A black-and-white photo of a person mid-air in a Superman-style body suspension pose, supported by multiple hooks in their back and legs, smiling joyfully toward the camera. They are suspended horizontally in a large indoor space with high ceilings and visible rigging. A group of onlookers—some seated, some standing—watch with expressions of admiration, amusement, and support. The atmosphere is lively and communal, capturing a moment of shared experience and transformation.

The spice begins to flow

Because neither Pauly or Josh was experiencing pain from their procedure, but I was having pain when focusing on objects close to me, at Howie‘s insistence I went in to see an ophthalmologist this morning to make sure there wasn’t a problem (wow do I appreciate universal healthcare!).

First I should say that the two doctors and various nurses treated me with respect the whole time and never hassled me about doing it. The first nurse and doctor checked out my eyes in general, giving me acuity tests and a general look-over, all of which was perfectly normal, although they still referred me to a specialist to be sure.

The specialist — who incidentally had just written a paper on corneal tattooing and was able to give me tons of information and some leads on doctors who might be cooperative in completing the process — confirmed that the damage to the surface of the eye was minor and should heal without complication. He also checked the pressure in each eye since there was a minor worry that the sclera had been compromised. Everything in those tests checked out fine as well.

A number of other tests and tons of closeup examination was done, and everything looks healthy and other than a brief “you really should have this done by a doctor” comment, they were supportive and assured me that I didn’t have anything to worry about (and that it’s safe to do in general terms). The pain that I’m experiencing appears to be related to a minor irritation of the muscle (so when I focus closely, which causes the eyes to pull to centre slightly, it hurts a bit) and I’ve been given a steroid eyedrop to speed that healing, although I was told it wasn’t really needed.

Above is my eye at about seventy-two hours (I’m a shoe-in for roles as a rotten-eye zombie!). Below is Josh‘s eye at about the same. He’s had by far the best results of the three of us at this point I believe, with an absolutely perfectly placed injection it seems.

I’ll be doing a medical follow-up in a week with the doctor, assuming I don’t update before then.

Previous entries:

Comments

168 responses to “The spice begins to flow”

  1. Steph-knee Avatar

    my oh my such dirty nails!!

  2. Steph-knee Avatar

    my oh my such dirty nails!!

  3. Fallen Angel Eyes Avatar

    I’m also curious as to what the final goal of the tattoos are, whether it’s full coloration or just spots. Do the three of you have different goals, and if so, what are they? I’ve had Lasik done, which is about as extreme as I’m willing to get with my eyes, as I’m very picky about my eyesight. Thanks for keeping us updated, and I’m glad to hear the medical staff treated you well and your eye’s not gonna fall out 🙂

  4. Fallen Angel Eyes Avatar

    I’m also curious as to what the final goal of the tattoos are, whether it’s full coloration or just spots. Do the three of you have different goals, and if so, what are they? I’ve had Lasik done, which is about as extreme as I’m willing to get with my eyes, as I’m very picky about my eyesight. Thanks for keeping us updated, and I’m glad to hear the medical staff treated you well and your eye’s not gonna fall out 🙂

  5. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    Well, so far neither one of you is blind, and theres little pain if any. Thats pretty much all one could hope for at the moment. I wonder if this heals well if you’ll go through with trying to cover the whole eye with blue dye?

    DUNE rocks!

  6. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    Well, so far neither one of you is blind, and theres little pain if any. Thats pretty much all one could hope for at the moment. I wonder if this heals well if you’ll go through with trying to cover the whole eye with blue dye?

    DUNE rocks!

  7. lindsey Avatar
    lindsey

    glad you guys are doing okay and that you got some good eye doctors that didn’t hassle you about what you did!

  8. lindsey Avatar
    lindsey

    glad you guys are doing okay and that you got some good eye doctors that didn’t hassle you about what you did!

