A white of the eye colored in red, green, blue, sometimes even in black. The sclera tattoo is an emerging fad. Ophthalmics worry about the consequences for the eye and vision.
Totally black eyeball matched with a skeleton tattoo on the right side of the face. The trial of Jason Barnum, in Alaska (United States), drew particular attention. It was not the man’s crime that spilled the ink, but his tattoo on the eyeball. The practice, emerging in the United Kingdom and around the world, is already widespread across the Atlantic. Ophthalmologists are worried about this new trend, which is not without consequences for the eyes.
Permanent coloring
The eye tattoo technique was perfected in the United States, by tattoo artist Luna Cobra, in 2007. “An old friend photoshopped a photo of his eyes to make them blue, like in Dune (science saga) -fiction written by Frank Herbert, editor’s note) “, tells the tattoo artist to the BBC. “I told him, ‘I think I can do this for real.’ To tattoo the white of the eye, Luna Cobra injects the pigment directly into the eyeball to cover the sclera (white part of the eye). Several injections are needed to cover the entire sclera.
In principle, the technique does not pose any particular risk, as explained in the Prof. Gilles Renard, ophthalmologist contacted by pourquoidoctor : “We could tattoo the conjunctiva, a transparent and vascularized tissue that surrounds the cornea. That would not pose any particular problem to us “, estimates the director of the French company of ophthalmology.” It is hardly more complicated than tattooing the skin for someone who knows how to use this technique. It is not a tattoo on the sclera, in any case I hope so because behind the sclera, there is the retina and this poses a major risk. “
Source: lunacobra.net
“I cried ink for two days”
The tattoo of the eye is, in principle, not painful. “It’s like someone is flicking your eye, and then you feel a strange pressure; then it is as if you have a little sand in your eye, but it is not painful ”, explains to the BBC Kylie Garth, tattoo artist in Sydney (Australia).
This young woman opted for a light blue. Like her, hundreds of people have chosen to distinguish themselves with other tattoos, in Singapore, Sydney, London… To such an extent than a Facebook page is devoted to this practice, common in Brazil, in Mexican gangs but also among Jamaican singers. The best known, Alkaline, stained the conjunctiva black. In France, this type of tattoo has not yet been reported by ophthalmos. “I have never seen one but it might happen one day”, admits the Prof. Renard. The National Union of Tattoo Artists (SNAT), contacted by why actor, specifies that “this practice does not exist at all in French tattoo parlors. “American prisons are very concerned by the phenomenon, as evidenced by the television program. Lockup.
Other followers of the “Eyeball Tattoo” have been less fortunate. Polish rapper Popek, filmed while getting an eye tattoo by Luna Cobra in London, testified to severe burns that kept him awake for a few days. Another Jamaican artist, Mace, lost his sight. In the Daily Mail, the Brazilian Rodrigo Fernando dos Santos affirms: “ I cried ink for two days. “
A high risk organ
Ophthalmologists are alarmed by this practice, which can damage the eyes and vision. “My advice is not to do it, since there is no proven benefit and a risk of pain and loss of vision”, explains to the BBC Jeffrey Walline, of the American Ophthalmological Association. The concern is such that some American states are considering banning eyeball tattooing. And for good reason: tattoo artists go out of their area of expertise. “When you see the designs they are capable of making, tattoo artists have relatively skilled hands,” emphasizes the artist. Prof. Gilles Renard. “But they don’t know the anatomy of the eye and they’re not used to it anymore. When you propel a pigment through the skin, it’s still skin. There we are no longer in the skin. “
In fact, the risk of the “Eyeball Tattoo” is related to the very nature of the tattooed area. “There are risks associated with the fact that the conjunctiva is a mucous membrane. It is as if you were going to tattoo the inside of your mouth: a pigment is injected inside the skin which will stay there without touching the underlying vascular structure ”, specifies Gilles Renard. “But here, we introduce the pigment into a vascularized structure, with the risk of the pigment diffusing where we don’t want it. An inflammatory or immune reaction may develop, there is a risk of bleeding. And unlike the skin, there is a major organ which is the eye. If the device that makes the tattoo goes a little too far, into the wall of the eye, we are at a major risk of blindness. “
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Medical eye tattoos The conjunctiva tattoo is recent. But other forms of eye tattoo are older. This is the case of the tattoo of the cornea, reported for the first time by Galen (Greek doctor of the 2e century). Sometimes cosmetic, this act can also be used to improve vision in certain pathologies of the eye, such as albinism, the absence of iris (aniridia), or even iridodialysis (detachment of most of the circumference iris). “When the cornea is trauma, or burned, it heals and becomes a white spot, which people find unsightly. So we tattoo with a pigment to hide this stain. We do this in the operating room with sterile products and under surgical conditions ”, insists Prof. Gilles Renard. |
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