Circle Lenses and all you need to know before getting a pair!

And finally~ Circle Lenses!! 

(wearing my Geo Blue Wings~)

This post will mainly focus on lenses in general; where to get them, how to take care and such~ Will also make another on all the lenses I owned so far with photos ^_^ If you have been wearing lenses for a long time  this probably won't interest you at all, but I get questions a lot of questions, so I hope this helps some people who want to try out circle lenses ^__^ 

Also note I am no expert~ I’m sure I make a lot of mistakes! It’s all based on months of research I did before getting my first circle lenses and two year experience in wearing them.

Hope you enjoy~

(and excuse my English, I tried my best but writing was never my strong point xD)

What are circle lenses?

(Tsubasa wearing Princess Mimi/Bambi lenses in Chocolate Brown)

They are coloured contacts that are meant to create and illusion of a larger iris; making the eyes appear more doll-like and defined.  Circle lenses come in variety of sizes (diameter), starting from 14mm (when your actual iris is about 12/13 mm). Nowadays bigger and bigger sizes are becoming popular (up to 16+ mm!!).

Most circle lenses have a life span of 1 year (after opening the bottle), if taken care of properly. Prices range from $10 – 25, if it’s $30+ - keep searching, it’s a rip-off~

Circle lenses usually come in optical powers from 00.00 to -10.00, thought some come only in plano (00.00) 

Circle lenses aren’t as comfortable, as regular, clear lenses (at least in my experience). Usually when you get contacts, you have your eye measured to find the base curve, however circle lenses are universal with a base curve of 8.6mm, and yes this means they aren’t perfect (like clothes in “one-size”), you might find they shift around a bit. They also have a lover water content ~40-60% which prolongs the life span. You will feel them! I remember when I first started wearing circle lenses, I had a hard time, it would shift around and I could feel it all the time, but after wearing them a lot, you get used to them and completely forget (except for the moments when your eyes are dry and it gets blurry, or there is something on the lens)       

Circle Lenses aren’t meant for everyday wear!! Lower water content = less oxygen getting to the eye. They shouldn’t be worn more than 8 hours - thought I admit I have sinned and I usually wear them for at least 10 hours,  going up to 15 hours xD but I only wear them maybe 2-4 times a month.  It is recommended to wear them no more than 2-3 times a week~ (give your eyes a rest!) And obviously never sleep in your lenses, most likely you won’t be able to open your eyes in the morning - they will dry out on your eye, if you try to take them out you can rip your cornea (use eye-drops first to  moist them).

And please, PLEASE never share your lenses!  You're just asking for an eye infection~

Circle lenses are just as safe as any other lenses! It’s how you take care of them that will determine if you encounter any eye problems!

When you receive your lenses

(my super old empty vials)

After opening the vials put them in fresh solution and soak for at least 6 hours. Don’t put them in right away! The lenses are stored in preservative to prolong the shelf life and it will burn your eyes!

Solution

To wash and store the lenses use multi purpose contact solution for soft lenses (I use the Baush&Lomb ReNu) do not use saline solution! It can be used to rinse lenses, but will not clean then properly or remove bacteria, and if you store them they will become weak and fall apart soon! 

Note that once you open a bottle it should be disposed off in 3 months, since I don’t wear contacts so often I buy the travel set; which gives me 2 small bottles of solution and 2 extra lens cases. You do go through solution very quickly thought; it can be quite expensive (if you clean lenses as much as I do xD). 

Make sure your lenses always have fresh solution! This can be a bit of a pain if u don’t wear them so often, or have many, but u need to make sure u change the solution every time you wear them (or once a month if they are just sitting in the case unused). If you forget about it the next time you open the case, you might find all the solution evaporated and lenses are completely dried out and crispy xD (I did this a few times with my first pair but after flooding them with solution and leaving to re-absorb moisture, they came back to life xD but there is a high chance they will be ripped or damaged, so don’t let this happen).

So next step is wearing the lenses~

How to tell the right side?

