7 Tattoo ink is injected using fine gauge needles under the conjunctiva into the episcleral tissues. Scleral tattooing, also referred to as episcleral, subconjunctival, or eyeball tattooing, is a more recent form of eye tattooing that falls under the realm of extreme body modification, with the first reports of this practice coming in 2007. 2, 3, 4 Corneal tattooing to change perceived iris color has also been described in the medical literature, though this practice remains controversial. 1 Corneal tattooing is still performed today as a cosmetic treatment for corneal opacities, as well as to treat symptomatic glare from iris defects such as polycoria, traumatic iridodialysis, and laser peripheral iridotomies. In 150 C E., Galen of Pergamon, an ancient physician and philosopher, first described cauterizing the cornea of patients with unsightly corneal scarring, and then using copper sulfate to dye the area in order to improve cosmesis. This surgical procedure is not to be confused with the cosmetic tattooing of the conjunctiva (white of the eye), which is dangerous and can cause vision complications or even blindness.Tattooing of the eye dates to the early 2nd century Roman Empire and was first performed on the cornea. Mr Saldanha truly is a marvellous man – he’s amazing.” “Now I’ve had that done too and it’s fantastic. “Mr Saldanha thought that perhaps it would compensate for the other eye but it accentuated the problem because I was left with one squinty eye. She said: “Once the dressing came off and my pupil dilated again, it was instant. Mrs Liscombe had the procedure on her right eye, the worst affected, two years ago. She wanted us to do it – and to do the other eye too.”Īlthough the first of its kind in Wales, Mr Saldanha has since published an article on the procedure so other surgeons can adopt it. "She found it was dramatically different. “The beauty of it was, we had actually checked it out first by temporarily using marking ink on that area, but on the surface, and asked her to go out for a couple of hours and come back. “It’s like having a filter in the clear window of her eye but without affecting the coloured part, and retaining the artificial opening. We then put in a layer of tattoo ink and closed the pocket. “For Mrs Liscombe, we used a tiny, precise scalpel to create a pocket in the centre of the cornea, over where she had the laser. Mr Saldanha said surgeons traditionally used tattoo ink to try to block off certain abnormalities on the cornea, the clear window of the eye.īut, unlike skin, the cornea has no pigment to take up the ink so it was always a temporary procedure that faded and had to be repeated. He explained the problem was caused by light entering Mrs Liscombe’s eyes twice: through the pupils and through the artificial openings the laser procedure created. Then after five years of problems she was referred to Mr Saldanha. Other consultants suggested she wore coloured lenses, which made no difference, and then coloured contact lenses which she couldn’t tolerate. But once headlights hit me, I really couldn’t see.” I drive early in the morning to go to work and I drive the grandchildren. “Sometimes I felt it wasn’t safe to drive in the dark. “It affected me when I was watching TV or when I was in the theatre or cinema. Unfortunately a side-effect affecting perhaps one in a thousand people left her with life-changing problems. She was advised by another consultant to have laser treatment, making tiny incisions in the coloured part of her eyes to release the pressure. Mrs Liscombe explained there was a family history of glaucoma, a build-up of pressure in the eye that can cause permanent sight loss or damage. It reached the point where Mrs Liscombe began to worry it was no longer safe for her to drive. Various solutions were tried, unsuccessfully. Some years ago Mrs Liscombe had laser surgery to treat glaucoma but an unusual side effect meant her eyes became highly light-sensitive. Left: Mrs Liscombe’s eye with the tattoo ink clearly visible Mandy Liscombe had tattoo ink inserted into her corneas – effectively creating a pair of shades inside her eyes – by pioneering Singleton Hospital ophthalmology consultant Mario Saldanha. The girl with the dragon tattoo has nothing on a Swansea gran who has had her eyes “tattooed” to cure a rare condition.
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