Eyeball Tattoo Trend

By: Michael Stevens
01/16/2010 08:31 AM ET

I don’t mind tattoos, but one for the eyeball? It’s the new trend in North America as many young adults are coloring the whites of their eyes. The procedure is done by injecting ink into their eyeballs.

Eyeball tattoo trending is in the nation’s prisons or as gang members try to find ways to identify themselves with a particular gang. Alternatively, even just to appear formidable in an unusual alien kind of way. One fellow took the challenge and had the whites of his eyes tattooed blue.

Trends come and go, but this one is a bit scary to watch. The procedure is known as a “body modification” and is often used for patients that had trauma to their eye. Joining piercings is one modification, but most doctors advise against putting anything in your eyes that will permanently mark or damage them.

Tattoos on the eye can be painful and discomforting. Even after the procedure, it feels like something is in your eye, according to most people who had it done. Television shows have entered into the foray as well, with eyeball tattoo episodes appearing on CSI:NY.

New Laws Under Consideration To Ban Procedure

There are currently laws under consideration in some states to ban the risky procedure, which certainly can cause blindness or other long-term effects, such as infection, perforation, and hemorrhaging of the cornea. Corneal, or eyeball, tattoos are only recommended for people with a medical need, such as covering corneal scars.

Eyeball tattoos can take up to 40 injections of ink in order to complete the procedure. Pigment is also injected under the top layer of the eye using a syringe. The syringe injects the ink into the eye.