Not everyone is seeing eye to eye on a new cosmetic trend.
A procedure known as keratopigmentation—where color pigment is injected into the cornea to cover the natural iris, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology—has been gaining popularity on social media with its promise to permanently change patients’ eye color in just a matter of minutes.
Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, an ophthalmologist with over 3.4 million TikTok followers, has accrued tens of millions of video views on the platform with clips of his patients’ before-and-after transformations, including one where a woman was overcome with emotion after successfully undergoing the operation to change her eye color to olive green.
“I love it. The color is very natural,” she said in the video, adding that she felt no pain after the surgery. “It’s amazing.”
The video concluded with a notice that the procedure—also known as eye tattooing—could cause “light sensitivity and scratchiness,” but some experts say the risks can be much more extensive.