  9. panties Avatar

    yay! this post made me so happy! i was really surprised to see so much aggressive hostility in the previous posts and to be honest was kind of surprised that it was to one of the entries i didnt feel like i had any trouble understanding.

    its great to see that all those people can eat shit now 😀

    PS love that lolcat!

  10. panties Avatar

    yay! this post made me so happy! i was really surprised to see so much aggressive hostility in the previous posts and to be honest was kind of surprised that it was to one of the entries i didnt feel like i had any trouble understanding.

    its great to see that all those people can eat shit now 😀

    PS love that lolcat!

  11. squidboot Avatar

    pleased it’s going well. i would love to have this done, if only because i’m a massive fan of James/Brian Herbert. more power to you for having the courage to break ground

  12. squidboot Avatar

    pleased it’s going well. i would love to have this done, if only because i’m a massive fan of James/Brian Herbert. more power to you for having the courage to break ground

  13. SnaiLuv Avatar

    is there a reason that you all got the same color(blue)?

  14. SnaiLuv Avatar

    is there a reason that you all got the same color(blue)?

  15. hyena Avatar
    hyena

    they’ve been eating too much spice- blue is the color of free men everywhere!

    😉 ingenious.

  16. hyena Avatar
    hyena

    they’ve been eating too much spice- blue is the color of free men everywhere!

    😉 ingenious.

  17. katie Avatar
    katie

    oh im so glad that everything is ok so far!

  18. katie Avatar
    katie

    oh im so glad that everything is ok so far!

  19. Warren Avatar

    glad to hear no problems are occurring and all is going well.

    One question to ask is, is anyone going to listen to the specialist when he said: “you really should have this done by a doctor”

    By saying that, is anyone going to actually investigate in getting it done by a doctor, not a bod mod artist?

    As it sounds like the specialist knows of doctors to go to. So it’d be interesting to see how the doctors would do it and how it’d hold up in comparison,etc.

  20. Warren Avatar

    glad to hear no problems are occurring and all is going well.

    One question to ask is, is anyone going to listen to the specialist when he said: “you really should have this done by a doctor”

    By saying that, is anyone going to actually investigate in getting it done by a doctor, not a bod mod artist?

    As it sounds like the specialist knows of doctors to go to. So it’d be interesting to see how the doctors would do it and how it’d hold up in comparison,etc.

  21. smash Avatar
    smash

    ya i got the same queation as many here, what is the final goal? a multi colour eye, solid 1 colour etc. the suspense is unfair, and btw glad to hear its healing well and all went well, keep on pushing the barrier. just dont hurt yourselves

  22. smash Avatar
    smash

    ya i got the same queation as many here, what is the final goal? a multi colour eye, solid 1 colour etc. the suspense is unfair, and btw glad to hear its healing well and all went well, keep on pushing the barrier. just dont hurt yourselves

  23. devanmaher Avatar

    wow looks cool. hope it heals well

  24. devanmaher Avatar

    wow looks cool. hope it heals well

  25. kayla Avatar
    kayla

    is the ink rejecting? or whast with the blue seepage going on in the corner of the eye?

  26. kayla Avatar
    kayla

    is the ink rejecting? or whast with the blue seepage going on in the corner of the eye?

  27. seb Avatar
    seb

    if you injected the other prime colours would they blend together into a psychedelic rainbow?

  28. seb Avatar
    seb

    if you injected the other prime colours would they blend together into a psychedelic rainbow?

  29. psyentific Avatar
    psyentific

    Naturally you guys do your thing and do it well but I kind of wish you’d found a mod-friendly doctor to consult from the get-go (or if you did, I might have skipped the mention. my apologies). Your risks are your own and I don’t really feel they’re inappropriate to take, but someone with more experience with regards to the details of the eyeball might have been helpful in making this experiment more successful from the get-go.

