Eyeball Tattoo

An eyeball tattoo is a novel “invention” to join many other body modification techniques, such as piercing, pearling, multiple implants, tongue splitting, scarification and other things, which make most of the people pull their faces with disgust and imperception or excite those, who get high, piercing and cutting their bodies.

Leaving behind all the speculations about moral or aesthetic aspects of eyeball tattooing, we are going to reveal the basic information about this type of tattoo art, which is getting more and more popular these days.

Technically speaking, eyeball tattoo or corneal tattooing, as it is known in medicine, is a procedure of altering the color of human eyeball by injecting ink, usually regular ink for tattooing, under the cornea of an eye. Though eyeball tattoo may seem to be a brainchild of modern generation, it is actually not. Eyeball tattooing belongs to the oldest forms of tattoo art, already known to people about 2 thousand years ago. Masking eye defects, such as leucoma opacities of the eye (white spots on eye cornea), was and still remains the main reason for making eyeball tattoo in medical practice.

However, in 2007 the world was introduced with a Canadian man, known as “Pauly Unstoppable”, who had his eyeballs tattooed as part of his body modification scenario. There is also information about two prisoners, who also had their eyeballs colored red and blue. These cases represent modern examples of eyeball tattooing as part of person’s desire to alter his body, being motivated by personal vision and understanding of aesthetics.

Though the idea to turn one’s eyeballs red or yellow may look pretty attractive, fresh, and inspiring for fans of tattooing, it is necessary to keep in mind that eyeball tattoo is associated with certain medical risks. It goes without saying that only a skillful tattoo master or a professional doctor is capable of making eyeball tattoo; but even in that case there is always a risk of blood vessel damage, perforation, hemorrhage or infection to occur, as Dr. Sandra Belmont, an associate professor of ophthalmology from New York, says.

Though modern society in its majority remains conservative as to any types of body modification, eyeball tattoo will remain a part of youth culture. Hence, instead of banning eyeball tattoo, people should just educate themselves about this very technique and allow one make his own choice about his own body, provided that health risks are minimized and eyeball tattooing is performed by an adequately trained professional.