Have you ever ever considered altering the colour of your eyes? In that case, you’ve possible thought-about coloured contacts, which many individuals discover to be each freaky and funky on the identical time. However what if we instructed you that you may completely change the colour of your eyes to be no matter you need – whether or not it’s blue, inexperienced, and even rainbow (extra on that in only a second)? Sounds too good to be true? Maybe, however a process known as keratopigmentation can try this simply.
For those who’re nonetheless a little bit skeptical (rightfully so), learn on to study extra concerning the process and the dangers concerned with attaining your dream eye shade.
What Is Keratopigmentation?
Corneal keratopigmentation (or KTP) “is a everlasting eye shade change process often known as ‘corneal tattooing,’” says Parisa Jalalat, OD, a therapeutic optometrist in Lengthy Seashore, CA. Consider it or not, keratopigmentation shouldn’t be a brand new process. In actual fact, it has a protracted historical past of use in serving to sufferers who expertise disfiguring corneal opacities (or scarring of the cornea). Although it serves a therapeutic perform, its beauty use has been considered as controversial because of the riskiness of the surgical procedure.
Keratopigmentation’s beauty use has been round for hundreds of years. Whereas totally different strategies have been used and modified through the years, corneal tattooing was first described round 2,000 years in the past by a Greek doctor, in accordance with a evaluate from the journal Eye, and was referenced once more by one other Greek doctor within the 12 months 450. The process was carried out to assist masks white opacity (a white forged over the attention) or scarring of the cornea. The method disappeared and was not talked about once more till the mid-Nineteenth century, when a brand new methodology of KTP was invented by oculoplastic surgeon Louis Von Wecker. Wecker’s methodology of putting Indian ink resolution over the cornea and inserting pigment into the corneal tissue through a grooved needle influenced trendy strategies of keratopigmentation.
How Is Keratopigmentation Carried out?
The process, which isn’t FDA-approved, includes utilizing a needle or laser “to imbed pigment into the cornea, the entrance window of the attention, to alter the looks of the underlying iris shade inside the attention,” says ophthalmologist Diane Hilal-Campo, MD, the founding father of Twenty/Twenty Magnificence.
“There are numerous KTP strategies, together with superficial (superficial guide KTP and superficial automated KTP) and intrastromal (guide interlamellar KTP and FLAK) strategies. FLAK, femtosecond laser-assisted keratopigmentation, is a more recent method trending on social media presently with much less postoperative issues and restoration time in comparison with conventional KTP, however not with out danger.”
The process permits you to select any eye shade you’d like. “I’ve a colleague performing this process who has given sufferers rainbow-colored eyes,” Dr. Hilal-Campo says. “The outcomes are extraordinarily predictable.”
Throughout the process, the affected person is awake. A surgeon will create a tiny slit or two within the clear floor of the attention (the cornea) the place it covers the coloured a part of the attention (the iris). The surgeon will then create tiny channels that mimic the striations you see in a pure iris. “As soon as pigment is added, the surgeon will shut the 2 openings and place a bandage contact lens over every eye, which the affected person might want to put on for about two days till the eyes get well sufficient to take away them,” Dr. Hilal-Campo says. The process doesn’t truly alter the pigment of your iris; slightly, a special shade pigment is layered on prime, with the ultimate impact being a special eye shade. “You may evaluate it to making use of one shade of lipstick on prime of one other,” she says.
“Like coloured contacts, the colour change outcomes is dependent upon how a lot pigment is used and the brand new shade overlaid,” Dr. Jalalat says.
Following the process, the affected person will then take antibiotics for the subsequent two weeks to forestall any potential an infection.
Who Is a Good Candidate For Keratopigmentation?
Dr. Hilal-Campo says that there isn’t a “good” candidate for the process because of the high-risk, low-reward nature of it: “Nobody ought to have it performed.” Nonetheless, Dr. Jalalat says, “KTP is a superb possibility for these which might be already blind and have an opacified cornea, for beauty functions, which was the unique intent of this process many centuries in the past. However the backside line is: it’s too dangerous for a wholesome eye.” With no long-term information on the process, Dr. Hilal-Campo says, “We have to watch what occurs in 20 to 30 years to the eyes which have had it performed.”
Doable Problems of Keratopigmentation and Aspect Results
No surgical procedure comes with out danger, however the American Academy of Ophthalmology warns in opposition to present process keratopigmentation because of the critical issues it carries. Dangers and issues embrace everlasting harm to the cornea, which might result in cloudiness and imaginative and prescient loss; gentle sensitivity; a bacterial or fungal an infection; leakage and uneven distribution of the dye; shade fading attributable to leakage; and common response to the dye, which might trigger irritation or uveitis, which happens when the center layer of the attention will get swollen and crimson.
Because the dangers outweigh the beauty achieve of getting the attention shade of your desires, Dr. Jalalat recommends coloured contacts. “The most secure strategy to change the looks of your eye shade is FDA-approved coloured contact lenses match by an optometrist.”
The Value of Keratopigmentation
The process can run you as much as $12,000, relying upon geographical location, however the common price in the US is $9,649 (although it might price much less in different nations), and it’s not coated by insurance coverage. Dr. Jalalat explains that the process, regardless of it not being FDA-approved, is carried out off-label and is authorized in the US.
Whereas the outcomes of the process are supposed to be everlasting, “the pigment can fade over time, equally to everlasting cosmetics, which might require touch-ups,” Dr. Hilal-Campo says. “Blue is the most certainly to fade as a result of it’s the least steady pigment.”
If you’re nonetheless set on having the process regardless of the dangers, Dr. Hilal-Campo says you will need to go to a reputable and expert board-certified ophthalmologist with many years of expertise.
Taryn Brooke is a magnificence author and editor born and bred in New York Metropolis who has been in digital media for over 10 years. She is a contributing magnificence author for PS, Attract, Byrdie, and Properly+Good.
