Coloured Contact Lenses

There are four types of coloured contact lenses: visibility tints, enhancement tints, opaque colour tints and light-filtering tints. Many of these coloured contact lenses are available without visual correction, as well as in designs for people who have astigmatism, who need bifocal correction or who want a disposable or frequent replacement lens.

Visibility Tints
A visibility tint is usually a light blue or green tint added to a lens, solely to help you see it better during insertion and removal or if you drop it. Since it is a very light tint, it does not affect eye colour.

Enhancement Tints
An enhancement tint is a solid (but translucent) tint that is a bit darker than a visibility tint and does affect eye colour. As the name implies, it is meant to enhance the existing colour of your eyes. These types of tints are usually best used by people who have light coloured eyes and want to make their eye colour more intense.

Opaque Colour Tints
Colour tints are deeper, opaque tints that can dramatically change your eye colour. They are usually made of patterns of solid colours. If you have dark eyes, you will need this type of coloured lens to change your eye colour, at least temporarily. Colour contacts come in a wide variety of colours, including hazel, green, blue, violet, amethyst and gray.

The manufacturers of coloured contact lenses have endeavoured to mimic the natural look of the coloured portion of the eye. Since this area is made up of a series of colourful shapes and lines, some colour contact lenses feature a series of tiny coloured dots on the lens to make it look more natural on the eye. However the centre of the lens, the part over your pupil, is clear so you can see.