Young girl, 11, nearly blinded by coloured lenses she wore for Halloween costume
A young girl was almost blinded after wearing coloured contact lenses in a Halloween costume.
Emilie Turcotte, 11, suffered eye sight loss after dressing up for the spooky occasion in Quebec, Canada.
Her mother has warned other parents about the risks of kids wearing contact lenses for cosmetic reasons.
“For four days we were so scared,” mother Julie Turcotte told local media.
“She could not see anything. All that for Halloween contact lenses!”
Fortunately, the pain subsided and Emilie gradually regained her sight. However, she had to continue wearing sunglasses for one month to help her damaged corneas heal.
Although five of her friends wore similar lenses for Halloween without any problems, Emilie still wanted to advise parents about the potential risks.
“When you lose your eyesight, it cannot be replaced,” she said.
“Contact lenses are a good disguise, but at what price?”
Eyes were “burning like fire”
Emilie wore the lenses for around four hours at school and then took them off for dinner, according to Ms Turcotte.
She then wore them again to go trick-or-treating with friends and took them off before she went to sleep.
When Emilie woke up the next day, she was screaming and her eyes were “burning like fire”.
Her mother opened Emilie’s weeping eyelids with her fingers and found the girl’s eyes were “blood red”.
Doctors explained that the lenses had damaged her corneas.
Experts call for more regulation
Eye care experts in Quebec are calling for the sale of coloured contact lenses to be banned unless medically required.
“It is a medical product and it should be treated as such,” Eric Poulin, President of the Quebec Association of Optometrists said.
“They are sold everywhere, but they should not be.”
– With Australscope
