The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • E1

Healthy Living Your Tuesday guide to medicine and health care contact with danger By CHARLOTTE MOORE Courtney stats might read something like this: Height: Weight: 115 pounds Hair color: brown Eye color: Well, that depends. Today, hazel. Technically, her real eye color is dark brown. Shhhhhh. But Courtney, a 16-year-old junior at Pebblebrook High School in Austell, is among a growing number of teenagers discovered how to personalize their peepers.

Available at most eyeglass stores are contact lenses in a vast array of colors and designs, from solid red to rainbow stripes, from tiger eyes to lenses bearing National Football League logos. Purchased and used properly, they pose no serious health risks. But the lenses can also be bought at unlikely places such as beauty salons, flea markets, tobacco shops and even over the Internet. Many of these businesses licensed to sell them. In response to a growing number of complaints from eye doctors, the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration in October issued a warning against using decorative contact lenses obtained without a prescription or professional fitting, citing reports of corneal ulcers and infections associated with improper wear. Decorative lenses have become all the rage with some teens, who sometimes swap them with classmates, risking blindness in exchange for quick cosmetic cool. mother, Tamara Slack, allowed her daughter to start wearing hazel-hued contacts at age 12. But Slack, an office manager for an eye doctor, got a prescription and had lenses properly fitted. Decorative lenses are simply an extension of ordinary contact lenses, which have been around for a long time.

A tinted soft contact lens became available for commercial distribution in 1980; tinted hard contacts have been available for decades. The decorative lenses that blow some minds today are simply the latest twist. The Contact Lens Council reports that the specialty lens segment of the market grew more than 20 percent last year. But many vendors of decorative lenses have the expertise to ensure that they fit correctly and trained to educate buyers about proper use and maintenance. The approval guarantees that lenses were manufactured in a sterile environment and requires that purchasers be told how to use and maintain them to minimize the risk of infections and abrasions.

The unregulated selling of contact lenses is a violation of federal law, and the FDA has the authority to seize lenses being sold illegally. The FDA also has instructed People who use lenses like these for fashion: Please see DECORATIVE LENSES, E5 If you choose to wear decorative contact lenses, first go to a licensed eye doctor where you can obtain a prescription. Along with your lenses, you should receive a comprehensive set of services and materials including: The initial office visit and a thorough eye examination, which will cover fitting procedures and guidelines for use. A lens care kit, which can include solutions and storage cases. Training in lens wear and care, and follow-up visits over a specified period of time.

You can also take your prescription to a licensed establishment that offers FDA- approved contact lenses. You will still need to go to a doctor and have those lenses fitted. HOW TO BUY CONTACT LENSES Decorative contact lenses such as those above are all the rage among teenagers. But be warned: Improperly handled lenses caused the Acan- thamoeba keratitis in the eye at left. Emory Eye Center can end up looking like this if they use them improperly: VAMPIRE RED GREEN DRAGON BLUE RAVE LENS CROW FANTASIA CONTACT US Nunzio Lupo, Features editor 404-526-5487 year: Never the most predictable character, Michael Jackson has seemed to careen from bad to worse in 2002.

E4 COMICS E2, E6-7 DEAR ABBY E2 MOVIES E8-9 PEACH BUZZ E2 PUZZLES HOROSCOPE E6 TELEVISION E3 INSIDE TODAY EVERY WEEK Wednesday: Getaway Thursday: Edge Friday: Weekend Preview Saturday: Faith Values Monday: News for Kids BEHIND THIS SECTION: CLASSIFIEDS TUESDAY, DEC. 3, 2002 THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION CHECK FOR BREAKING NEWS UPDATES AT AJC.COM THE WEB TODAY Miss the Boss? Read our review of Monday Bruce Springsteen concert and see photos from the show online. ajc.com/living LIVING Less sex: Newsweek reports that sex among teenagers is declining, but critics of programs promoting abstinence say they prevent risky sex among the young. Newsstand, E10 By CRAIG SEYMOUR the punch line: Mariah Carey. Now write your own joke.

basically what Carey has become for most people, following her embarrassing movie bomb the accompanying flop soundtrack and the fact that her former record label, Virgin, paid a reported $30 million just to get rid of her. Where once she was singing Stepford-like sweetheart, she has become a living farce Anna Nicole Smith with a five-octave range. But with the release of her new album, out today, Carey is trying to change that image. And using her greatest asset: that voice. When employed correctly, pipes can convey a range of colors: earthy indigos, sun-dappled golds and blinding, ethereal whites.

And her phrasing, which draws from pop, and gospel, gets sharper with each release. Indeed, the main problem with the soundtrack was that she sing enough. There were too many guest rappers taking up valuable song space. Much of works. Got with rappers Jay-Z and Freeway, is sexiest hip-hop romp since with Bone Thugs-N- Harmony.

And produced by Jermaine Dupri, is a lean, grooving number about rediscovering love. Carey even picks up on this trend of pop confessionals. (Jennifer Lopez fawns like a schoolgirl over Ben Affleck on the tune and Justin Timberlake takes aim at his ex, Britney Spears, in the song and creepy video Me a On the pointed Carey goes after rapper Eminem, who has claimed in songs and interviews that he and the singer once dated. never intimated we were lovers when you know very well we never even touched each she sings on one of the best cuts. Too bad not mad on more of the album.

For the most part, shows that back to where she was before the misstep. But next time out, going to have to prove herself capable of more. Voice puts Mariah back on right track MUSIC REVIEW Mariah Carey. Island Def Jam. 15 tracks Grade: B- RLIFE1203OE1FLIFE1203OE1 MID RUN 1E 1E RR RR BlueRedYellowBlack BlueRedYellowBlack By JILL VEJNOSKA We know how hard it is.

barely sorted out Simple from and now the broadcast TV networks are making changes. Come January, try to strengthen their schedules by introducing midseason replacements for weaker shows. John Ritter, watch your back. Ritter and the rest of the cast of Simple are about to get a major challenge from Simon Cowell, the snarky judge and jack- hammerer of dreams from Fox will launch Idol with consecutive 90-minute episodes on Jan. 21 and 22, then air new episodes every Tuesday and Wednesday.

Besides going head to head with surging and to from 8 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, will nudge Bernie Mac to 9 p.m. Wednesdays and away from direct competition with Damon Wife and on ABC. Whew! But wait, it gets worse. Or better, depending on your perspective.

NBC is bringing back Julia Louis-Dreyfus in With Night season ending in January, ABC will introduce an updated and the mystical drama And how do you fill those bleak Ritter vs. evil Simon as networks juice lineups BOB ABC Men will compete to win on ABC, whose debut will feature Trista Rehn, runner-up in the first series of Please see NETWORKS, E2.