circle lenses - warnings & recommendations

finally! time to update this topic! **warning, long post** if you don't wanna read all of it, read the last few paragraphs.



what are circle lenses?
circle lenses are cosmetic contact lenses that make the colored part of your eye (the iris) look bigger. as a result, it makes you look more alert and innocent, and quite anime-looking. (i think they make you have baby eyes... which is a good thing if you're going for the cute look.) you can get circle lenses w/ or w/o prescription.




(korean actress w/ & w/o circle lenses)

more circle lens photos *here*

circle lenses are not FDA approved in the U.S. (but they are in Korea) so you can't legally get them in the states from your optometrist. however, you can get them online thru international websites (asian sites mostly) and thru private sellers on forums.

my experience:
well, i don't know where to start. i LOVE circle lenses and how they make me look. i've been wearing contacts (regular U.S. contacts w/ prescription) for over 10 years. i've NEVER had any problems with my eyes... until i started to wear circle lenses. *sigh...

when i first found out about circle lenses, i was interested but was hesitant to buy them because i heard they were bad for your eyes. but then i thought, all the korean celebrities are wearing them... they can't be that bad, right? another reason why i was hesitant was because the only vendor i found (at the time) was some seller from singapore on some asian forum. korean contacts from singapore..? ummmm. i don't know. either way, my curiosity (and vanity) won and i purchased my first set of contacts from the seller on the forum. long story short, i ended up returning those lenses because the seller was SHADY. she gave me lenses that were not even my prescription (i got them checked by my optometrist). it was a BIG hassle to get my refund. "BIG hassle" is even an understatement. BIG mistake buying from the seller (username starts with P). BOO~

i did some research before throwing my money to another seller for circle lenses. i ended up finally making a purchase at e-circlelens.com, a company based in korea. the website looked legit and when i e-mailed them, they responded with a kind, knowledgeable response (if you ever get an e-mail response from a company or seller that doesn't sound professional = red flag). the prices on this site were a bit more (~$70/pair vs. $35-40/pair), but i thought it was worth it if it means that that the lenses are the REAL DEAL (from Korea) and that the prescription is likely to be correct.

i received the lenses and eventually started wearing them every day (or almost every day). after 4 months of frequent wear, my vision began to worsen. (i have minor astigmatism but since it's so minor, i can wear regular non-toric lenses.) even my regular american lenses became blurry for me. i eventually went to my optometrist and got my vision checked, and it was confirmed that my vision had worsened... including my astigmatism! she told me that i can no longer wear normal lenses, but NEED toric (astigmatism-correction) lenses. i was SO bummed because all the cool lenses do not come in toric. she also advised that i stop wearing contacts for a while. i was sooo sad but i complied (for the most part). after a week of looking dorky in my old glasses, my eyes began to get better. i then continued to wear my contacts again (circles and regular).

a couple of months later, my eyes began to reject even regular contact lenses. every time i had contacts on, my eyes would get red. since i've never had any eye issues before i started to wear circle lenses, i discontinued use of the circle lenses and just wore regular ones... BUT my eyes were rejecting those as well. just a year ago, i was able to sleep in my lenses (occasionally, that is) without any problems. but during this time, my eyes got bloodshot even after a 1-hour nap with my lenses. WTH?! this persisted for months. i was horrified because i thought i could never wear contacts again. i had my eyes checked by 2 optometrists and 1 ophthalmologist, and they all found no infection or abrasions. so what was it? 2/3 of the professionals told me that i had dry eye, which was probably causing the redness. BUT i've known that i had dry eye for a LONG time, so why would it cause my eyes to suddenly get super sensitive to contacts now?! that's why it was difficult to accept the diagnoses from the professionals (or maybe i just didn't want to face that i had another problem).

7 depressing months later (after giving circle lenses a rest), my eyes finally began to get better. during the 7 months, i pretty much laid off of my normal circle lenses and wore U.S. lenses and a 'safer' circle lens (1-day acuvue define). now, my eyes look and feel like they did before, and they do not get red very often. *happy sigh* it could still be due to dry eyes (or my dry eyes could have contributed to the previous conditions), BUT i am almost certain that frequent wear of my original circle lenses was the bigger culprit to my eye problems.

advice & warnings:
1) if you want to wear circle lenses, LOOK at the water content of them before you buy. most of the year-long circle lenses have approx 38% of water content (vs. 55-58% of normal lenses). less water = less oxygen to eyes = BAD!!!

2) BE WARY of sellers on forums. everyone is nice when you're throwing money at them. most of them are young kids who are filling a demand and making some pocket change. WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THEIR CONTACTS FROM? remember, there are such things as fake (copied) circle lenses, which can be even more dangerous!

3) if you want a safer alternative, buy 1-day acuvue define (circle lenses) -- they now come in 2-week disposables but you can't find the 2-week ones online. these lenses have a higher water content, and are thinner (allows your eyes to breathe more). it's also produced by ACUVUE, so you know they're safe. the down side is that they are more subtle (they do not enhance your iris as much as others, so less doll-like) and they don't come in the cool colors like the others do.


(acuvue define in black & brown.. i like the black better)

BOTTOM LINE: if you HAVE to have the cool-looking circle lenses, PLEASE wear them only occasionally. i seriously didn't see the 7 months of looking like a stoner coming until it was too late.

** note: my thoughts on circle lenses and what they did to my eyes are only my opinions. no doctor confirmed my theory. they all told me i had 'dry eye.' either way, my experience has taught me to be more careful. **