Aside from the candy, Halloween is all about the costume and finding the most fun, scary and/or over-the-top ensemble. It's easy to get caught up in this without realizing the real frightening risks that come from altering your appearance, specifically, your eyes. For 17-year-old Leah Carpenter, this became an unfortunate reality when she purchased colored contact lenses to go as a zombie.

WXYZ, Detroit's local ABC News station, originally reported that the day after wearing the contacts her mother noticed swelling and redness. They later found that the contact had ripped out the lop layer of Leah's cornea in one of her eyes. The Lakeview High School senior is now facing the possibility of both surgery and partial blindness.

“I wish I never did it, to be honest,” Carpenter told WXYZ. According to her mother, they have been at the ophthalmologist every day since the incident. Leah even had to miss homecoming because of it.

Leah purchased the contacts at a Body Jewelry & More booth at the Gibraltar Trade Center, a vendor that promises to sell FDA approved contacts on their website. However, the FDA clearly states that colored contact lenses are not an over-the-counter product. Whether they're corrective lenses or not, if you're purchasing contacts from anywhere that does not require a prescription from a doctor, then they are not approved and you're putting yourself at risk.

Halloween is fun, but it only comes once a year and it's definitely not worth losing your sight over. If you still can't resist the appeal of colored contact lenses, then be sure to do it through a trusted eye doctor. This is one scare you don't need.

H/T Seventeen