Contact lenses were invented thirty years ago and Bausch & Lomb launched the original commercially available soft contact lens. For years, this traditional soft daily wear lens was the lone brand of soft contact lens available. This lens ideally was meant to last between six and twelve months and required cleaning every day and weekly enzymatic cleaning.

Ten years after the first soft contact lens come on the market, extended contact lenses were released in the United States. However, it wasn't until 1991 that the first frequent-replacement contact lenses were available. Frequent-replacement contacts are typically replaced every one to three months. Most cosmetic contact lenses last approximately three months, falling into this category.

Just one year later, in 1992, disposable contacts were introduced. These contacts were disposed of every two weeks or less, depending on the brand and individual use.

Designer contacts that are available to use at Halloween time use what is known as an enhancement tint in the contact lens which covers the iris, but has a clear middle so a persons sight is not impaired. Other names for contact lenses which come in different colors and patters are: cosmetic contacts, designer contacts, special effects contacts, novelty and the newest style - the circle or 'big eye' contact lens.

An enhancement tint is a solid but transparent (see-through) color that is a little darker than a visibility tint. An enhancement tint does modify your eye color. As the name implies, it's meant to enhance the existing color of your eyes.

For example, if you have blue eyes, these contact lenses will create a more intense color blue, depending on which color of tint that you choose. To imagine what this is like, consider the color sky blue and french blue. Or if you have hazel eyes, you could use tinted contact lenses to bring out the blue, green or brown shades of color in your eyes. These types of tints are usually best for people who have light colored eyes and want to make their eye color more dark.

When men and women think about colored contact lenses they might not understand that color tints are deep, solid tints that will alter your iris color totally. If you have dark eyes, you'll need this type of color contact lens to transform your iris color.

Designer color contacts (available without a prescription) come in a wide range of colors and designs, such as: black, red, green, blue, violet, white, cat eye, white spider web and numerous other fun or sexy patterns . The core of the lens, the part that lies over the pupil, is transparent so you can see.

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 and Twilight), these special-effect contact lenses are now widely available on the internet inexpensively and can temporarily transform the you into a Halloween vampire, ghoul, witch, cat or perhaps turn you into Alice in Wonderland, a beautiful fairy or princess.

A new development is the 'Circle' contact lens (an oxymoron since contact lenses are already a circle!) Made fashionable in the U.S. by outrageous pop star Lady Gaga in her Bad Romance video, 'circle' contact lenses seem to be bigger because they are not only tinted in areas that cover up the iris of the eye, but colored prominently in the extra-wide outer border of the lens.

The end result is the manifestation of a bigger, wider iris. Lady Gaga may well have heard of these 'circle' contact lenses from Asian ladies, fans of the 'big eye' look for several years now.

You ought to obtain your special-effect contact lenses at least a seven days preceding when you will be wearing them in order to make sure you are proficient in putting the contacts in your eyes and get use to the feeling of something in your eye. If you experience some difficulty you could ask a friend or family member who wears contacts on a regular basis to help you and not be annoyed when you are trying to get ready for your Halloween bash and can't put the lenses over your iris.

Contacts have been known to fold, slide or fall out thus you want to practice putting them in and wear the contacts for a several hours to get use to them. In addition, there are different sized lenses to fit most consumers, and there will be some situations, such as during blinking, where the colored or decorative portion could slide a bit over the pupil. In this instance, your ability to see may be slightly affected.

There are some fun and crazy designer soft contact lenses on the market and below are a few of my favorites:

Red Wolf (Yellow/Red flames) and Black Wolf (Yellow/Black flames) Werewolf anyone?

Yellow Smiley Face - Great way to bring a smile to someone's face.

Spider Web (White background with Black web) So Cool - great for any Halloween spooky creature!

Hypno (White with Black circles) You have to see these to fully appreciate them!

Blue Star (White with Blue star) Be a star with a Lady Gaga Halloween Costume and these contact lenses.

Triple Color Violet, Sky Blue, or Aqua - So beautiful and perfect for Princess costumes.

You will be the first to be noticed at a Halloween event with decorative soft contact lenses, and they can be worn up to three months after Halloween. Want an ice breaker? Colored special effect contact lenses are the answer!