The spookiest time of the year has arrived, and for those of you who have your Halloween costume ready, you might want to think twice if you're wearing coloured contact lenses.
This is the warning of make-up artist Jordyn Oakland, whose Halloween turned into a real life horror show when a costume lens ripped off the outer layer of her eyeball.
The 27-year-old decided to give a spooky blackout pair a whirl when dressing up as a 'cannibal aesthetician' last Halloween.
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While it was just meant to be a bit of fun, things took a painful turn when it came to taking the lenses out.
"I have worn contacts before so I took the contacts, slid it a little bit and tried to grab it how I normally would and it felt like it was stuck and I didn't get the right grab on it," she said.
"So the second time I went in I grabbed it a little bit firmer and took it out of my [right] eye and at that point it was just full of tears and it immediately felt like I had a really bad scratch on my eye."
Jordyn, from Seattle, Washington, decided to sleep it off - but the next morning there was no escaping the discomfort in her right eye.
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"I woke up at 6am and was in excruciating pain. My eye was burning and so swollen I could barely open it at that point," she said.
"I immediately started crying because of the pain. It was really hard to manage it in the moment.
"The whole drive [to A&E] I was in excruciating pain. I don't even know how to describe it. It was some of the worst pain I've ever encountered."
She continued: "He [the doctor] looked at my eye and basically said that the outer layer of my cornea looked like it had been completely removed and that's why the pain was so bad.
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"He told my boyfriend 'there could be a chance that she could lose eyesight. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, this is really really bad'."
Thankfully, a couple of days later her eye started to heal - but her vision has since 'worsened' and the complications are ongoing.
"Since the incident, right in the centre of my eye there's always this little area that feels dry in a way," she explained.
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"My vision in my right eye is noticeably worse. It was always not great, I could see some small text from far away but now it's game over with that.
"If I'm looking at a notepad in front of me with my right eye I can't make out the words.
"After the incident, the one thing that I could potentially deal with is reoccurring erosion. I could maybe wake up one morning and have the exact same thing happen for no apparent reason.
"It's scary to me because those are so easily accessible and I think about young kids and how easy it is to use debit cards and go online and order something."
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Now, the make-up artist is hoping to raise awareness of the risks associated with costume contacts, urging those who are planning on wearing them to do their research first.
"I'd never wear costume contacts again unless they're made by a specialist who had really informed me that they're very safe to wear.
"I hoped posting could even help one person second guess that decision if it's really worth elevating a Halloween costume to that extent for the damage that could potentially happen."
Jordyn - who creates content online about skin education, beauty hacks and make-up looks - claims she'd ordered from Dolls Kill a handful of times before buying the Halloween-themed contacts.
Dolls Kill, a global online fashion brand, said that they were not the manufacturers of the lenses but confirmed they 'carefully vet the products and manufacturers' that they stock.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the lens manufacturer, Camden Passage, reported no other 'adverse effects' during their 11 years in the market and suggested that Jordyn had not read the instructions that will have been included for use.
"Clinical studies show that anything that would cause dry eyes such as birth control pills, alcohol or allergy medication could make contact lenses uncomfortable and would increase the chance of an adverse event," they said.
"We will complete a detailed investigation as required under our ISO certified quality management system and report findings to regulatory authorities."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media