First, I wanted to clarify a comment I made about light sensitivity and eyeball tattoos. While there is not any anatomical way for discolouration of the sclera to lead to light sensitivity, I think it is important to recognize that in a small percentage of people, increased intraoccular pressure (ie. squeezing the eyeball), which can occur when a layer of ink is added around the eye, especially if too much is injected, can lead to painful “eyeaches” which feel essentially like a really bad headache. If a person is sensitive to intraoccular pressure, and it takes time for the eye to adjust, it’s not unheard of for a person to have a bad headache that lasts a year or more — think about that before you have this done, because if this happens to you, there is effectively no treatment and you will just have to tolerate it. You can get eyedrops that reduce the pressure, which may or may not help. The reason that I mention it in relation to light sensitivity, is that in some people (think of your last bad hangover), a bad headache can induce light sensitivity, and you may find yourself forced to wear sunglasses outdoors for the next year just to be able to tolerate the pain. In some people this pain may never fully go away.
That said, Pinhead and John Villani in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida just shared with me four beautiful eye tattoos they’ve done. I am especially fond of the first one, a bright orange eye that really suits the wearer and looks amazing in this portrait. Most of the eye tattoos people have seen are the dark or black eyes, which are very different in appearance — and much less “friendly” — than eyes where the sclera is still lighter than the iris. While it’s still going to be a shock, I think the average person can cope with and even appreciate this look. The second eye, the blue one, as you can see, is also quite approachable (or maybe it’s just his big smile makes it seem safe?). The last two are of course black, and the difference in them is quite striking. I’m not sure which is my favorite because I love them all, but I think if I had to choose one in this set as my favorite, it would have to be the first.
(The first image can be zoomed, the others are already at full size)
PS. Don’t forget that BME has a gallery of other eyeball tattoos here.
Comments
4 responses to “Eyes of all colours”
There are a number of different medications which may be applied as eye drops to reduce pressure, so if one doesn’t work, another may.
There’s also a fairly well-known medicine that tends to work well at reducing pressure in the eye, which is often smoked, but sometimes cooked into brownies or other food…
A good general rule is “don’t fuck with eyes.” Whenever you choose to violate those sort of general rules, it pays to be well-informed. Breaking rules through stupidity leads to bad outcomes. Breaking rules following careful analysis of the situation, tends to work out (most human advancement comes from someone carefully looking at a situation, learning about it, and determining that a particular rule needed breaking). Going into something like eyeball tattooing should involve many hours of careful research. Kudos for presenting some potential risks, so that those considering this choice will (hopefully) realize that great care is needed in this sort of decision.
It is awesome to see the different plays of color between the tattooing and the iris. Tho all equally impressive, I am partial to the last image, but only because the face tattoo reminds me of clown make up.
Flint — I would STRONGLY urge people not to smoke pot after getting their eyes tattooed, because it’s also going to dry them out. I think it would be more of a negative than positive.
Possibly, but eye drops to combat dryness are a simple proposition, compared to headaches or possible blindness (pressure-induced glaucoma). Carrying a bottle of Visene around would seem to be a minor hassle, in comparison.
As with any treatment of a medical condition, advice from doctors or others with the knowledge and training to make informed recommendations would be best. I wouldn’t suggest that anyone to use any particular treatment, without proper research; what works best for one individual may be disastrous for another, due to factors which they may not even know about.