green and back.) When healthy and recovered the eyes are bright blue. As I joke, instead of a mood ring, I have my own personal built in mood reader - the eyes. When the eyes are blue, I'm not only healthy but also more energetic. When green, the stomach is ill and I'm tired out.

Sounds like if I wanted to make people really guess, I could go fake and turn the eyes purple! That would be a new hue for my chameleon eyes, not sure what mood that would be though.

A real risk to the eye... or more of a risk to eye doctors' income? Can't you get your prescription from a doctor...same as I did before I ordered my glasses from eyeglassdirect.com? (I paid $39.95 to have the prescription filled and mailed to me -- inserted into Borghese reading glass frames I got for $14.99 at CVS. Seems the real loser in my case is whomever didn't get the several hundred dollars I would have paid otherwise.)

____________________________

Um, anyone should realize that contacts are very different from glasses. I've never even heard of any threat to one's eyesight from wearing noticeably scratched glasses.

I also remember hearing in the Tightwad Gazette (from an eye doctor - not verbatim): "If you want to pinch pennies on contacts and their care, wear glasses instead."

I'm of the opinion that going to an eye doctor is a scam.

Only in the past few years have there been the mall/ store front shops that are reasonably priced. And even then it still can cost.

A few years back I had an eye care insurance plan that covered 75% of the expense at the "preferred provider." It was $250 to go them or $275 to go to a storefront. I paid the extra $25, had more choice and dumped the "insurance" plan as soon a possible.

Ask for contacts... Add a ridiculous amount.

Maybe there are some health risks with these lenses, but television and movies use them all the time. Ever see a show where someone's eyes turn completely black or white? I know Heroes, Buffy/Angel, and Supernatural have all used them. Contact lenses are cheaper than CGI.

I know Heroes, Buffy/Angel, and Supernatural have all used them.

I think there is a difference in how they wear them though -- 4-6 hours in general a week as opposed to 12-14 hrs/day 7 days a week.

The government says it regulates health and safety, especially of medical products. A downside of this regulation is that it is only partial, and often happens years after the fact. "Natural" products are not regulated at all unless they make specific health claims. Yet, the goverment advertises that it is on the job providing health and safety for the public.

This broad message is harmful, because it leads people to think that anything in a glossy package must have been checked out by the government. Belief: If it were bad, they would not be allowed to sell it to me.

This may seem radical; the government should stop regulating medical products. I know that is unlikely.

The public would stop thinking that government angels are protecting them, and multiple, independent testing companies (for example, Underwriter's Laboratories) would appear for judging the safety of everything, from cosmetics to contact lenses.

Ethical drugs would no longer have to meet the monopoly rules of the FDA. There would be competition to provide effective, efficient oversight through independent companies, and consumers and doctors could trust the authority of their choice. Authorities which made major errors or which colluded with its customers would go out of business, so they would be careful with their hard-won brand names and reputations.

Only free market competition can quickly discover how much safety can be determined at a reasonable price.

The problem with these is if you get them from someplace unregulated... do you know where they were made? If they are from a well regarded sterile factory, or someplace in China that is "mostly harmless"?

Optometrists DO sell these sorts of lenses, and I have several frineds that get them for holloween... but they are made by a reputable manufacturer, like B&L or accuvue. This more than anything is caveat emptor, because the chance you are running is getting an eye infection. having one of them can in some cases lead to permanent eye damage... It's just common sense... that oftimes isn't so common.

My wife had a better fit and less trouble with the contacts she brought with her from Japan than any pair she's had since. So much for the vaunted FDA approval.

The FDA do some good (recall thiolidamide, anyone) at enormous cost, and create a false sense of security. There are no silver bullets.

Made in China is English for Caveat Emptor, right?

I do think it's pretty sad that the woman from the FDA who was quoted in the NYT had no idea what they were talking about. Shouldn't the FDA be keeping an eye on trends like this?

Here in Ohio a few years ago, they had a bunch of trouble with something similar. A bunch of convenience stores were selling the novelty cosmetic contact lenses that had differently-shaped pupils or really unusual colors.

The problem was that the teens who were buying them were precisely the teens that had never needed contact lenses - if you needed corrective lenses, you weren't going to wear cosmetic-only lenses, right.

So these teens didn't know basic things like how to actually care for the lenses. They didn't know how long they could safely wear them, they didn't know how to properly clean them, and apparently they didn't have enough sense to realize that passing them around from person to person was a bad idea.

Before it came to the attention of the state health-and-safety types, several teens had gotten serious eye infections and wound up with impaired (or no) vision out of it.

And as it turns out, it's not even legal in Ohio to sell contact lenses if you don't have a license to dispense them.