Advice and/or experience with special fx contact lenses

I am doing a dark jedi/sith style costume for halloween and I need advice from anyone who has used special contact lenses that change your eye color. I'm going for the orange/yellow "sith eye" look from RotS. I do wear perscription contact lenses regularly, so I am used to using them. Any advice would be great.

Thanks!

 

I used to know a girl years and years ago who wore different coloured contacts. I don't wear contacts myself, I prefer the old squinting technique, lol. I was at Wonderland with her years ago before Paramount took over, destroyed Smurf village, took away my precious blue smurf icecream, and I've boycotted them since...that, and I grew up, lol. But she told me that they were just like regualr contacts and never bothered her...That same trip to Wonderland was when I found out that she was wearing different coloured contacts for the first time, as she lost one during the day, and when I looked in her eyes, I saw two different coloured eyes, got scared, jumped back and thought she was the Devil, lol. Of course, I used to be on drugs too, soo.... Take it from me kids...just say no to drugs and alcohol, they make you stupid and lazy. "Me fail English...that's unpossible!"
And they totally destroy your short-term memory....and they totally destroy your short-term memory...and they totally destroy your short-term memory...and they totally destroy your short-term memory....

 

I've worn special-FX lenses for years, for various costumes. I've done normal-diameter lenses, larger-than-normal-diameter, and scleral lenses (full-eye), in a variety of colors. When I did my Maul costume, I wore WildEyes "Wildfire" lenses, which are available at Walmart near Halloween time. For my Buffyverse vampire, I have a set of large lenses which I soak in a UV-reactive solution which is bright yellow under normal light, and glows under blacklight (I get a great reaction from those!). I still have blackout scleral lenses, which I used for a Grim Reaper costume a few years ago. All of these are corrective lenses - I can drive while wearing them, if necessary (though I generally prefer not to).

My advice - get used to them gradually, over several days, before the event you'll wear them at. Keep them hydrated!!! The FX lenses tend to be thicker than normal lenses, and are more prone to drying out in my experience (I wrecked one set of scleral lenses taking them out of my eyes one Halloween, a week after I bought them). Use eyedrops several times in the 15 minutes before taking out the lenses, and you'll probably be OK. If your eyes hurt at all - TAKE THE LENSES OUT IMMEDIATELY. A cool costume doesn't mean a thing against eye damage.

Don't take this as discouragement, by any means - I think that the right lenses can take a good costume and make it absolutely rock! Just be aware that there are additional considerations above and beyond those that apply to regular corrective lenses. Pay attention to them, and you'll be fine.

Eric Tank
SL-7171 Garrison Tyranus

 

I've never worn the Fx lenses, but I used to wear opaque colored lenses, which I suspect are about the same. One fun thing I've noticed is that if you blink quite hard and roll your eyes up, the lenses will move up and stay for a couple seconds, before recentering themselves, so your eyes will change right in front of someone's eyes. I used to freak out little kids all the time with that.