Body piercings, tattoos, hair dye: Teens today often find unique and colorful ways to express their sense of style.

“My friend Bo got one [a tongue ring], and everyone was getting one, so I thought I’d get mine done,” says Ryan, 15.

Sometimes, teens turn to professionals when they want to alter their appearance, but often they take risks with their health.

“I know a kid who got his eyebrow pierced by a friend of ours … he was 15 and couldn’t get it done, so he had somebody pierce it for him,” says David, now 20.

A new and potentially dangerous “do-it-yourself” attitude is surfacing among teens who want to be stylish without considering the consequences to their health. And the latest risky trend, according to the American Optometric Association, is to use liquid food coloring to tint contact lenses.

“Food coloring is cheap and easy, but it’s not meant to be put in contact lens” says Dr. Kelly Spetalnick, an optometrist.

“I decided to go green for a while – green and blue – because it would be more fun,” says Kristin Alderman, 15.

Kristin has a prescription for colored contacts, but she knows firsthand the risks teens are willing to take in order to be different – even when it comes to something as sensitive as their eyes.

“Some people have asked me for some [of my contacts]” she says. “They’re like, ‘Can we have yours,’ and I was like, ‘NO.’”

Doctors say homemade solutions, as well as sharing contacts, can contaminate the eye.

“Your body attacks the lens. It sees it as a foreign body, which can really snowball into inflammatory processes: corneal ulcers, serious eye infections and scarring that can be permanent,” Dr. Spetalnick says.

So why do teens ignore the risks?

“Basically, to impress their peers,” says Jarren, 13.

Experts say parents should talk to their teens about the medical risks and dangers, and remind them that the choices they make today could last a lifetime.

By Tom Atwood
CWK Network, Inc.

The American Optometric Association (AOA) recently warned that there is a risk of infection or other serious eye problems associated with tinting contact lenses with food coloring. According to the AOA, optometrists across the country are receiving calls from parents and school nurses reporting cases of teens – and even preteens – using such methods to change their eye color. The AOA says the practice is unsafe and suggests that parents discourage it.

“Food coloring, while safe for consumption, is not necessarily sterile,” says Robert L. Davis, head of the AOA Contact Lens Section. “Using it on contact lenses puts the individual at risk for eye infection. And remember that certain dyes and tints, depending on what they are derived from, may cause a reaction like red or irritated eyes in some people.”

Using food coloring will change the color of contact lenses, according to the Ohio State Board of Optometry. The lenses are simply placed in a solution to which food coloring has been added. In most cases, it “would not have a toxic effect and would be a harmless procedure,” the board says. But there are some “obvious problems”:

• The chance for an eye infection is greatly enhanced when coloring lenses.
• There have been instances where the contact lens stuck to the eye.
• Food coloring can have a minor effect on the “acuity and sharpness” of the contact lens.

In 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public health notification to all eye-care practitioners who dispense contact lenses. In it, the FDA stated, “The color additives used in unapproved tinted lenses have not been evaluated for safety – we have no information on their identity, chemical composition, stability or potential toxicity, and we do not know whether they can cause irritation or injury to the eye. … Persons wearing [colored] lenses overnight are considered to be at risk for mechanical effects on the cornea, such as corneal warpage …”

Some facts about contact lenses from the FDA:

• In the United States, 82% of contact lens users wear soft lenses.
  
• Sixteen percent wear rigid gas-permeable lenses.
  
• Two percent wear hard lenses.

At what age should children be allowed to wear contacts? The FDA considers adolescence as the “youngest age” to consider contact lenses, but some practitioners do fit 9- to 11-year-olds. And the FDA says contacts are not for everyone. People with inadequate tearing (dry eye syndrome) usually can’t tolerate contacts. Also, severe nearsightedness often can’t be corrected effectively with contact lenses.

Teens don’t have to have vision problems in order to wear colored contacts. Just like using hair dye, many teens simply want to alter their appearance as a fashion statement. The Contact Lens Council (CLC), a non-profit organization serving as an educational resource on vision correction, says it is essential that anyone who wants to wear contacts – whether for prescription or fashion – needs to have the contact lenses professionally fitted. If contacts don’t fit correctly, the CLC says they can cause serious eye infections, sometimes resulting in permanent eye damage or worse.

The CLC offers parents the following general safety tips to keep in mind if their adolescent is planning to wear colored contacts:

• Visit a reputable eye-care professional for a complete eye examination every 12 months or more frequently if directed.
  
• Use only contact lenses if they are FDA-approved and only if prescribed by a licensed eye-care practitioner. Ask your practitioner whether the FDA has cleared the product.
  
• NEVER swap contact lens with another person.
  
• Don’t wear lenses longer than prescribed, nor when sleeping unless otherwise directed.
  
• If eyes become red or irritated, remove the lenses immediately and consult your doctor. Don’t try to brave the irritation.
  
• Replace contacts as recommended by your eye-care professional because they wear out over time. Throw away disposable lenses after recommended wearing period.

American Optometric Association www.aoa.org
Contact Lens Council www.contactlenscouncil.org
Ohio State Board of Optometry www.state.oh.us/opt
U.S. Food and Drug Administration www.fda.gov