Since they appeared on the ophthalmology market (back in the 19th century), their use has not been limited solely to correcting some of the main eye diseases, such as myopia, astigmatism or farsightedness.
Currently, without forgetting that they are a medical device, contact lenses have also become an accessory that allows us to change the color of our eyes eventually and without harming eye health.
However, in the quest to comply with beauty canons that have made blue eyes more attractive, in recent years a controversial surgery has become popular to permanently change the color of the eye through an operation that acts directly on the iris It’s called keratopigmentation.
Brown: the predominant eye color in the world
In Spain we did not have many doubts, but the data confirm it.
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He brown It is the most common eye color and is present by approximately 80% of the world’s population.
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He color blue is the next, and between 8% and 10% of citizens have it.
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He amber color it would be the third and is present in 5% of the world population.
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He green It is the rarest, with only 2% “lucky”.
The color of our eyes is largely hereditary. But the parental genetic information it is not the only main factor that determines eye color.
The distribution of pigmentation in the iris also influences the way light is scattered as it passes through the eye. That is why it is the result of the amount of melanin we have.
This means that a low amount of melanin will result in blue eyes, and with much more melanin we would have brown eyes.
Keratopigmentation: what does the intervention to change eye color consist of?
The influencer Daniela Requena has shared with her more than 800,000 followers on TikTok the results of her operation to change the color of her eyes.
As he explains the Dr. Isabel Garabitohead of the , currently, there are two types of techniques to carry out this change of color in the eyes, one that acts on the iris and another that does so on the .
The intervention on the iris can be performed by two methods:
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A colored silicone ring was implanted.
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Burning a very thin layer of the iris surface to obtain a bluish hue.
As for the technique used by the young woman in question and carried out on the cornea (keratopigmentation), it consists of introducing a pigment into the cornea, which is previously pocketed with a femtosecond laser to achieve the desired hue by the patient, explain from the ophthalmologists.
Well, the scientific societies specialized in ophthalmology, such as the (SEO), warn that “there is not enough scientific evidence to support the safety and efficacy of this intervention, which also fails to induce aesthetically natural results, since the sensation is as that of observing “doll’s eyes”, since the tinted color lacks sufficient depth”.
And it is that as the specialists explain “the iris is inside the eye, which allows its observation in depth, while this technique consists of staining the cornea, which can cause serious alterations in it.” Its price is around 2,000 euros when it comes to an aesthetic operation.
with @cotilleando please do not undergo eye color change surgery. It doesn’t make up for going blind for having blue eyes 🙏🏼
Although this surgery has been used for:
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Improve the appearance of blind people with walleye, which is characterized by white patches in the eye
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Monocular diplopia (double vision)
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Severe glare or photophobia due to defects in the iris…
Now it is also done on patients who, for purely aesthetic reasons, want to change their eye color.
Serious consequences of this type of interventions
The alerts launched by ophthalmologists in the face of this type of surgery that has gone viral in recent days are well-founded since they have already seen patients undergoing this intervention with corneal decompensation that has led to the loss of its transparency. “This has left patients forced to undergo a corneal transplant, which shows that it is not a safe technique,” explain the members of the SEO.
Regarding the specific dangers that this type of intervention entails, whether on the cornea or on the iris, Dr. Isabel Garabito details some of them.
“Complications such as infections, increased intraocular pressure, chronic inflammation of the eye (uveitis), iris atrophy, and glare can arise from color change interventions performed on the iris.” Changing the color of the cornea, in addition to the conditions that we have already seen, can cause all kinds of eye infections and .
There is another technique, called laser depigmentation of the iris, which is not approved in most countries. With a laser, the pigment of the iris (melanin) is burned and the natural color of the eyes is lightened. It cannot be used to obtain a specific hue, for example, blue, but rather to have a slightly lighter colour. Although this method is slightly safer, there is a risk of suffering from it which, as a consequence, can cause vision loss and blindness.