Well, what if someone told you that you could ditch the scratchy, annoying lenses and permanently change your eye color? Indeed, with a procedure called "corneal tattooing," your dreams of turning your brown eyes blue could become a reality.
From Oddity Central:
Originally developed as a way of dealing with patients suffering from disfiguring corneal opacities, keratopigmentation, aka ‘corneal tattooing’, has seen a boost in popularity among people seeking a mere aesthetic change. Safely changing eye color has long been an impossible dream, but today there are actually several types of procedures that allow you to do just this. Ten years ago, we wrote about the controversial artificial iris implant that came with provided excellent results but came with its share of health risks. Then, in 2017, there was the revolutionary laser surgery that could change eye color from brown to blue in just 20 seconds. Nowadays, however, it’s all about kaeratopigmentation, a seemingly safe procedure that uses advanced machinery and biologically compatible pigments to permanently change eye color.
A person’s eye color is a genetic trait that is determined by the amount and distribution of melanin in the iris. For example, someone with darker eye colors, like black and brown, has more melanin, while people with light eye colors like green and blue, have less melanin in the top layer of the iris. Only a a few years ago, changing your eye color from black to light blue was nothing more than a fantasy, but today, thanks to medical and technological advancement, it’s not only possible but increasingly popular.
The keratomigmentation procedure consists of crafting a fine intracorneal tunnel in the patient’s eyes with the help of a laser, and then inserting a special pigment to alter the color of the iris according to their wishes. Unlike other, more complicated techniques, keratopigmentation only affects the surface of the eye and thus doesn’t involve complications such as hemorrhages, infections, retinal detachment or glaucoma.
A keratopigmentation procedure usually takes between 30 to 45 minutes for both eyes and is completely painless, thanks to the use of a topical anesthetic. It’s also completely reversible, so if someone has second thoughts about their eye color change, they can simply go back to their original one.
The purely aesthetic application of keratopigmentation has been the topic of debates and medical studies over the last few years, but so far, the general consensus among ophthalmologists and eye health experts is that it appears to be relatively safe. Of course, given the relatively short time it has been used as a cosmetic procedure, it is impossible to predict long-term effects, but most of the scientific evidence so far suggests that, when done correctly, it doesn’t pose serious risks to the patient’s health.
While this procedure sounds cool in theory and has been deemed "safe," I personally would never undergo it.
Even though I would love to have lighter eyes, I just don't think it's worth the risk. Not to mention that the results do appear a little phony; it's basically like wearing colored contacts permanently.