    Hope the eyes do well boys and of course thank you for posting on this Shannon. It’s much more fascinating than whichever girl sent you naked photos this week. 😛

  30. psyentific Avatar
    psyentific

    Naturally you guys do your thing and do it well but I kind of wish you’d found a mod-friendly doctor to consult from the get-go (or if you did, I might have skipped the mention. my apologies). Your risks are your own and I don’t really feel they’re inappropriate to take, but someone with more experience with regards to the details of the eyeball might have been helpful in making this experiment more successful from the get-go.

    Hope the eyes do well boys and of course thank you for posting on this Shannon. It’s much more fascinating than whichever girl sent you naked photos this week. 😛

  31. KittieLee Avatar

    Glad your eye is okay.

  32. KittieLee Avatar

    Glad your eye is okay.

  33. Aliera Avatar
    Aliera

    Maybe this is a completely ignorant suggestion which you have already considered, but here it is anyway. For the full eye color wash effect, could you not use a biocompatible dye such as methylene blue (instead of tattoo ink) to stain the entire scleral tissue? Injection/application procedure might have to be modified. Methods like this are used in histology and in labs regularly with great success. Would this even be a feasible option?

  34. Aliera Avatar
    Aliera

    Maybe this is a completely ignorant suggestion which you have already considered, but here it is anyway. For the full eye color wash effect, could you not use a biocompatible dye such as methylene blue (instead of tattoo ink) to stain the entire scleral tissue? Injection/application procedure might have to be modified. Methods like this are used in histology and in labs regularly with great success. Would this even be a feasible option?

  35. smash Avatar
    smash

    was just reading the initial post where this edit was added “Since a few folks have asked “what are they supposed to be”, let me answer: they’re not supposed to look like anything. They’re experiments to see how to apply the ink and how it heals. In my case the goal is to eventually fully fill in the white of the eye with blue.” thx

  36. smash Avatar
    smash

    was just reading the initial post where this edit was added “Since a few folks have asked “what are they supposed to be”, let me answer: they’re not supposed to look like anything. They’re experiments to see how to apply the ink and how it heals. In my case the goal is to eventually fully fill in the white of the eye with blue.” thx

  37. Graley Avatar

    Eye bogies, Shannon?

  38. Graley Avatar

    Eye bogies, Shannon?

  39. Brian Avatar

    Dude, that is badass. Are you planning on adding more in the future?

  40. Brian Avatar

    Dude, that is badass. Are you planning on adding more in the future?

  41. MissTrin Avatar
    MissTrin

    I actually think this is really cool. And brave. I would be interested in doing it, actually…

  42. MissTrin Avatar
    MissTrin

    I actually think this is really cool. And brave. I would be interested in doing it, actually…

  43. CalmLlama Avatar
    CalmLlama

    Well, they can perform surgery on an eye, why not tattoo it? Id be interested to see an interview with that doctor who was doing research on eye tattooing. Bright blue eyes might be fun to have.

  44. CalmLlama Avatar
    CalmLlama

    Well, they can perform surgery on an eye, why not tattoo it? Id be interested to see an interview with that doctor who was doing research on eye tattooing. Bright blue eyes might be fun to have.

  45. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    in the first picture it is absolutely eerie and weird how the white of his eye has swollen around the cornea. ewwwwww!!!!

  46. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    in the first picture it is absolutely eerie and weird how the white of his eye has swollen around the cornea. ewwwwww!!!!

  47. Nikki Avatar

    Whoohoo for a zombie looking eye Shannon! Zombies pwn. XD

  48. Nikki Avatar

    Whoohoo for a zombie looking eye Shannon! Zombies pwn. XD

  49. Dawnie Avatar

    I am excited to see the end result, to see what coloring stays and I am glad to hear that all is going well with the healing for all three of you and that you were lucky enough to come across a opthamologist who was actually familiar on the subject.

  50. Dawnie Avatar

    I am excited to see the end result, to see what coloring stays and I am glad to hear that all is going well with the healing for all three of you and that you were lucky enough to come across a opthamologist who was actually familiar on the subject.

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