Colored Contact Lenses

Colored contact lenses allow you to change your eye color and create a look that's subtle, bold or anywhere in between. Eye Trends carries colored lenses at all of our locations including: The Woodlands, Spring and Conroe.

Color contacts are available in both prescription and Plano (non-prescription) forms:

Prescription color contacts correct your myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) or astigmatism, as well as enhancing or completely changing your eye color.

Plano color contacts are worn purely for cosmetic purposes to change your eye color and have no lens power for vision correction.

Types of Color Contacts

Most colored contact lenses are designed to mimic the natural look of the colored part of the eye, called the iris. Since this area is made up of colorful shapes and lines, some color contacts feature a series of tiny colored dots and colored lines and shapes to help the lenses look more natural on the eye.

The center of the lens, the part that lies over your pupil, is clear so you can see.

Color contacts come in three kinds of tints:

• Visibility tint. This usually is a light blue or green tint added to a lens, just to help you see it better during insertion and removal, or if you drop it. Visibility tints are relatively faint and do not affect your eye color.
• Enhancement tint. This is a solid but translucent (see-through) tint that is a little darker than a visibility tint. As the name implies, an enhancement tint is meant to enhance the natural color of your eyes. Colored contacts with this type of tint usually are best for people who have light-colored eyes and want to make their eye color more intense.
• Opaque tint. This is a non-transparent tint that can change your eye color completely. If you have dark eyes, you'll need this type of color contact lens to change your eye color.

Color contacts with opaque tints come in a wide variety of brands like Airoptix and colors, including hazel, green, blue, violet, amethyst, brown and gray.

Costume or theatrical contact lenses also fall into the category of opaque color tints. Long used in the movies (examples are The Man Who Fell to Earth, Avatar and the Twilight series), these special-effect contact lenses are now widely available for novelty use.

Choosing the Right Color Lens

Colored contact lenses should coordinate with your skin tone, hair color, and natural eyes. It’s best to choose colored lenses that look bright and genuine, yet not artificial when set against your authentic tones. In our Houston optical centers serving The Woodlands and all surrounding neighborhoods, we stock a full selection of colored contacts to complement every appearance.

If you have a warm skin tone with gold or yellowish undertones, colored contact lenses with honey, hazel, green, and light brown highlights look great. People with cool skin tones that have bluish undertones look fantastic with eye colors such as violet, plum, and ice blue. When it comes to hair, black hair and light colored contact lenses are a good combination. Brown hair is versatile and can match hazel, blue and brown. Blondes can wear just about any colored contact lenses gracefully, and redheads with green eyes have a striking look.

Colored contact lenses for dark eyes include a range of tones. To brighten your look, gray colored contacts are a winner with all skin and hair hues too. Blue is also an option, yet be aware that if you have almost-black eyes, your light blue colored contact lenses for dark eyes will create a deep blue-brown. However, if you have lighter brown eyes and insert bright blue lenses, the effect is more sea blue. Green is another natural-looking choice of colored contact lenses for dark eyes.

Colored contact lenses for light eyes present the widest array of possible shades. Looking for a dramatic change? Choose a shade totally different from your own, such as violet instead of green, or emerald instead of light gray. You can also try enhancement colored contact lenses for light eyes, which highlight your natural hue without a drastic change.

Custom Tinted Contact Lenses

If you're after a truly individualized look, some contact lens manufacturers specialize in creating custom color tints for both prescription and non-prescription contact lenses.

Custom-made tints are created from a variety of colors in varying densities. Customized color lenses typically are semi-translucent, creating a natural-looking appearance. They can even camouflage a congenital eye defect or eye injury, or mimic the appearance of a healthy pupil.

Custom-tinted contacts aren't just for cosmetic reasons. Color tints are increasingly popular among professional athletes to increase their visual performance.

Key benefits of "sport tint" contact lenses are reduced glare, enhanced contrast sensitivity and heightened depth perception. A green tint, for example, can enable a tennis player to see the ball more clearly on the court.

Are Color Contact Lenses Safe?

Yes, colored contact lenses are safe — as long as your contacts are properly prescribed, used and cared for.  It's essential that you visit your eye care professional for a proper contact lens fitting. This will ensure your colored contacts are safe and comfortable and look natural on your eye.

Just like regular contact lenses, color contacts are not bad for your eyes if you follow your eye care practitioner's instructions, particularly regarding how long you can wear your contacts and when you should replace your contacts.

If you wear colored contacts only on special occasions, daily disposables are a great option.

How do I buy nonprescription colored contacts?

Even if your vision is crystal-clear without eyewear, you still cannot purchase colored contacts without a prescription. For nonprescription colored contacts, you first need to visit your eye doctor for a contact lens exam. That’s because the size and fit of your colored contact lenses needs to be measured by an optometrist. If they are not fitted properly, you risk damaging your eyes and vision.

Where can I schedule a contact lenses exam near me?

Our eye doctors will perform a thorough contact lens eye exam in all seven of our Eye Trends offices, located in The Woodlands and throughout Houston. After we issue your prescription for colored contacts (with or without lens powers), you can experiment with our variety of colored lenses to find the perfect hue to finish your look.

We carry a full line of color content lenses, including: Cooper Expressions, Air Optix Colors, Fresh Look Color and Acuvue Define.