Eye-Tattooing

 The procedure, otherwise known as keratopigmentation, is a recent development and can be used for therapeutic purposes to improve the appearance of eyes. It could benefit people who have been left with scars on the transparent front part of the eye, known as the cornea, as a result of infection, disease or injury, or who have aniridia, a condition where the iris has not formed properly.

An Eye Surgeon Operating on a Man
unknown artist 
Photo Credit: Wellcome Collection. Public Domain

However, experts have raised concerns the procedure is becoming a popular aesthetic trend, with influencers posting TikTok videos of them undergoing surgery to permanently change their eye colour - often from brown to blue or green.

Alex Day, a consultant eye surgeon and ophthalmologist at Moorfields private eye hospital in London said the procedure was not available for purely cosmetic reasons in the UK, meaning those seeking eye tattoos tend to go abroad.

He added that problems can emerge in the months that follow, with potential complications including blindness.

"These are people that have healthy eyes, they have no problems with their eyes and then they go and have a procedure purely for [cosmetic reasons] that could have huge long-term implications with regard to eye health and vision that will affect them for the rest of their lives."...

While Day said he has not himself yet seen patients who have undergone the procedure, changing eye colour is a growing trend on social media, leading to concerns among eye specialists that problems will follow... Day said no surgery that aims to change the colour of healthy eyes has been shown to be safe. "No one should risk their vision by undergoing surgery to change their eye colour," he said.

(Nicola Davis, The Guardian, 2024)

How is it that  "influencers" and social media are able to affect so many people's thoughts and actions? These influencers, the snake oil sales men and women, are the scammers and the fraudsters of today being paid vast amounts of money for promoting various products. Another example of the power of advertising and the modern day weakness of evidence based thinking.