Eye tattoos are an increasingly widespread practice, but which are nevertheless dangerous with the risk of loss of vision.
- Several people have had complications after eye tattoos.
- Some have lost part of their long-term visual abilities.
- Scientists believe that eye tattoos are still too risky and can cause blindness.
After classic tattoos, there are eye tattoos. To color the eye, tattoo artists put ink under the conjunctiva, the transparent membrane that covers the sclera, that is to say the white of the eye. More precisely, between the conjunctiva and the sclera, there is a virtual space, which the tattoo artist fills with ink.
Tattooing: risks of vision loss
But this practice is risky, as evidenced by several cases of patients who have had complications after such acts. A 26-year-old man, residing in Mexico, was in hospital four days after being tattooed because he had two worrying symptoms: eye pain and loss of vision. Doctors put the patient on antibiotics and corticosteroids. After 15 days he is better but he has only partially regained his vision.
In a study published in 2022 in the journal French Journal of Ophthalmology, researchers reported the case of a 30-year-old patient, tattooed on both eyes with black ink, who presented to the ophthalmological emergency room with episcleral nodules – inflamed areas – which appeared at the points of injection of ink. “The clinical course was stable under topical anti-inflammatory treatment.”, say the authors.
Still too many risks with eye tattoos
In 2021, a another case was reported in the same journal. He is a 23-year-old young man who was admitted to the ophthalmological emergency room of the Besançon University Hospital for eye burning sensation, photophobia – sensitivity to light – and reduced visual acuity. He had an eye tattoo done three days before. He had no ophthalmological history. “This practice is a provider of short-term and probably long-term complications that can be blinding (lead to blindness), hence the need to educate ophthalmologists on the risks of such a procedure and what to do in the face of its complications”, conclude the authors.
In 2017, a 24-year-old had to undergo surgery shortly after getting an eye tattoo because the ink had gotten to the inside of his eyeball. Several surgeries were needed to save his eye. He was never able to regain the vision he had before the tattoo. It is still largely degraded today.
In another study, published in the journal American Journal of Ophthalmology, scientists explain that they treated two patients with uveitis – inflammation of the uvea – part of the eye – and inflammation of the skin. Researchers believe the tattoo may have caused both skin and eye inflammation.
If you are tempted by a tattoo, therefore prefer to make one on the skin because the techniques for those at eye level are still risky.
