Risk of irreversible damage to total vision loss see:
Van Morrison ( “Brown Eyed Girl”) Elton John ( “Blue Eyes”) for Erykah Badu ( “Green Eyes”), eye color has given inspiration to many artists.
Yet not everyone is happy with the way their eye color or define specifically the iris pigmentation.
The colored contact lenses are a popular way to at least temporarily move your eye color from brown to blue, green or another color.
Until recently, the permanent change in eye color was not possible, but now a new procedure does more than just change the color of the eyes, frequently also damage them permanently.
Eye color is determined by the iris, a color ring of muscle fibers behind the cornea and in front of the lens.
The artificial iris implants are marketed on the Internet as a safe way to change your eye color, but studies of people who have had these implants show that they can damage the eyes definitively.
In one case, a patient lost both natural iris following implantation of artificial iris.
As a result, he suffered severe sensitivity to light and lost his eyesight. “Online discussions say that the procedure is safe, saying that” the technology used is similar to that used to treat cataracts.
This is incorrect and misleading, “says ophthalmologist James Tsai, MD, a clinical spokesperson for the American Academy Ophthalmology has published research on the medical complications of iris implants. “We strongly warn people against surgery implant of cosmetic iris.”
About the iris implant surgery:
During the iris implant surgery, an artificial iris silicone is folded and inserted into a slot which has been cut in the cornea. Then, the iris is adjusted to cover unfolded and natural iris; the procedure is done under local anesthesia.
The iris implant surgery was developed to treat people who have an iris that do not develop normally (eg, in conditions such as: Aniridie or Coloboma) or most often observed after trauma of eye.
These patients are also at risk of complications from the surgery implant, but the benefits of winning an iris may outweigh the risks.
Complications seem to be more common in people who have functional natural iris and who choose to have implants for cosmetic reasons.
What there is to know:
Studies show that serious complications of the procedure iris – implant may include:
- Low vision to see total vision loss.
- An increase in intraocular pressure that can lead to glaucoma, a potentially blinding disease.
- Cataract (clouding of the lens).
- A lesion of the cornea, the clear outer area of the eye that focuses light and makes vision possible. If severe enough, a corneal transplant may be necessary.
- Inflammation of the iris or areas around it, leading to eye pain, blurred vision and tearing of the iris.
In case of complications, the implants must often be removed by additional surgery, which has its own additional risks damaging the eye.
In one study, nine of 14 patients needed to remove the implants. Cosmetic iris implants has not been evaluated by any regulatory body in the United States or tested in clinical trials. They are not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Currently, this procedure is not allowed in North America and euro area and the adventurous who take the risk of venturing into this type of intervention are the countries where the medical ethics and regulations are not effective.
