A night of Halloween fun turned into a terrifying ordeal for Kyle Bryant, when he was left fearing for his eyesight.
Halloween is meant to be a night of fun and frights, but for Kyle Bryant, it almost turned into a real-life nightmare. The 22-year-old from Windsor was left worrying he would permanently lose his eyesight after purchasing a pair of cut-price novelty contact lenses.
Eager to impress his friends with a gore-soaked costume, Kyle ordered a pair of ghoulish contact lenses online for just £10 to complete his ‘blood’ spattered look. But within moments of putting them in, he soon sensed the lens was scratching against the surface of his eyeball and he was left with a painfully swollen eyeball—and the terrifying fear for his eyesight.
By the moment he took the lenses out, the damage had been done and his eyeball was sore and swollen, and he faced serious, possibly lasting damage.
“It was really painful – my eye was getting bigger and bigger. I was worried it was going to affect my vision,” he said.
“People had told me to be careful with them beforehand,” he admitted. “It was only when I took them out, I realised the contact lens was scratching my eyeball.”
The injury left Kyle’s eyeball agonisingly swollen for several days, and he confesses the experience has put him off wearing fancy dress lenses ever again. “[It’s] a shame as they actually look pretty cool.”
With Halloween around the corner, experts are sounding the alarm about the perils of unregulated cosmetic contact lenses.
Giles Edmonds, clinical services director at Specsavers, explained: “The scratching Kyle experienced suggests these lenses were likely poorly manufactured and ill-fitting.
“Contact lenses sit directly on the delicate surface of the eye, and any irregularities in the lens material or curvature can cause corneal abrasions – essentially scratches to the front of the eye.
“The swelling he described is a typical inflammatory response to this kind of trauma.”
Edmonds added that Kyle was fortunate not to sustain permanent vision damage. He emphasised that Kyle’s ordeal serves as ‘a stark warning’ about the risks of purchasing cosmetic contact lenses from unregulated online sellers, particularly during the Halloween season.
He urged shoppers to: “Never purchase contact lenses from unregulated online sellers, market stalls, or fancy-dress shops.
“These lenses are often manufactured without proper quality controls and sold without any regard for the wearer’s eye health or safety,” he added.
“Contact lenses are medical devices, not fashion accessories, and should always be fitted by a qualified professional.”