Sometimes you can tell from the pattern (if it’s stronger on one side), but to make sure lie the lens flat on your finger and look closely at the edges – if it’s on the right side; it will be in a perfect bowl shape with the sides up, but if it’s on the wrong side; the walls will bed outwards forming a “lip”, it’s easier to tell once you have the experience xD

IN/OUT

There are many techniques of putting in and taking out lenses. I recommend doing some youtube search to see for yourself, everyone suits different things ^__^
Personally when I first got my lenses, putting in was an extreme struggle, and if you never wore contacts before it will be bad~ but u need to try and try, I promise it gets better XD

Before putting your lenses in wash your hands well with warm water and antibacterial soap (it’s best if it’s not scented or with any addiction moisturizers and things), and wipe your hands very well – it’s best to use a paper towel, cause when wiping your hands with a normal towel you will often get fibbers from the towel stuck onto your fingers and then onto the lens (and that hurts!) 

Putting the lenses in

When it comes to putting lenses in my problem was usually that when I try to place it on my eye it flips and stick onto my finger, however I found that if you wipe your finger (so it’s not wet from the solution) before placing the contact on it, it should help xD
I can't stand touching my iris directly, I know most people will tell you to hold your lids and put it directly in the centre but I don’t do it like that xD
Usually u will put contacts in before putting make-up (and that is recommended!) however I do my top lid make up and then put them in (the bottom might smudge if my eyes tear up a bit so I do it after~).

 

How I do it: I will pull down my bottom lid and look up, and then place the contact (which is lying on my index finger) onto the lower part of my eye (on the white bit), once it’s in I slowly look down so the lens moves onto the iris. Afterwards you might want to close your eye and move it around for the lens to settle in place. If it hurts remove the lens! Wash it again with solution, check if there is nothing on the lens and try again~

Taking out

It’s weird cause I hear a lot of people always saying how hard it is to take lenses out, especially at first. And I think that is the easiest, from the first time I put my lenses in – never had a problem.

So when you are trying the first time you might want place a finger on your top lid and look up; this will shift the lens lower, put your index finger, from the other hand, onto the edge of the lens and drag it down until you reach the bottom of your eye – and its out! Personally I don’t push my top lid anymore just grab the edge and push down, but it helps a lot at the beginning ^^

Final note; I  have very sensitive eyes, and I know many of my friends don’t take so much steps in taking care of their lenses and are fine~ but for me, if it’s not perfectly clean my eyes will get extremely irritated right away and I have to start over >_<

Also sorry if you need toric lenses or anything like that, I have perfect vision and wear only plano lenses so I know nothing about that~

Buying lenses:

When it comes to buying you have two choices: in stock lenses or batch (pre-order) orders.

In stock lenses are usually more expensive; you just go on a website, place your order and they will be shipped out the next day~ you will receive them soon (ranging from 3 days to 3 weeks depending on the location).

The website I recommend to everyone new to circle lenses is pinkyparadise. Ordered from them multiple times and it was very good~ and they have reasonable prices for in-stock lenses.

When it comes to batch/pre-orders you will usually have to wait even 3 months to receive your lenses; but it’s super cheap!  Basically the seller takes pre-orders from everyone and closes it once a cap is reached (usually 100 pairs), then he can order all that from a supplier and send out to you~

My favourite website here is geosupplier it’s extremely cheap! And I assure they are authentic lenses (confirmed the Geo authenticity code). Only Geo lenses thought~

Great UK based EOS lens supplier is circlelensaddiction
She also has a few in stock lenses at low prices if you can’t wait xD The website confuses me a bit atm, but she has great communication and I am planning to order more (only bought one pair of in stock lenses before)

Other websites I never ordered from but have bookmarked as good xD
japanesecandy.net

www.secreteyes.org

www.honeycolor.com

Also check out the circle lens thread on soompi (I used to follow it every day for mooonths xD)

And the soompi photobucket account, it's very good if you wanna see how the lenses you are interested look on (websites often provide only model photos = not helpful)

A table created by soompi users with different online suppliers
(please be careful with unknown websites! Fake circle lenses are a huge problem!!)

And finally Lhourai made a great video on circle lenses~ watch it! xD

I hope I included all I wanted >, < Writing this was way more difficult than I expected. If you have any questions, or would want me to write more about something please comment! Also I would greatly appreciate if you follow me ^___^ 

See you next time~