Circle Lenses Are Dangerously Fashionable

What Are Circle Lenses:

Circle Lens is also commonly known as big eye Circle Contact Lens. It makes the iris appear larger in size. This product was originally produced in South Korea. Circle Contact Lenses are almost nearly exclusively used in East Asian nations such as Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea and at the present time are not well-known to the general populace in other nations. Currently this product is not yet sold in store shelves in western nations and can only be purchased online.

The circle contact lenses are rising in popularity on Asian internet forums and shopper's blogs dedicated to beauty and cosmetics. However, along with this popularity, issues concerning the quality of these lenses have risen as well. Currently, there are still companies selling circle contact lenses without bearing the stamp of approval from health services.

Its Popularity:

1. Gaga for BIG EYES? It all began with the color contact, which promised to change your dull eyes into bright baby blues, or violets, or even vampire-esque blood red for Halloween (or an Eclipse-themed party). Then came the Christian Dior contacts, which promised to brand your eyeballs with the famous CD logo.

And now, who better to jump on this eyeballs-as-accessories trend than Lady Gaga — who is the queen of strange fashion accoutrements. Fans went wild after seeing Lady Gaga’s cartoonish eyeballs in her Bad Romance video. So wild that they needed to know how to get themselves a pair.

2. Michelle Phan's Fan? Michelle did a tutorial on Lady Gaga's Bad Roman's look that reached 9.5 million views! And we can see the similarity--BIG EYES!

3. Cute Japanese + Korean girls are all wearing them! Is this a trend or what?

They are so cute, however they can be dangerous and not FDA approved ...

If you thought that Lady Gaga's large doe-eyes in her "Bad Romance" video looked just a little well, too doelike, that's because they were. Her eyes were digitally altered to appear bigger. 

But that hasn't stopped the exaggerated,  cartoonish look from catching on among the fashion-conscious, creating a demand for special circle contact lenses that are sold illegally in the U.S. -- which doctors say could be dangerous for those who wear them.

Like any contact lens, prolonged wear can lead to infections that, although rare, can be serious, experts said. If the contacts don't fit properly -- too tight or too loose -- they can scratch the cornea, which can cause vision problems.

"There's literally that potential for someone to lose their vision within 24 hours and that's from infection," Dr. Assumpta Madu of the Montefiore Medical Center told "Good Morning America."

The colored contacts cover a portion of the whites of the eyes, making the pupils appear larger. Fashion websites are promoting the look, which Lady Gaga likely borrowed from the popular anime-style Japanese cartoons. Young girls are collecting different colors and changing them like earrings.

It's illegal to sell the non-FDA-approved lenses in the United States, but they're readily available for less than $20 on the Internet. In a YouTube video, makeup artist Michelle Phan shows step-by-step how to use the lenses. That video already has more than 9½ million hits.

Because they're illegal to sell, there's relatively little regulation to ensure the contacts are made safely.